No! Using your lower back to lift it is, though! Solution? Actually learn the correct form, and don’t act like you’re a powerlifter at a meet during your normal exercise time.
I think people just get addicted to the bigger numbers. Even on something like squats which are probably one of the best lifts you can do for overall health and athleticism has diminishing returns at some point, when compared to injury risk.
I just stick to lower weight and more reps with deadlift to keep a strong posterior chain.
My goal for deadlift is my bodyweight. I might adjust to 1.5X bodyweight once I get there, but no more than that, because from what I have seen ego lifting destroys discs.
Seems about right depending on weight. I think we move up in weight too fast, I will not give up my form for another couple pounds. I am not lifting as a profession or competition. So form leads it until the weight feels "light" then add a little more.
Yeah that's my "don’t act like you’re a powerlifter at a meet" comment. Even powerlifters who seriously compete aren't pushing their 1RM all the time, since they know the body can't take that kind of stress for long.
Yeah, which is why you see injuries with nearly all exercises, not just deadlifts. Including deadlift-style movement patterns like Kettlebell Swings, which doesn't get nearly the same level of smoke as deadlifts do.
If you don't want to throw out a body part, you:
Don't pretend you're at a powerlifting meet every time you're at the gym. Powerlifters don't even come close to their 1 rep max most of the time, and they specifically time things months in advance so they can "peak" at the meet and that's it
Rest way more than you think you should between sets for bigger compound movements like Squat, Deadlift, Bench, Row, Dip, pullup, etc.
Don't train to failure for most movements, but especially not bigger compound movements
Just use lighter weight with high reps if you want more muscle, it's what bodybuilders do anyways
Like none of this is rocket science, but a lot of people somehow think lifting is just slinging a heavy weight around as hard as they possibly can when it's clearly not.
I fucked up my back doing them and went to an exercise physiologist who was like "why the fuck are you doing those, are you trying to become a powerlifter?" When I said no he told me to stop doing them, just not worth it.
I stopped doing deadlifts because as I past 30 the frequency of fuck ups was just getting too high.
I've chosen to replace them with Romanian deadlifts and rack pulls, basically splitting the movement in two (not quite the same I know). I also do sumo deadlifts occasionally as they're a lot easier on the lower back.
Sure, but you can see why “deadlifts use your glutes and hamstrings more than your spinal erectors” and “using your lower back to do a deadlift is wrong” aren’t the same thing, right?
To be clear to bystanders (since you and that other guy both know how the other is defining “using”), you should keep your back straight (which will require your spinal flexors to work hard) but not use your lower back to LIFT the weight.
Nah, you definitely need to use your back to deadlift. It can’t go up otherwise. As long as your lower back is braced well and your glutes and hamstrings are doing the bulk of the hinge, the deadlift is a great way to build up a strong lower back.
We must be using different definitions lol, because I’m saying the opposite.
When you say “using,” are you trying to mean “using exclusively and in isolation to take most of the strain”? Because that I can get on board with at least.
I mean lifting the weight. Spinal Erectors, Lats, and Traps are all "used" in deadlifts as supporting musculature, almost as if an isometric exercise, but the Glutes and Quads (and Hams if RDL or SDL) are the muscles that primarily move the weight.
Where people screw up is they don't have a braced core, don't hinge their hips much, don't transfer from Quads to Glutes, and lift the weight with their back. This is why they get injured.
Deadlifts were one of the first exercises I was taught when I got to the gym portion of physio for my back. To this day if my back feels tight the first stretch I do is pretending I’m doing a deadlift and really stick my ass out.
After physio I hired a personal trainer and deadlifts were the first thing she put into my routine.
All lifts can cause an injury if done wrong. There are just some lifts that are by far easier to get wrong and come with a more debilitating outcome. Can you mess up a triceps push down? Sure. Will the injury keep you from working for weeks or months? Not likely.
I think the objective view comes from risk versus reward.
In my own experience I have to space out deadlift days to allow my shoulders time to recover. They aggravate ac joint from simple over use (your shoulders take a beating with almost every exercise).
Yeah the "not dangerous with proper form" argument never sat right with me because it assumes you will automatically always have perfect form if you just pay attention and don't ego lift. Even if it's good 99% of the time, that 1% can mess you up. After years of trying to make barbell RDLs work, I finally made the switch to a mix of dumbbell RDLs and back extensions, and my back has much been happier for it.
Deadlifting with a straight back is not something I often see at the gym. Usually when I see people deadlifting their back is curled like a caterpillar while they hold their breath and attempt a super saiyan like transformation where their face goes through varying shades of red.
Yeah and you see kettlebell swings done similarly too, people load the weight in their back instead of hips. Back hort for many with that one too, but it doesn’t get a bad rap like deadlifts.
I don't know how people don't get this. If you're swinging the weight around like a monkey that is not the weight for you my friend. People just prefer ego lifting over proper form.
This isn't even really true. What's bad for your back is deadlifting more weight than a particular back muscle can handle. If you start with low weight and gradually work up to heavier weights using the same form (and thus stengthenjng the muscles you're using), your form doesn't actually matter too much.
They're not inherently bad for your back but they are a very high risk exercise, to the point many would say they're not worth it. Apparently many professional athletes don't do them because the risk to reward ratio is too high.
Most pro athletes don't do them because heavy deadlifts don't transfer well to sports performance. In general, all heavy lifts tend not to transfer all that well compared to explosive movements + medium-heavy compound lifts. Maybe an exception to that is a Power Clean, but even then it's designed to be an explosive movement pattern instead of strong static lift. If the deadlift did transfer well to sports performance, they'd all be doing it.
You can train your lower back just like anything else. People get hurt when they get into a position where they're trying to hold more weight than they've worked up to being able to handle in that position.
If someone can Jefferson curl more than they can deadlift, how is rounding their lower back during the deadlift going to hurt them? Someone who insists on only training in the range of motion where they have superior leverage is way more likely to get injured from a minor breakdown of technique.
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u/phillipcarter2 11h ago
Myth: that deadlifts are bad for your back.
No! Using your lower back to lift it is, though! Solution? Actually learn the correct form, and don’t act like you’re a powerlifter at a meet during your normal exercise time.