Deadlift issues

[sand]

I'm back to SS after 9 years... (my log from back then should be somewhere around here), and I'm thinking of getting back into it. Back then I didn't do much deadlifting.

I have short arms for my 6'2" height. I know that from fighting; people who are shorter than me often have a longer reach, and everyone my height has longer reach.

When I try do DL, I can't grip the bar with a straight back. It's just not happening. I have to be lower than horizontal with my back to reach the bar, but that rounds my upper back.

Should I just give up on DL's?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Video?

[sand]

Three lousy attempts, after warming up and stretching.

[Pete Troupos]

Your limb lengths aren't an issue. The fact that you're set up almost right against the bar isn't helping. You're too close. Back up half an inch from where you think you need to be.
Then grab the bar and drop your hips to bring your shins to the bar without moving it.
You're biggest issue is not setting your back. Stop checking yourself in the mirror and deadlift in flats or lifting shoes. Running shoes are awful for lifting.
If you were setup at the correct distance from the bar and your hips were higher than you shoulders, I'd say you need to amend something. But that's not the case.
You're fine.

[sand]

Here are four more attempts, all bad.

My shins are farther away from the bar. I dropped my hips until the shins touched the bar, but I could feel my weight moving to my heels. You can also see in the first three attempts that the arms are not at an angle in relation to the bar, but right above the bar.

In the fourth attempt I created a somewhat better angle for the arms, but the back is still bad.

[Pete Troupos]

Please post a normal work set of five from the angle outlined in the sticky.
You're not attempting to set your back. At all. Go back and look at the deadlift videos on the YouTube channel and work on Step 4™.
Then find any other flat/non-compressible soled shoes to deadlift in. Dress shoes, work boots, weightlifting shoes, Nanos, swimming fins, Dutch wooden clogs, Metcons, tap-dancing shoes, wrestling shoes, boxing shoes, cowboy boots, two planks of wood taped to your feet. Just about anything other than squishy running shoes that make it tougher to keep your balance on mid-foot.

I see you're in Orange County. You'd benefit from signing up with a session at one of Grant Broggi's gyms. The Strength Co - Starting Strength Gyms in Orange County, CA

[sand]

I genuinely appreciate the fact that you are trying to help me, but you are not clairvoyant. I am trying to set my back. The fact that I cannot do it doesn't mean I am not trying to do it.

You say that my arm length is not an issue. I don't claim to know exactly what goes on with my DL, that's why I'm here, but I know for a fact that my reach/arm length is short for my height. There is absolutely no doubt about that.

9 years ago I had a session with an SS coach for my DL and unfortunately there wasn't any significant progress, for the same reasons you see in the video.

If it's not possible to improve my DL remotely through videos, I will attempt again to work with an SS coach.

[Pete Troupos]

We tend to approach these form checks with the understanding the source material has been read and/or the teaching videos have been viewed at a minimum.
We also have a standard for filming that is deliberately laid out so that we can see what we need to see. Otherwise, we just go on the information we have. (the sticky)
You're looking straight down and you don't appear to be making an attempt to lift your chest to set your back. Get your eyes out, point your chest at the wall in front of you, drop your junk between your legs and drop your belly to the bar.

Your issue isn't your arms. It's learning how to properly set your back.

[J. Killmond]

As Coach Troupos says, your videos show that you are not extending your lumbar spine ("setting your back"), which is a common issue that the coaches encounter all the time in Starting Strength seminars (for example).

Dealing with this is shown here, as Coach Rippetoe gets on the mat with a trainee to fix it (8 minute mark, but watch the whole thing):

Lower Back Position Control

Here's a classic article on the topic by Coach Rippetoe:

The Most Important Thing You Will Ever Learn About Lifting Weights | Mark Rippetoe

[sand]

I went to a one on one session with a coach at the affiliated gym linked above. Great gym and good training.

My DL got better as the session went on. My upper back is still a little rounded. I was told I have some of the most inflexible shoulders ever seen, and for sure the most inflexible in the entire gym. They are rounded forward. Many people have that, but not quite like me.

Training/boxing for thousands of hours with forward hunched and raised shoulders in order to protect the jaw is not a healthy posture in daily life. Not much about boxing is healthy...

I knew all this though... My chiropractor has been bugging me for years to stretch my shoulders regularly, which I never did. Now, that it impedes my squat and deadlift, I will.

Not sure if the fact that my arm reach is about 3-4 inches shorter than average for my height is any helpful.

We did all sorts of things to make me aware of my back muscles, how it should feel, etc. Personally, I believe that after many years of (kick)boxing, my priopreception is pretty good. The coach confirmed that I adapt my body quickly to his input.

At the end, he said that during the DL my lower back looks fine and the upper back would benefit from healthier mobility in the shoulders. So, daily stretching from now on. Without that, my form will never be as good as it could.

I signed up at the gym and will go regularly.