Heeled weightlifting shoes interfering with deadlift form?

[skypig]

Hi folks,

Page 106 of the blue book says that weightlifting shoes with too-high heels can make it difficult to keep your weight centered over mid-foot, when initiating the pull. I've been struggling with this particular aspect of DL form, and I'm not sure how to tell if my shoes might be making it harder for me. I wear the Adidas 3.0 Powerlift shoes, which definitely have a heel, but I'm not sure if the heel is "too high." I'm curious how often the SS coaches out there recommend that their trainees switch to non-weightlifting shoes (i.e. flatter shoes like Converse or skate shoes), to help improve the DL form. And of course, I appreciate the advice of anyone that has experienced a form improvement by switching from heeled weightlifting shoes to non-heeled shoes.

Thanks everyone!

-skypig

[Ryan Arnold]

I recommend lifting in flats as a last resort. A flat, hard bottom is preferable for the same reasons as the Squat. Some extra attention may need to be paid to "finding mid foot" during the setup(usually just rocking back slightly). In the rare cases where someone cannot get their shoulders above their hips due to the shoes then they can try flats. But the heel elevation is almost never significant enough to require this

[skypig]

Okay, thanks Ryan for clarifying. I'll keep this in mind and try to stay mid foot the entire time!

[Frank_B]

Hi folks,

Page 106 of the blue book says that weightlifting shoes with too-high heels can make it difficult to keep your weight centered over mid-foot, when initiating the pull. I've been struggling with this particular aspect of DL form, and I'm not sure how to tell if my shoes might be making it harder for me. I wear the Adidas 3.0 Powerlift shoes, which definitely have a heel, but I'm not sure if the heel is "too high." I'm curious how often the SS coaches out there recommend that their trainees switch to non-weightlifting shoes (i.e. flatter shoes like Converse or skate shoes), to help improve the DL form. And of course, I appreciate the advice of anyone that has experienced a form improvement by switching from heeled weightlifting shoes to non-heeled shoes.

Thanks everyone!

-skypig

I've gone full circle. Early on in my NLP I used my heeled shoes and kept pulling something in my hip. I got injured twice around 225 that set me back quite a while. One time, I heard a literal tearing noise and immediate pain. Not cool. I blamed the lifters, ditched them for the deadlift and went barefoot because I know better than everyone else on this forum, Rip included. That did alright until I got to about 275 pounds and I had arch issues, just like everyone on this board said I would. Turns out, I didn't know as much as I thought.

I bought a pair of Sabo Deadlift shoes, very similar to an old school wrestling shoe, and really liked them. I was cruising along with them and probably wouldn't have changed from them until I started working with an SSC. They got me in the lifters again, much to my chagrin, and changed me to more of a frog stance (long leg club here). I immediately liked that better and have been pulling with the lifters since. I've gone back to a more traditional stance since then, but kept the lifters. The only thing is that every once in a blue moon, when I rock back, I'll rock too far and get my weight on my heels. I've never had this issue in the past, and it's just something I have to be aware of. Otherwise, I'd try to make the lifters work. No arch issues. Stable footing and no hip complaints.

[skypig]

Thanks Frank for sharing your story - quite interesting! Sounds like based on your experience, it's best to find a way to make the heeled weightlifting shoes work. I'd rather do that than "run the circle," if I can help it!

[tiny&mighty]

Very interesting indeed. Thank you, Frank.

I too switched to those Sabo shoes for the deadlift and still wear them. Before I made this switch I tended to somewhat fall forward on the ball of my feet. While this is bad in an of itself, I had to get this under control to avoid putting my sexy bunions under that kind of load.

The shoes fixed this problem for a while, but when my deadlift got heavy, I started experiencing other form issues manifested by the rounding of my mid-back.

Last weekend, I posted about this issue in my log; in response, my lovely virtual partners kindly directed me to a Steve Ross article that describes exactly what has been happening lately: "the tendency for the bar to start drifting forward of mid-foot as the pull is initiated". Ross also writes "if the bar drifts away from the legs [...] a wave of undesirable effects will result – your weight will shift forward to the toes, the thoracic spine will round into flexion and then all hell breaks loose." This could explain why I have felt the need to switch from heeled to flatter shoes.

My next deadlift session is tomorrow and I am looking forward to implementing the cues that Steve Ross, Brent Carter and Jonathon Sullivan recommend to solve this problem. Perhaps this will enable me to "go full circle" as well. We shall see!

Steve Ross' Lats in the Deadlift article

Your Last in the Deadlift with Brent Carter (and Bre!) video

Deadlift: How to Keep the Bar on Your Legs (ARMPITS!) video

[skypig]

Thanks tiny for the highly relevant addition - I watched all 3 of the videos you included. I think Pete Troupos told me (in one of my DL form check threads) to do a better job of keeping the bar against my legs, and these tips will help me accomplish that.

Thanks!

[asm44]

The effective heel height of the powerlifts is 0.6 inches. That's on the low-end of weightlifting shoes. Most common height is 0.75 inches. I deadlift in 0.79 inch heels without any issue. The shoes I use for olympic weightlifting are 1 inch, which is too high for deadlifts. It's doable, but feels awkward and too far forward. 1 inch shoes are not common, anyway.

[Satch12879]

I think this classic Rip interview is worth the repost:

Going Deeper into the Deadlift with Mark Rippetoe, Part 1 - Elite FTS | EliteFTS

Going Deeper into the Deadlift with Mark Rippetoe, Part 2 - Elite FTS | EliteFTS

[skypig]

Thanks Satch - I read both of the links you provided. You were correct; it's definitely worth the read. It describes the reasons for several aspects of the DL setup - the content is the same as what's in the blue book, but worded somewhat differently (perhaps more informal/conversational), which makes for easy understanding.