Another newbie

by The Bee on Jan 23, 2008 10:12 PM EST

Must be a trend....

So I did Break-in set B tonight and ran into two problems. Tried the deadlift with 25 lbs on each end (thought it'd be idiotic to start with 45s right off) and the bar was so low to the floor, I couldn't reach it without bending my shoulders forward. A flexibility problem that will work out over time? Or should I use some alternative to the deadlift?

And in the Stupid Gym Tricks category, there's nothing in the place that's the right height for a step-up. Everything's either 6 inches high or about knee height. What's a good alt exercise?

That said, set A was terrific. NROL seems to be what I've been looking for.

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bar too low, step too high

I had the same height problem with my lower-weight dead lifts as well as the step-ups. My solution was to take some of these lightweight folding rectangular pads they fortunately had at my gym -- for use when you're lying on the floor. I put a folded pad under each of the weight plates for the deadlift to raise the bar a couple inches.

W/ the step-up - same deal: none in my gym were the right height for me. So I took a step-platform that was an inch or two too high, and placed one of those same pads in front of that, folded, raising me the inch or two I needed.

by pak202 on Jan 24, 2008 8:01 PM EST 0 recs

Good ideas

Couple more thoughts:

Deadlifts:

For me, the easiest solution is to start with the bar on the pins of a squat rack, just below knee-height. That way you aren't squatting down too far to start the lift.

Then, you don't have to lower it to the floor each rep. Just go down to mid-shin level, or wherever the bar would have to stop if you had 45s on each end instead of 25s.

That said, there's no real danger that I know of to extending your range of motion by a couple inches on the deadlift, assuming you can do this without losing the natural arch in your lower back.

I'm not sure what you mean by "bending my shoulders forward." Your shoulder blades are supposed to be over the bar at the start of the movement. A lot of your strength and power on the deadlift comes from your trapezius pulling your shoulder blades together.

(Maybe PAK can post that excellent deadlift article he sent me a few weeks back?)

by Lou Schuler on Jan 25, 2008 11:24 AM EST 0 recs

Deadlift explainer article

This article by Mark Rippetoe for Crossfit Journal helped me immensely in understanding proper deadlift technique and body position. Probably useful for anyone doing deadlifts in terms of maximizing performance and, most important, safety.

A very short excerpt of the article is here:

http://www.crossfit.com/journal/2006/11/a_new_rather_long_analysis_of.html

The whole article is here:
http://www.crossfit.com/journal/library/51-2006_AnalysisofDeadlift.pdf

by pak202 on Jan 25, 2008 1:49 PM EST 0 recs

Thanks!

A crash course (?) in deadlifting. Heading back to the gym this weekend. I'll try all these ideas.

To answer Lou's point... it feels like my back loses the natural arch as I go forward to reach the bar. Maybe it's not as far a reach as it feels. This really is a learning experience -- I've managed to get to my late 50s without ever doing a deadlift before.

by The Bee on Jan 25, 2008 9:57 PM EST 0 recs