deadlift = legs or back?

[scottninpo]

personally, i deadlift on leg day, just wondering how everyone out there splits their days

[GetPsycho]

back

[BIG TEXAN]

Deadlift is a "back" exercise. Yes you do hit the legs a little from deads but it main purpose is targeting the back.

[SonGoku]

Not to hijack the thread but what about stiff legged dead lifts?? That's more for the hamstrings right?? But it gotta hit the back as well or what??

[scottninpo]

i like to workout lower back and legs together, separating lower from upper back, reason for this is because of squats and deads, stiff or regular, hit lower back so much, it makes sense to keep them together, sort of along the lines of chest/shoulders/tri and back/traps/bis

[bigol'legs]

Deadlift is a "back" exercise. Yes you do hit the legs a little from deads but it main purpose is targeting the back.

but doing it stiff leg makes it a ham excersise IMO. I think it also depends on where you concetrate on.. I also dont bring my back up above over parallel.. that makes my concentrate more on hams.

[Bound for Muscle]

but doing it stiff leg makes it a ham excersise IMO. I think it also depends on where you concetrate on.. I also dont bring my back up above over parallel.. that makes my concentrate more on hams.

jesus fucking christ...is it just me or did the legs in your avatar grow about 3 inches in the past two weeks? been pumpin the synthol?

[cb25]

jesus fucking christ...is it just me or did the legs in your avatar grow about 3 inches in the past two weeks? been pumpin the synthol?

check with Secret Agent Red Ketchup and his Photoshop!!

regular deads mainly for back...but i always do stiff-legged deads for hams...i really started to see some growth on my hams when i started throwing those in...and i'm always sore for a couple days

[Juggernaut]

but doing it stiff leg makes it a ham excersise IMO. I think it also depends on where you concetrate on.. I also dont bring my back up above over parallel.. that makes my concentrate more on hams.

I'm with you on this one Big................man I love SLD's!

I do Deads on back day. I try to make sure to space a day or two between working back and legs.

[scottninpo]

i gotta say, i'm pretty surprised at how many bros consider this a back exercise vs. a leg exercise. the way i see it, your rotating two joints, your knees and your hips, to move the weight, so how can you not consider it a leg exercise? I know it hits your back as well, but it hits your traps, arms, delts, etc., also, when i deadlift, i don't think of squeezing my lats, i think of pushing my heels, any more comments on this?

[Juggernaut]

i gotta say, i'm pretty surprised at how many bros consider this a back exercise vs. a leg exercise. the way i see it, your rotating two joints, your knees and your hips, to move the weight, so how can you not consider it a leg exercise? I know it hits your back as well, but it hits your traps, arms, delts, etc., also, when i deadlift, i don't think of squeezing my lats, i think of pushing my heels, any more comments on this?

Well to be honest I consider this exercise a Base movement, something I start with on back day. For legs it's Squats, shoulders it's Clean & Press's, Chest it's Bench, so on and so forth.

I can understand your point and yes it does hit all those muscles however for me personnaly I feel it the most in my lower back more than any other area. You want something that really hits the lower back....................Good Mornings are the ticket. Do these slow and with perfect form and your lower back will be screaming at you all day. And forget about loading the bar with a lot of weight.............that bar rolls off your shoulders it'll skin you alive not to mention you might end up damaging your back.

[BIG TEXAN]

Well reason being I consider it a back exercise is because you're targeting almost every muscle in your back when doind deads properly. Yes you do use your legs but most of the pressure and weight is placed souly on the back. I don't know about ya'll but the only thing that hurts or aches after doing deads is my back.... not my legs.

[Pheedno]

The form in which I do DLs concentrates on lower back/lats.

