I must admit, early on in my weight training journey deadlifts were not on the menu. It was more about squats, and the hip sled. With two hip sled machines mind you, at 45 degrees and 90 degrees to the floor. All in one session. As I used to pack on lots of weight onto these things, the result was deep soreness for days. Making climbing the stairs in my townhouse a chore, let me tell you.
Since then, YouTube happened. After a few years, the young dudes and dudettes started posting videos of their skinny frames powerlifting. What is powerlifting…? Well its basically focusing on three exercises for sport: Squats, Deadlifts, and Bench-press. From about the early/mid 2010s, fitness influencers posting these three main staples skyrocketed. Today, I can go into my gym, complete with 7 squat racks on a large padded floor, and it will be filled with baby infants' powerlifting. Some are grown, but it's like my gym signed up 20% of all the local high schools students. This is a new phenomenon, and strange to me. But it's happening.
One good thing for these babies is, I hope, they can learn how useful fitness is. In particular the deadlift. At this point in my life, I have seen several family members slip into old age. One thing they all have had issue with is bending down to pick something up off the floor, or from a cabinet below a countertop.
Powerlifting is currently en vogue, but otherwise will prove to be a fad. I see lots and lots of young people chucking around ridiculous amounts of weight. Like, insane amounts. Sometimes they will be recording themselves on their phones…perhaps for social media. Other times, they are trying to impress themselves and their crew. There does exist a danger to all this, for I have heard of one such powerlifter complaining of significant back trouble due to this philosophy. And he, to my knowledge, is in his mid-thirties. With a bad back from over-lifting since his twenties.
However, the deadlift is such a staple of an exercise. With a bit of discipline, so as to check your ego, one can keep deadlifts in their regular weight training rotation. Doing so will ensure a better chance at staving off the dreaded I can't pick things up off the floor when you're older. This capability will be preserved as you age, allowing you to perform normal tasks, day in day out.
A deadlift is simply picking weight up off the floor, and putting it back down in a controlled manner. It forces you to do so with correct form, which will be logged into your muscle memory. So when you actually need to pick something up outside the gym, in everyday life chores for example, you don't have to think. The form is already there, as well as the strength and stamina to do so.
Deadlifts will condition your legs, glutes, lower back, and trapezius (traps) muscles. A true compound lift. There are three main types you can cycle through from one deadlift session to the next.
→ Conventional
Load will be more or less even among your quads, hamstrings, and glutes.
→ Romanian
Load will be more pronounced in your glutes and hamstrings.
→ Sumo
Load will be more pronounced in you lower glutes, upper hamstring, and head of your quads.
All three will load your lower back and traps the same.
*Ideally, you would perform all these with an Olympic bar. However, using dumbbells is an option.
In terms of form, the main theme behind all three of these is the bar, or weight, goes straight up and down in a linear fashion. But your body, with proper form, facilitates this. That is a straight back with your hips moving rearward as the bar goes to the floor, and returning to normal as you pick the weight up off the floor.
Steady as she goes when first starting out. There is no need to pull insane amounts of weight. Keep your blinders on at the gym and try not to worry about what you see others doing. Focus on your form. Once you are confident in this area, then you can focus on adding weight. Shoot for your body weight at first, and go from there.
There you have it. Now all you have to do is have these in your lifting back pocket for the rest of your life, until you die of old age. At least you will be able to bend over and pick things up.
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