Sunday, May 3, 2009

Favorite exercise




When it comes to leg exercises, most people first think of squats (there's an expression that "squats are king"), but I've personally come to appreciate the deadlift as a much better choice. It's been shown that putting the bar on the back of the shoulders (as is done with squats) puts the knees in a position to receive more stress than keeping the weight in the front of the body. Also, resting the bar on the shoulders can have a bad effect on your neck and upper spine over the years. I know because I had both knee problems and neck problems that seemed to come from excessive squatting. By switching to deadlifts, I don't have those problems anymore. Deadlifts just seem more natural anyway--I mean, when you're just doing things in real life and you need to lift something heavy, do you think you'd put it on your back or just pick it up?
The deadlift is, in my opinion, the most basic weight training exercise and it works your entire body in one exercise. You can do this with a barbell, with dumbbells (as shown in these pictures), cables, heavy objects, or even with no weight at all. However, this movement must be performed correctly with strict attention to keeping the spine in a safe position.
There are several different ways to do this exercise, but here's a good way to start. Start, as in figure A with your weights on the floor in front of you. First, stand straight, keep your core tight with your chest out and your butt slightly sticking out, feet a little wider than shoulder width. This keeps the muscles along your spine flexed throughout the movement and protects your lower back. Now squat down, maintaining the "butt out" position (NEVER round your back, as shown in the third photo). Keeping the weights close to your body, pick up the weights, grip tightly, keep your shoulders back and head up, and then stand up. When you're standing with the weights, keep everything tight. Then, keeping your back in that tightened position, squat back down almost to the floor, then stand up again. Do 2 or 3 sets of 10 to 15 repetitions, resting about a minute between sets. It's super important that you don't let your back round (this puts the muscles in your back in a vulnerable position). You can do this with your feet closer together or farther apart. Closer together will work more of your quadriceps, farther apart will work more butt and hamstring muscles.

9 comments:

  1. I love deadlifts too. I totally agree with you on the squats - my ACL can't take them, but deadlifts seem ok.

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  2. I TOTALLY concur! I was out of workout commission for almost 7 months last year because I screwed up my right knee squatting on the smith machine. I knew it the second it happened. I accidentally had my feet too far under my body and put too much pressure on my knees. I felt the *pop* and that was it. I took forever to heal. Incidentally, while I initially got the smith for safety reasons because I worked out at home, relying on it too much really hampers the smaller supporting muscle groups which I think helped cause the injury. I do primarily deadlifts now, with dumbbell squats thrown in on occasion as the weight distribution is more neutral.

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  3. Oh, man, that story makes me cringe! Yikes! I'm so glad you found a better way. I do like the smith machine for some lifts with light weights, but I always felt a lot of weird pressure on my lower back when I would do squats on it.
    --Julie

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  4. Absolutely! I felt that weird pressure on my back also. I never felt comfortable squatting on the smith. The movement is way too rigid and as I mentioned the stabilizer muscles really suffer. My knee wasn't getting any better for months until I started really high doses of Glucosamine/Chondroitin three times a day. In less than 30 days all the pain subsided, especially the constant throbbing and aching that seemed to never go away.

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  5. Does this totally do away with squats then? How often per week do you do these?

    Thanks!

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  6. Not for me. I do these first and then do dumbbell squats on a sporadic basis. I work each bodypart once per week since recovery takes a lot longer than it used to. :-) Deadlifts really are the best full body exercise. I did them yesterday and really feel them in my thighs, back and traps today.

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  7. deadlifts are awesome but squats shouldnt be ignored in my opinion. you can always do front squats, leg press or hack squats... or just squats with little or no weight at all. bruce lee only used 95 pounds

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  8. Yeah, there are definitely many ways to approach squats. Technically, lunges are also squats and I love lunges. Front squats, back squats, and hack squats are super rough on my knees, so I just have to avoid those choices. Otherwise, my opinion is that it's always best to mix it up.
    --Julie

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  9. I hope this helps a little.Its from the program that I am on.Of course I am not an expert so be careful when attempting these.
    Link:
    http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v225/GRAPHITE-SLINGER/ScanImage05.jpg

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