Ground Up Strength

One Legged Deadlift? What is That? And What Does it Do for your Strength Training?

I am seeing enough one legged deadlifts or "single leg deadlifts" that I am compelled to make a point about how something becomes a deadlift. For something to become a deadlift, you must lift if from a "dead stop" off the floor. Why off the floor? Because if you only say "dead stop" as a way of categorizing a lift you end up in a goofy world where exercises in which the bar "stops" can be called a deadlift. A deadlift is not a category of lifts…it is simply one lift with some variations that are similar but not technically "deadlifts."

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Deadlifts and Muscle Mass: Myths that Sell

Somebody recently implied that I try to sell pure strength training to everybody. The idea being, I suppose, that I want to convince everybody to engage in maximum strength training and think it is "bad" if they don't, or, by extension, fail to follow my advice. Well, those who have read my blog extensively, of course, know better, since the "selling of strength" training is something I adamantly oppose and often complain about.

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Gripping the Bar for Deadlifts: Correct Grip, Supporting Strength, and Calluses

This post is meant to discuss three basic propositions about training the deadlift. The first concerns a statement that we frequently read or hear concerning the development of supporting grip strength for deadlifts: Deadlifting is all you need to train your grip for deadlifts. I'm going to explain to you why this false assumption is made and how it is not true for everyone. The second has to do with the correct way to grip the bar. I am not sure that many people even know there is a correct method to grip the bar that results in a more secure grip and more protection against ripping the skin, and ripping off calluses. The third concerns calluses themselves. So here goes.

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Should I Push or Pull for Deadlifts?

I see this all the time. Should I just call this blog the "false dichotomy" blog? However, if there is one thing I hate more than people always preaching one of two extremes in strength training it's people teaching the deadlift that don't know what they are doing.

Verbal cues become mental cues. Mental cues slowly morph into mental imagery. Mental imagery becomes a visual mental schema of the lift. What am I saying in plain language here? I am saying that the words people use will eventually affect the way you "look" at an exercise with your mind's eye. It will 'become' that word. If I say "wet" to you then you visualize water. You don't think about the concept of "wetness" in some abstract way. Well, the same thing goes for most everything, whether you wish it or not.

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What Muscle Should I Feel Working When I Do Deadlifts and Why Do I Feel It Mostly in My Back?

One of the most common questions out there is what muscle group one should predominantly feel working during the deadlift. Also related to this is where one should expect to get DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) after they deadlift.

The question occurs because many trainees have been told, rightly, that the deadlift is not a "back exercise" but a hip dominant exercise that utilizes the entire posterior chain. So, when trainees feel that most of the work seems to be centered in the lower back they become concerned that they are not performing the lift correctly.

Continue Reading » What Muscle Should I Feel Working When I Do Deadlifts and Why Do I Feel It Mostly in My Back?