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A Guide To Deadlifting Correctly
By: Simon White
Done correctly, the deadlift is a wonderful way of training your whole body and putting on muscle all over. Done wrongly, however, and you put your lower back in grave danger. Here's how to make sure you do it right.
Done properly, some argue that the deadlift is the best exercise for building muscle mass all over your body and for strengthening all major muscle groups.
Deadlifts are also great for strengthening the entire back and your body's core muscles making it fantastic for preventing lower back problems.
Muscles Targeted By The Deadlift
As mentioned earlier, the dealift targets all the major muscle groups and can therefore improve muscle size and strength in the following areas:
Latissimus dorsi (upper back), trapezius (upper back and neck area), erector spinae (the muscles which support your spine), gluteals (buttocks), hamstrings (back of the thighs), quadriceps (front of the thighs), psoas (hip flexors), core muscles (your abs and obliques).
The bar needs to be gripped tightly the exercise also trains your forearm muscles.
Benefits Of Deadlifting
The whole body is worked; as all the major muscle groups are worked when you perform a deadlift, you'll see muscle size increases all over. It is thought that bringing serveral muscle groups into play at once can even boost your body's levels of anabolic hormones naturally.
As your muscles have to work together to complete the lift, the exercise will also help improve your body's coordination.
Because deadlifts utilise your whole body, you can also use it with light weights as a warm-up at the start of your workout.
Builds Useful Strength
Lifting objects up from the ground is something that many of us do in our every day lives, so strengthening the muscles required for these activites helps us do this more easily. Furthermore, learning the correct way to deadlift in the gym means we are more likely to lift everyday objects correctly too, lowering the risk of lower back injury. As core strength is built, the lower back is further protected from strains.
How To Do The Deadlift
Stand with your feet shoulder width apart and the barbell in front of you. Grab the bar with your hands outside of your legs (with your outer thighs touching the inner part of your fore-arms) and get the bar as close to your shins as you can.
You can either grip the bar with an overhand grip or underhand - whichever is most comfortable for you. When deadlifting a heavy weight, a combination grip is often used (one hand grips overhanded and the other underhanded). This is useful to prevent the bar from rolling out of your grip.
Keep your back in a neutral position (maintaining its natural curves, not hunched over or overly arched), with your head looking straight forward. Your legs should be flexed as if in the squat position. Pull in your lower abs to stabilse your core. Push your chest forward and hold your shoulders back keeping them over the bar and making sure they are not rounded.
Gripping the bar tightly, lift the weight up by pushing with the feet. The legs should be providing the main driving force. Be sure to keep your shoulders back and hold your spine with a natural curve (neutral position) for the whole exercise. Keep looking straight ahead and ensure the bar remains in contact with the body all the way up.
The finishing point of the lift is standing up with the bar held in front of the body touching the front of the upper thighs.
Lower the bar back to the floor in a smooth, controlled fashion by reversing the process. You should breathe out when you lift the weight and breathe in when lowering. This will help to keep your blood pressure under check as holding your breath through the movement can lead to a dangerous increase in blood pressure.
Caution
As with any exercise it is really important to observe the correct form and technique. Lifting to heavy a weight in an uncontrolled manner is asking for injury. If you have existing lower back problems or any heart or blood pressure issues you should consult your doctor before trying the deadlift.
Variations On The Deadlift
The deadlift described above with the feet shoulder width apart and gripping the bar outside of the legs is the standard deadlifting technique.
Sumo Deadlift
The sumo deadlift is designed to reduce the stress on the lumbar vertebrae (lower back). Stand with your feet further apart than shoulder width and grip the bar with the arms inside the legs instead of to the outside. Perform the lift as above.
Stiff Legged Deadlift
The stiff legged deadlift is a great exercise for development of the hamstrings (muscles at the back of the thighs). Start with the bar on a rack so it is raised off the floor just above knee height. Holding the bar with a shoulder width grip, lift the bar off the rack and step backward enough so you can lower the weight. Whilst keeping a slight bend in the legs at the knees, flex at the hips to lower the bar.
How far you can lower the bar will depend on your flexibility and strength. You may not be able to fully lower the bar to the floor. After lowering, bring the bar back up smoothly to the starting position. Breathe in as you lower the bar and out as you raise it.
More fitness articles are added regularly at http://www.homomuscle.com/fitness
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