Dr. Dustin talks about the importance of deadlifts and why doing them proper is the key to injury prevention!

Really? No Deadlifts???

Welcome back! Ok to be honest, I used my title as nothing but a draw, because you should NOT stop doing deadlifts. You just need to stop doing them wrong! If anything you should start doing MORE deadlifts.

You see, I’ve had a number of patients that have come in and they’ve been told by a friend or sometimes even their primary care physician to not do deadlifts because they’ll “get hurt”. I’ve actually heard the same thing with squats. The problem is, those are essential functional movements that are done multiple times a day whether you realize it or not.

How do I do them through my day?

If you’re going to sit down on a chair, you’re doing a squat. If you’re going to pick up a potted plant from the ground, that’s going to be a deadlift. So rather than trying to avoid them which is impossible, you just want to train good form on them so you can prevent injury when doing them in your every day life.

Let’s get into the form:

For good form on deadlift you want to start with having whatever you are going to pick up right between your feet. From the upright position the movement actually starts taking your hips and butt straight back like you’re trying to touch a wall behind you. Keeping your chest up and your stomach and back completely straight, your entire torso will naturally start to lower.

Let your arms hang straight down, and once your hands finally reach to around your knees you want to start to bend you legs to get your body lower to the ground.

Make sure during this process you never let your upper or lower back round forward, it always stays completely straight. You also want to make sure and keep your stomach tight, and your weight centered over your mid foot.

When your hands finally reach what you want to pick up, you just reverse the motion. Start by standing your legs up until your hands reach your knees, and then you start to bring your torso back up by driving your hips forward. When this happens you’re putting the proper load on the proper muscles at the proper time.

What if I’m new to deadlifts and I can’t even do 1 with good form?

If you’re new to working on deadlifts you can even start with something called segmented deadlifts. Just set your weight or a jug of water or whatever you are working with on a chair, and then work on the top half of the movement. From standing upright, downward hinge to the object, and back to standing position. Then you can move on to the lower half of the training. Do multiple repetitions from the ground to the knees, back to the ground again, always training perfect form.

In a perfect world you could have a trainer work with you on this stuff, but if you don’t have access to that then at least do it with a mirror around so you can watch yourself work. Make sure your torso stays straight and strong, and don’t worry about any weight until the movement is perfect.

If you’re in the Texoma area and we can help you we have a personal trainer we can connect you with, and we also love and suggest CrossFit Barbell Republic as we work directly with them.

Thanks for joining us, below is a video summary if you’re a visual person, and we’ll see you next time! 

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