Deadlifting

I think virtually everyone would agree with you on not maxing or near maxing on deads three times a week. Many experts would disagree with you on the squat as their are several powerlifting programs that have guys squatting multiple times per week including all of the various Smolov programs I have seen.

I wasn't saying squatting 3 times a week was too much. But that combo of Squat and dl 3 times a week would be particularly brutal. Too much to recover from with max weight, at least for me.
 
Yea...those are all enhanced guys.
Drugs make your exercise choices and overall training style pretty much irrelevant - studies show this.
This is also why you'll find plenty of awesome looking bodybuilders who do pump style training.

I used to love deadlifts because I'm genetically geared to be good at them (short legs, long arms, etc).
Then I chucked my ego out of the door and focused on lifts that actually help me build muscle in an optimal fashion, not just lift heavy for the sake of lifting heavy.

For naturals, as in guys who need optimal training in order to grow properly, the deadlift sucks compared to the huge choice of other movements available.


Well this is a steroid forum. Most guys who post here are on gear. And even natural I don't see any reason to not deadlift. It is a great exercise whether your natural or not. But your entitled to your opinion, I think it is very beneficial. It helps overall strength, and that could carry over to squat and bent row or other pulling exercises. Even if your on high volume training I still think 3 sets a week heavy could be good for back and trap development. Lets face it the back takes years to grow, most guys are nowhere near their genetic limit on back thickness or width. And I don't know if we are built different but nothing hits my back like dead lifts. I do them like ronnie is in that pic, same foot width and same grip on bar. Ronnie did dead lifts for back, not legs. That's also why I do them. There is simply no other back exercise where you can pack on as much weight. If you do not feel them in your traps, and rest of your back I could see why you may not want to do them.
 
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Nothing wrong with once a week, but the long femurs thing is one i haven't heard. As to sumo or conventional, i started sumo and was much better at it, but converted to conventional. I thought, which position would i like to be strongest in? I don't wrestle or grapple at all any more, but if i had to i would like to have the power from conventional as i would likely find myself in that position more than sumo. Same goes for anything sport specific that i can think of. Not too many things find me in the sumo position be it lifting transmissions, engine blocks, or people.

The longer femurs just mean that when I dip down to grab the bar, my knees get pushed out further than someone who has shorter femurs in relation to their height. This makes it harder to clear my knees when pulling conventional and takes some focus off getting the weight off the floor. I can pull conventional, but it feels less natural than sumo to do so.

The longer femurs also influenced my choice of squat. The longer femurs mean I have to lean way over to keep the weight over the middle of my foot for a typical squat. Keeping my squat more upright allows me to keep the weight where it's supposed to be without needing to bend over so far it looks like I'm doing a good morning. :p
 
The longer femurs just mean that when I dip down to grab the bar, my knees get pushed out further than someone who has shorter femurs in relation to their height. This makes it harder to clear my knees when pulling conventional and takes some focus off getting the weight off the floor. I can pull conventional, but it feels less natural than sumo to do so.

The longer femurs also influenced my choice of squat. The longer femurs mean I have to lean way over to keep the weight over the middle of my foot for a typical squat. Keeping my squat more upright allows me to keep the weight where it's supposed to be without needing to bend over so far it looks like I'm doing a good morning. :p


Do you have long arms though? I have long legs and long arms and I can deadlift just fine. I can pull much more than I can squat.
 
I like using the trap bar for deads. Easier on form and back for those that have issues with conventional deads. Plus generally more weight can be used. The trap bar in my gym weighs 60lbs and has two sets of handles. I use the higher set of handles for back work and the lower handles make this movement more quad dominant and a solid alternative to front squats.
 
I like using the trap bar for deads. Easier on form and back for those that have issues with conventional deads. Plus generally more weight can be used. The trap bar in my gym weighs 60lbs and has two sets of handles. I use the higher set of handles for back work and the lower handles make this movement more quad dominant and a solid alternative to front squats.


I've never used a trap bar but I have heard it makes it more of hack squat, so more of a quad dominant lift rather than a back exercise, I only do them for back. How is the trap bar for shrugs? That is the main reason I wanna get one to add to my collection.
 
