Random health and exercise thoughts - Page 1644

Quote:

Originally Posted by TKJTG 

After a month of trying to develop a prettier deadlift I decided to record myself again...looks just as ugly with just as much of a back curve as before. At this point just gonna say fk it and continue pulling this way since it never causes me any pain and I'm progressing.

Please don't. That was horrible. You are young now so it doesn't hurt, but it will....

What have you tried? My recommendation for these things is pretty simple i) mobility, ii) stability, iii) strength. For that first step, can you get into a good pulling position? Put a couple of plates on the bar. Stand in front of it, and have a friend take a video of you trying to get into a pulling position with a neutral spine. If your pulling position is out of whack, it's almost certainly a mobility issue, and will continue to sabotage the rest of the movement. If your pulling position looks good, and the position doesn't break down until you start moving, then it's almost certainly some sort of strength issue. 

Before you give up completely, at least do this test to figure out if the problem is more mobility or more strength related. Either way, there are ways to fix it - though they will probably take longer than a month.

Coldsnap, I love your enthusiasm for mobility work, but it's worth remembering that it's not the answer for EVERYTHING. Mobility allows you to get into a proper position. Just because you can get into a proper position doesn't mean you can hold that position against an outside force, or through a compound movement. In that sense, mobility is just a first step. Like I said to TKJTG, mobility gets you into a good pulling position. After that, whether or not the athlete can deadlift with good form is a matter of strength - not just overall strength, but strength in the right places. People with poor mobility also tend to have strength imbalances that compensate. Once the mobility is improved, the athlete must commit to fixing these strength imbalances, otherwise the mobility gains don't actually mean much, and the athlete will continue to move poorly.