Different Deadlift Variations

Squats, presses, pulls. The fundamental movements of the body, the basic movements of strength. Deadlifting or lifting something off the ground has to be one of the most elementary of all human movements, and one of the most result making. Even though there's a good deal of conventional literature that claims, "Never deadlift. It will kill your back," there are at least as many or even more people who've rehabbed or eliminated injury from their backs by doing deadlifts.

Herman Goerner, on of the monster old time deadlifters said it was the basic test of human strength. Many people believe it is the best test of strength. I think that many people are either born with the leverage for great squats or great deadlifts, but few are born with leverages for both. But everybody will fall into one of the classes and if you need to investigate your true potential for strength, you have got to work both hard. You may or may not have the potentiality to be a world beater for one or the other, but they both add to one another so well and complete the full lifting potential of the body. Whatever your leverages are, accept nothing but a good deadlift.

I also believe you must find the variation of any exercise that fits you. Be it physically the best or least pain or injury producing or most fun or psychologically gratifying way of doing a specific exercise. In doing this you enable yourself to find the exercise that allows you to work the toughest and at the same time inspires you to work the toughest via delight for the greatest gains achievable.

Many people who come from a powerlifting purist background will tell you that nothing aside from the regular powerlifting style deadlift is sufficient or maybe pulling while standing on a 4" block could be OK as well as long as you copy the usually accepted form. The typically accepted form is knees bent, back arched, head up, pull pulling the bar up the legs beginning from the shins. (An over simplification simply to illustrate a point here).

If however you look at some of the greatest deadlifters in history you will find important divergences from the form as well as training variations that have been productive for other lifters. Lots of the great deafliters pull in a semi-stiff legged-high hip style as it suits their physical structure. Bob Peoples, one of the greatest deadlifters in history pulled that way with a rounded back and the air let out of his lungs. He was also a big fan of partials coaching.