Daily Mobility Exercises by Dr. Kelly Starrett › Forums › General › Learning the Deadlift

Viewing 4 reply threads
  • Author
    Posts
    • 01/17/2014 at 12:13 am #70726
      AvatarJake Strahm
      Participant

      http://youtu.be/uyxfpo08PAE

      Lower back felt funny after deadlifts today. Bodyweight deadlifts (70kg) – relearning deadlifts – first time in years.

      In the lowering-portion of my deadlift – I seem to be initiating with my knees instead of shoving the hips back first…causing the bar to travel forward?

    • 01/17/2014 at 8:28 am #73820
      AvatarBailey Martinez
      Member

      I’ve always found that if my lower back starts to hurt, it’s because I’m not engaging my core enough. Remember to suck your belly button towards your spine and to contract everything that isn’t your pecs.

      Also, make sure that you’re engaging your lats. Imagine someone trying to tickle your armpits. Close that area off through the use of your lats.

    • 01/17/2014 at 10:27 am #73821
      AvatarNathan Richer
      Participant

      i couldn’t see the knee drift forward in the video although i saw a wobble there. 

      you may also be unconsciously avoiding hitting your knees on the way down by sliding it fwd. unfortunately you are missing a crucial rite of passage which is to have scrapes all along your shins LOL.
      couple of thoughts:
      1. make sure you are hinging properly and completely. if you are not, then your pelvis may not rotate properly and you’ll have lower back problems.  a cue would be to pull your way down, using your hip flexors and attempt to clamshell close the space between your abs and top of quads.
      2. raise and lower the bar with the feeling of dragging the bar along your shins. of course miss them by a little bit, as joked before, sometimes we miss on the way up or down.  buy some shin guards by Rocktape from Rogue Fitness to protect and keep them pretty. or show off your scars like a real man!
      3. rehearse the hip hinge a few times before you do a lift.  do it with your shins against something unmovable like a bench and practice hinging over without your shins touching the bench. this ensures you keep them straight and vertical.
      you may also want to experiment with sumo vs conventional and see if there is one you like better.
      there are some good articles on t-nation about the DL, and there is some discussion about people using more a squat style or ham style to pull. but if you want to be strict, you should be using glutes and hams and should not be squatting. that doesn’t mean that some people don’t have a bit more quads at the bottom position to start the bar moving.
      this t-nation article talks about quad dominant vs hip dominant DLs:
      other general tips:

      and yes, make sure you do what Thor says – you gotta brace strongly: core, lats, everything – before you start. wind up any slack in the arms, and lift, driving your feet/legs through the floor!  and don’t forget to torque your legs out in ext rotation before you start!


    • 01/17/2014 at 1:26 pm #73822
      Avatar[email protected]
      Participant

      Looks like your toes are coming up.  Are you doing a straight leg deadlift?  feet straight knees out apply to this lift as well.  

      You can use a resistance band on the bar to help you understand and get a good bar path experience.  
    • 01/20/2014 at 10:23 am #73856
      AvatarChris Montanaro
      Participant

      Looks like you may be missing some end range hip flexion as well. In this video you are slightly flexed in the lumbar at the bottom. I deal with the same problem and it’s smart to start light to get the form back after years away–good luck.

  • Author
    Posts
Viewing 4 reply threads
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.