Heavy deadlift negatives okay?

[betatest]

Guess I'll post this over here. I put this under powerlifting, but I'm interested in replies from anyone. Just wondering what peoples' thoughts are on controlling the negative when repping heavy weight with deads?

Currently I work out in my apt using a squat rack. I lower the weight slowly during the negative to avoid making too much noise and freaking out the neighbors. I haven't had any injuries doing it this way for a while ( knock on wood ), but I was wondering how taboo it really is to perform a slow, heavy negative with the lift? Is this a good way to fvck up your back in the long run? Seems like there are differing opinions on this.

[dirtybrit55]

out of no choice I just kinda let the weight pull me back down. I give a little resistance but not much. When I'm near my limit it is impossible for me to go slowly down. Plus I am 6'3 with long limbs so my body type doesnt lend itself to deadlifts anyway.

[Iceman1800]

Heck ya they are ok. As a change of pace, start them at the top. Take the bar off the pins, slowly lower it to the floor(6-8 sec) pause for a brief second and explode back up.

[betatest]

Heck ya they are ok. As a change of pace, start them at the top. Take the bar off the pins, slowly lower it to the floor(6-8 sec) pause for a brief second and explode back up.

That seems to be the consensus with the people who responded here and in the BDBB forum. Thanks for the tip. I'll give those a shot.

dirtybrit, Iceman, thanks for the replies.

[phreezer]

I would never advise anyone to do heavy negatives with DL.. I can't really see why you would.. IMO, you are just asking for an injury. If you're looking to increase your DL you should work on your hip flexers and your traps... I would advise doing heavy Reverse banded dl's and Add in GHR's along with Pullthroughs into your routine.

[Iceman1800]

I would never advise anyone to do heavy negatives with DL.. I can't really see why you would.. IMO, you are just asking for an injury. If you're looking to increase your DL you should work on your hip flexers and your traps... I would advise doing heavy Reverse banded dl's and Add in GHR's along with Pullthroughs into your routine.

Well, they helped my dl move from low 4's to mid 5's but what would I know

[nickrizz]

i would think heavy dead negatives would put too much BAD pressure on your spine

[Rsox1]

yeah the deadlift is probably one of the only exercises that I can think of where the neagtive could very easily be more negative, than positive, your just asking to throw out yopur lower back going even heaver than you can handle and just doing negatives with em

[betatest]

yeah the deadlift is probably one of the only exercises that I can think of where the neagtive could very easily be more negative, than positive, your just asking to throw out yopur lower back going even heaver than you can handle and just doing negatives with em

Not thinking in terms of just doing negatives with them, but rather in terms of handling the weight on the descent while performing heavy reps, is it ideal/safer to lower the weight quickly and remove a lot of resistance from the effort, or is it safe enough to apply enough resistance to maintain a slower controlled descent? No matter how you deadlift, you're going to have to lower the weight somehow. The main question is how much resistance you apply to do so?

Heh, sorry for not explaining things better. I probably shouldn't have used the word negative to begin with.

[phreezer]

Not thinking in terms of just doing negatives with them, but rather in terms of handling the weight on the descent while performing heavy reps, is it ideal/safer to lower the weight quickly and remove a lot of resistance from the effort, or is it safe enough to apply enough resistance to maintain a slower controlled descent? No matter how you deadlift, you're going to have to lower the weight somehow. The main question is how much resistance you apply to do so?

Heh, sorry for not explaining things better. I probably shouldn't have used the word negative to begin with.

Personaly, I prefer using bumper plates to train DL's. This way you can just let them go from the top of the lift. Doing Negatives, or spending too much time lowering the weight can put way too much pressure on your lower lumbar region and could seriously injure you.
Watch video's of pl's who dl over 700lbs.. they release the weight from the top (in a somewhat controled fashion) for a reason

[kdawg21]

Deadlift negatives can be potentially harmful, and I would not recommend them

[betatest]

Personaly, I prefer using bumper plates to train DL's. This way you can just let them go from the top of the lift. Doing Negatives, or spending too much time lowering the weight can put way too much pressure on your lower lumbar region and could seriously injure you.
Watch video's of pl's who dl over 700lbs.. they release the weight from the top (in a somewhat controled fashion) for a reason

Thanks for the feedback bro. I'll have to rig something up so I can drop the weight faster without making a ton of noise. In the meantime, I recorded myself during a recent dead workout and realized that I've got some form issues to correct beforehand. Namely, not squatting low enough and keeping my torso vertical enough while in the start position. I'm using too much lower back in the bottom of the lift and need to fix that.