I do get a ham pump from them which is why I do hams alternating on the same day/next day

Another way I look at it is there are 3 major power excericses in my routine Bench/Squat/DL. They are split up Mon/Wed/Fri

[scottninpo]

big tex, i think some of it may have to do with individual height, i'm 6'2", and have long legs, so i have to get my ass down a lot farther in relation to my body compared to those who are under 6', probably why most competive powerlifters are shorter, Pheedno, I split my routine into upper body/ lower body, but i find that if i dead lift heavy, it takes a lot longer for my legs to recover than my lower back, another thought, of the two styles, traditional and sumo, if you have ever done both, you know it hits your legs completely differently, sumo hittitng inner thighs tremendously, (which helps your squat a lot, btw!) come on guys, am i changing any minds out there?

[BIG TEXAN]

Well I am 6'2" also and I've been a powerlifter for over 10 years and have recently gotten into bb'ing. But Pheedno said it best that Deads, squats, bench press are labeled power lifts.

[scottninpo]

big tex, good, you're tall like me, when you squat, in order to get to parallel, do you find you have to bend over quite a bit? for myself, i have to lean forward on the bottom, and involves my lower back coming back up, and before everyone tells me to use a board or plates under my heels, i powerlifted for 5 years myself, so that is not an option!

[bigol'legs]

Big T... were on the same page.. except im only talking about stiff leg deadlifts.. not regular..

hehe and scottninpo you better not have rotating knees on SLD's

[bigol'legs]

sorry I was thrown of By SonGoku's post about stiff-leg deads.. I better refill my prescript for my Ridilin...

[chicamahomico]

i gotta say, i'm pretty surprised at how many bros consider this a back exercise vs. a leg exercise. the way i see it, your rotating two joints, your knees and your hips, to move the weight, so how can you not consider it a leg exercise? I know it hits your back as well, but it hits your traps, arms, delts, etc., also, when i deadlift, i don't think of squeezing my lats, i think of pushing my heels, any more comments on this?

I agree with scottninpo on this one. Deads are predominately a leg exrecise.

[Dude-Man]

I agree with scottninpo on this one. Deads are predominately a leg exrecise.

I think it really depends on how tall you are and how your form looks. I think another really important aspect is how short your arms are. longer arms means more legs.. shorter arms means more lower back. Personally, i find what kills me after DL's are my traps, my lower back, and my middle back. I think there was only one time that my legs were more sore than my back.. and that was the first time i did them.

[bigol'legs]

all I know is today I got that "stretching ans puking" feeling in my gut from deads...

[chicamahomico]

I think it really depends on how tall you are and how your form looks. I think another really important aspect is how short your arms are. longer arms means more legs.. shorter arms means more lower back. Personally, i find what kills me after DL's are my traps, my lower back, and my middle back. I think there was only one time that my legs were more sore than my back.. and that was the first time i did them.

I agree that it depends on a persons body mechanics form to a certain extent. However, I think that a proper deadlift is predominately a hip, hamstring, quad and glute exercise where the back, arms and shoulder girdle play a supporting role. I think shorter arms imply a depper knee bend( instead of leaning further forward ) which would make your legs work more.

[scottninpo]

looking from another angle, there are two differences between a squat and deadlift, your pushing the weight on squats and pulling on deadlift, and with deadlift you straighten up on the top, thinking of it like that, if you take out the position of your arms and eliminate the very last part of the movement, the two lifts are identicle, how can you say it doesn't predominantly hits legs? it's like saying bench press is for shoulders and flyes are for pecs, yeah, benching hits your front delts a lot, but your pecs are what's moving the weight

[chicamahomico]

Love the avatar scottninpo. Stern rules. Hank the angry drunken dwaft is hilarious.

[scottninpo]

haha, well i figure if you're not going to live healthy, you might as well live like hank, just do what you want to do!

[microphobia]

MHO its more back than legs
if you look at the lift from a side view the placement of the bar is where you change from back to legs,
on squats the bar should be across your rear delts witch should make a straight line through your hips to your heels puting the presure on hips hams glutes
deads either conventional-sumo the bar is in front of your body exerting preasure from lower back up to traps
even if only a static hold,just my 2cents
btw squat mon
dead thurs.

