Round back deadlift?

**Sh0t** · Posted On: 6/12/2007 3:26pm

zerchers are awesome. If you are hardcore, try them from the floor, old school style.

They can be done with a flat back though(i do them with a flat back).

Good mornings are very similar to Stiff-leg deads, they are both posterior chain exercises. I prefer the good morning to the stiff-leg dead but I prefer the romanian deadlift to both. GHR comes second for me, but most don't have access to it.

Good mornings are pretty safe unless you have problems with compression forces on your spine or shoulder. I'd say they are safer than stiff-leg deads. There is little reason to use the stiff leg deadlift if you know how to do good-mornings and romanian deadlifts.

The superman exercise hyper-extends the spine, which is not a good idea. The hyper-extension is actually misnamed, as you shouldn't hyper extend the spine, but curl up to a flat back from a flexed spine.

Off-topic, but maybe not.

Zerchers are a prime exercise in...sexual artistry. Carrying a zercher is very similar to picking up your woman in that sweet Prince Charming move, carrying her in your arms. They help a lot with keeping a chick up in the air for a long time to. I have a whole bunch of these kinda carryovers...see my title.

The zercher squat though IS a squat, not really a deadlift style move. You cradle the weight in your arms and then squat with it. I would rather do a snatch grip deadlift than do a zercher style deadlift. YOu can increase the range of motion a lot more safely and effectively. A snatch-grip deadlift standing on a box is probably the best bang-for-your-buck exercise out there.

A narrow grip on the bar in the good-morning or squat is a bit safer on your shoulders. It also makes for a better shelf to carry the bar in the low bar position.

The Stuary McGill back stuff is bar none the best out there, AFAIK. Anybody with back issues should def check it out.

How do you feel about Gina: http://www.t-nation.com/forum_images/469ec-gina.jpg

**Teh El Macho** · Posted On: 6/14/2007 9:53am

Gina is a hootie. I had to use pagewash.com to get to t-nation because it's been blocked at work. :tongue6: Check out Andressa Vieira on youtube :) Or Wendy Rider in extremefitness.com (she lives right up my alley... drool).

Ok, ok, back to the topic, check how this guy does deadlifts. He archs his upper back a bit.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=TK4UIxKIxtc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK4UIxKIxtc

I've always tried to keep a back straight, from neck to lumbar area (like most literature suggest). However, it feels much safer, stable and stronger (at least for me), to curve the upper back a bit and looking up, like this dude does.

... if I could only lift as much as he does :(

**spirez** · Posted On: 6/14/2007 12:15pm

Did you check out the the recent deadlift articles on t-nation? They mention how some back curvature is ok in a regular deadlift if you know what you are doing

**Sh0t** · Posted On: 6/14/2007 1:32pm

Yea, I've been following those articles. Pretty good. They are talking about thoracic curving thought, not lumbar.

Current picture of Jamie up there is mmmm.

I might give those snatch-grip RACK PULLS, a try. Never thought about doing my snatch grip deads in rack pull form.

**Teh El Macho** · Posted On: 6/14/2007 2:08pm

Ohhhh, that's a good idea. That would blast the crap out of your lats and legs even more (like if the regular DL isn't doing that already:P) I got to try that tonight (deadlift night for me tonight.)

I wonder what the 1RM snatch-grip / 1RM clean grip ratio would be like.

**Sh0t** · Posted On: 6/14/2007 2:39pm

My PR in the clean grip is 675 @ 235
My snatch grip deadlift is 580, with wraps, i might get a few more pounds on.

i rarely do rack pulls of any type though because my sticking point is the bottom

85% or so of your clean grip is pretty average for the snatch grip dl.

**Teh El Macho** · Posted On: 6/14/2007 8:22pm

Man, that's a lot. At 158, I calculate my 1RM clean grip at 321 (my 5RM is 285). I don't use wraps. My 1RM for rack pulls should be around 340-something (my 5RM is around 305) - I need to start using wraps. With the rack pulls, I have to take a brief pause after the 3rd rep, regain grip and do the 4th and 5th (#@$! weak right hand grip).

I like rack pulls right after doing leg presses. That hits the living **** out of my hips and quads. I used to neglect DLs in favor of squats - big mistake :tongue6:

**Sh0t** · Posted On: 6/15/2007 2:14pm

The lowerbody portion of my usual session looks like this(I use a westside template modified a bit to de-emphasize powerlifting and to emphasize fighting).

Max Effort day:
Snatch or Clean Grip Deadlift, working up to a 1rm
Good mornings, wide stance, working triples
Reverse Lunge(one of my favorites), alternating legs until I get 3 reps per leg)

Dynamic Effort day:
Power Excercise slot(box squats[triples] OR power cleans[singles] OR power snatches[singles]
Romanian deadlifts if I box squatted OR good mornings if i did the pulls), heavy triples
GHR for reps