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I've never used a trap bar but I have heard it makes it more of hack squat, so more of a quad dominant lift rather than a back exercise, I only do them for back. How is the trap bar for shrugs? That is the main reason I wanna get one to add to my collection.

Good for shrugs. But I prefer shrugs with DB more.
 
I'm not on gear and I have a spinal fuse l1-l3 and I deadlift but I fear it like hell.

It's just a lift that absolutely devastates me in every way imaginable and I like that.... after the fact, not during!
 
Deadlifts are great, I've been doing them twice a week for years now and it defiantly shows in my traps, really the only thing I do for them besides all the upper back work which works them indirectly.
 
My favorite trainer (employee of the gym I go to, not my personal trainer) likes to advice every novice lifter, once they reach 315 dl they will look like they lift. For me dl comes 2nd only after pull ups, I am just a width kinda person... I like every form of dl but stiff legged, fuck those. I usually put conventional in a 5/3/1 routine on my back day followed by lower weight snatch grip 2x6 and every now and then on leg day 2x6 sumo. I learned from experience to not fuck around with PRs on exercises I am not used to, like snatch grip or sumo, because it's a recipe for form breakdown, hence why I only perform 2 sets of 6 reps and never go full on. For people who discredit one of the best exercises either grow balls or leave your ego out of the gym and lift lighter weight, either way will be beneficial, but I have to agree with @Millard Baker, setting goals for PR is one of the best methods of improving, and obviously highest rewarding after achieving.
 
Where you feel an exercise doesn't make it useless elsewhere. I never feel deadlifts in my traps until later in the day or even tomorrow. Rack pulls are great suggestion but still keep pulling conventional or you will neglect erector spinae/hamstring activation just because you can't feel them in traps. I like the hammer strength shrug suggestion above, I can't perform full rom deadlifts on ours but if there is one which goes all the way from floor up you can do neutral grip which feels a lot more in the traps and for me lats also.
 
For anyone that does rack pulls regularly, do you feel they are much easier on the nervous system to recover from than deads? I only do deads once a week cause of how much harder they are to recover from than other lifts, but i'd like to add in rack pulls instead of doing more deads if they're easier on the cns.

Edit: i'm asking bc i want to help improve my deadlift as best I can without throwing in so much more weekly deadlift volume, due to potential recovery issues.
 
I guess it boils down to why you are lifting. Do you want to be strong or is looking strong more important? For someone who wants to be strong, especially in ways that may transfer to real life situations, i think deadlift is awful important. We all would like a nice big bench number, but really how often to you use it? I'm sure it is useful to a point, but not nearly as much as having a 600 pound plus deadlift or big squat.

As to the earlier points about someone pulling 600 who doesn't look strong...well i would call that guy a sleeper. If you're into cars then it is the same term for hot rods. I don't see anything wrong with that at all. Guys underestimate them in the ring,on the mat, or on the street and they have a leg up to start with. Nothing gets your attention like the guy who looks like mr. normal but clamps the vise grips on you when you tie up or get tangled in grappling range.

I'm all for everyone doing whatever they want to achieve their goals and i think variation makes things interesting, but talking down deadlift like it is an ineffective lift is just flat crazy. This isn't a guessing game fellas. We have hundreds if not thousands of years of data to back up the effectiveness. This really sounds like the same bullshit the karate guys used to spew about grappling being ineffective. They sing a little different tune now and we have sen a huge number incorporate it into their training.

I'm trying to think about the world's strongest man comp and the most competitive circle of them. I'm wondering how many of them are poor deadlifters. None come to mind. I could have missed someone, but i think most of them are big deadlifters. Marius wasn't exactly mr. perfect form, but he didn't have problems with it.

Brian Shaw


various crazy deadlifts


Now these are the most extreme guys on the planet, but they don't look weak or normal to me. They are on the edge of what humans can accomplish and may have a look a lot of guys don't want to get to, but they are fucking strong. This is the complete opposite of being a poser in my book and worth big points to me.
 
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