[scottninpo]

i just watched blood and guts for the first time and saw that dorian yates would start his deadlift set from the floor, but after the first rep, he wouldn't bend his knees, only his lower back, on each subsequent rep, is this how everyone else dls? if so, why? i've always done every rep from floor to chest out

[microphobia]

The only reason would be for sld other than that id say shity form,sld you dont bend your knees, reg deads should be from the floor each time while bending your knees, how much weight was he using?

[Dude-Man]

I agree that it depends on a persons body mechanics form to a certain extent. However, I think that a proper deadlift is predominately a hip, hamstring, quad and glute exercise where the back, arms and shoulder girdle play a supporting role. I think shorter arms imply a depper knee bend( instead of leaning further forward ) which would make your legs work more.

whoops, that's what i meant! sorry for the confusion.

[scottninpo]

he was pulling 495

[Da Bull]

Well reason being I consider it a back exercise is because you're targeting almost every muscle in your back when doind deads properly. Yes you do use your legs but most of the pressure and weight is placed souly on the back. I don't know about ya'll but the only thing that hurts or aches after doing deads is my back.... not my legs.

Agreed

[Da Bull]

i just watched blood and guts for the first time and saw that dorian yates would start his deadlift set from the floor, but after the first rep, he wouldn't bend his knees, only his lower back, on each subsequent rep, is this how everyone else dls? if so, why? i've always done every rep from floor to chest out

That's how I do them,just to target the back only.I save my legs for leg day.

[Juggernaut]

i just watched blood and guts for the first time and saw that dorian yates would start his deadlift set from the floor, but after the first rep, he wouldn't bend his knees, only his lower back, on each subsequent rep, is this how everyone else dls? if so, why? i've always done every rep from floor to chest out

All the way to the floor for me. I'm in no hurry when doing dead's...............if you're going to do them might as well get everything out of them. Oh and I bend the knees..................not bending them turns it from dead's to Sld's.

[microphobia]

Well 495 sounds like one strong bastard,
but I guess some one like him would be normal,
but it would still be concidered SLD's if his knees were not bent.

[scottninpo]

dorian was doing them on back day, so I'm assuming he wasn't doing sld's, there was a slight bend in the knees, it was just obvious he wasn't using his legs to move the weight. i guess this makes sense if your doing them as a back exercise, eliminating the legs alltogether.
it just looked strange, he is a huge mofo, known for his back, i agree with juggie, if you're going to do deads, you might as well get everything out of them, it's like squating down 3/4, doesn't make a whole lotta sense

[Juggernaut]

dorian was doing them on back day, so I'm assuming he wasn't doing sld's, there was a slight bend in the knees, it was just obvious he wasn't using his legs to move the weight. i guess this makes sense if your doing them as a back exercise, eliminating the legs alltogether.
it just looked strange, he is a huge mofo, known for his back, i agree with juggie, if you're going to do deads, you might as well get everything out of them, it's like squating down 3/4, doesn't make a whole lotta sense

I'm a little anal when it comes to deads. They can mess a back up big time so I make a lift, set it back, check my grip, check my form, take a deep breath and do the next rep. Like I said I'm in no hurry...................when we rush accidents happen.

[Shud]

i would have to say back for this.....like lower, lats and traps really....you only bend your legs slightly and all the effort really is lifting the weight through your back to return to the vertical.......jmo

[scottninpo]

i can't really say without watching your dl, but if you're only bending your knees slightly, shud, then you're not getting your ass down far enough, when i'm in bottom position, i'm darn near parallel, again, height, arm, leg length affect bottom position, but if you're not getting your ass into it, you're not doing it right, your turning it into a half sld

[getnlarg]

Deads= not just A back exercise, THE back exercise. IMHO

[goldenFloyd]

true, getnlarg, true. I do stiffs for legs and also stiffs for back day (twice a week) once heavy and once light. Reppin out at a measely 405... I am going to start bending my knees soon to really get all out of the back I can. I try and dead and squat twice a week. Must get huge.