[ravenak]

dude...the key is FORM!!! If you can maintain perfect form while lowering the weight then it will be beneficial & WON'T HURT YOU!

[betatest]

dude...the key is FORM!!! If you can maintain perfect form while lowering the weight then it will be beneficial & WON'T HURT YOU!

Yep, agreed. I've been practicing sumo style lately, which seems to fit my structure much better ( long legs/shins ). It's helping to get my legs more involved in the lift and I can sit back in more of a squat position that way. Thanks for the input bro.

[ravenak]

I've been deadlifting sumo style for a while now...another thing that will put your deadlift THROUGH THE ROOF is to set the weight completely down at the bottom of every rep (most people come within a few inches or bounce the weight off the ground). You don't have to leg go of the bar or anything like that, just be sure you're pulling the full weight through the entire movement.

[radar1234]

in my gym the owner freaked out when i let the weight hit the floor.i had to start lowering it in a very controlled and "quieter" manner.as long as your form is good you should not have a problem.ive adjusted quite well and my weights are still high.i do though wear a belt on my heavy sets.

[betatest]

I've been deadlifting sumo style for a while now...another thing that will put your deadlift THROUGH THE ROOF is to set the weight completely down at the bottom of every rep (most people come within a few inches or bounce the weight off the ground). You don't have to leg go of the bar or anything like that, just be sure you're pulling the full weight through the entire movement.

Thanks for the tip bro. I'm guilty of lowering the bar within a few inches of the ground before the next rep primarily to avoid making too much noise, but I'll focus on doing full range of motion. I guess some sacrifice must be made in this game, even if it comes from the neighbors.

in my gym the owner freaked out when i let the weight hit the floor.i had to start lowering it in a very controlled and "quieter" manner.as long as your form is good you should not have a problem.ive adjusted quite well and my weights are still high.i do though wear a belt on my heavy sets.

In the same boat, eh. A friend commented recently about how funny it was that I lowered a lot of weight as if I was putting a baby to bed, lol. I'm hunting around for a good hardcore gym that I can workout at, and finally put this ninja stealth deadlifting behind me.

[kdawg21]

The guy freaked out huh? So what are you supposed to do when you get to failure and you hae to get the weight off of you. Its a gym for crying out loud.... sorry thats just one of my pet peeves..... the weights are going to hit the floor, its called gravity. Tell them to get the hell over it or refund your money.

[Doc.Sust]

f the gym!!! you can't make gains in the deadlift if you are goin to get in trouble for hiiting the floor to loud. you need out of there. and as far as negstive deadlifts, i can't see them being useful ,lot of other exercises. chech out the west side progrm, most people who do this rally don't train the deadlift that often and some people have great result. the method of training the deadlift using there method is known as "transmutation" definition is traing all the individual parts of the deadlift, and not using the core lift to do so. seadlifts are increased using, goodmorning,shrugs,squats, high bar squats, rack pulls at different height and speed pulls fro the floor(light weight, 50 to 60 % for 6 -8 sets of singles.) now don't get me wrong, you still have to deadlift, but not every week and not balls to the wall all the time. check out elitefts.com, may give you some ideas and explain this type of training more.

[power65]

I don't see much advantage in doing negatives for DLs. This is good for some exercises, but with DLs you run too much of a risk of injury trying to control the weight doing negatives. There are so many other ways to improve your DL than to take a risk like that.

[RJstrong]

I know this is an old thread, but what the hell... try chains, bands, bands & chains (work speed!), rack pulls, hypers, good mornings, leg press...... anything but negatives. It is always necessary to control the weight down... but as others have stated I think your setting yourself up for injury if you attempt heavy negatives with this lift. I have given you a very minimal list of exercises with a nice carry over to increasing your deadlift max... try starting there.

[phreezer]

This old thing resurfaces?????