The deadlift is a staple strength-building exercise that impacts muscle groups in the upper and lower body. | Reply to this comment, January 11, 2014 at 6:29 am As to spine compression, consider the following: The musculature you build up braces your spine in addition to lifting the weight. At that point they said “its one of the worst things you can do for your spine”. The good thing about this movement is the fact that the compression on the spine is kept to a minimum, since the bar is loaded in the extremities and not on the axial skeleton. | Reply to this comment, August 26, 2013 at 1:45 pm Might as well go home and do some reps... As you get older, lifting weights demands greater attention to detail. I don’t quite understand the mentality of some people today. It's crucial to let the spine round and keep the chin tucked throughout. I liken this question to pizza. The glute-ham raise is my favorite alternative here because it works both the glutes and hamstrings simultaneously while putting lower amounts of stress on the spine in comparison to heavy deadlifts and good mornings. If I were to do those with weight (pull-ups, dips, planks), would they compress my spine? (1995) suggests that these increases in bone density are maintained for many years following cesation of lifting. This TA did his 135 lb (HINT: that’s not a lot) deadlifts from a six-inch box (something I would only have ADVANCED lifters do), with atrocious form. Given that I had just started Stronglifts 5X5 and most of the exercises compress the spine, I'm guessing it's not the best program for me anymore. As a basic two-phase lift, it requires only a weighted barbell to complete. Editor’s note: Stuart McRobert’s first byline in IRON MAN appeared in 1981. It’s not uncommon for men with enormous (wide) backs to be seen doing heavy deadlifts. First, Welch et al.published a study looking at the effects of a 16-week free-weight resistance training routine on patients with lower back pain for greater than three months in duration. | Reply to this comment, December 18, 2018 at 6:15 pm Doing perfectly will help also strengthen your core, lower back, and reduce the risk of lower back injuries. Squats, deadlifts, etc can too. A more balanced approach to working out both sides of the body gives you good results. Back pain affects all age groups, both sexes and sometimes the pain is related to a specific activity. | Reply to this comment, January 9, 2013 at 11:51 pm | Reply to this comment, November 5, 2013 at 9:14 am | Reply to this comment, September 20, 2013 at 11:03 am Different styles of deadlift exist, so if you have trouble with one style of deadlift, you can experiment with another style. Nah, but if you're that scared about it just don't do deadlifts or exercises that compress the spine (basically any pull exercise where your spine is vertical.) Squatting, done properly, compresses the spine -- but we have evolved to tolerate spinal compression. You’d be hard pressed to convince me otherwise that the deadlift isn’t one of the best overall exercises for hypertrophy, not to mention the best functional exercise you can do with respects to posterior chain strength, core stability, glute activation, power development, and transference of force throughout the entire body. (602) 540-6614. exercises that compress the spine. | Reply to this comment, June 14, 2013 at 9:13 pm The vertebral bodies themselves will experience adaptation and increase in density … One way to get stronger, and to avoid injury, is to work opposing muscle groups. I have zero doubts the former… Read more, Today’s guest post comes courtesy of Minneapolis based personal trainer and nutrition coach, Megan Schall. Setup: When performing a deadlift, a lifter sets in a position that eccentrically loads the gluteus maximus, gluteus minimus, biceps femoris, semitendinosus and semimembranosus while the muscles of the lumbar contract isometrically in an effort to stabilize the spine. | Reply to this comment, July 30, 2013 at 5:54 am | Reply to this comment, October 31, 2017 at 1:58 am Posted by December 19, 2020 Leave a comment on exercises that compress the spine December 19, 2020 Leave a comment on exercises that compress the spine In my opinion, it is a core exercise – along with both the squat and bench press – that should be included in pretty much every strength training routine. Granhed et al. | Reply to this comment, July 25, 2013 at 7:26 am If you already have this, you can easily develop worsening symptoms of back pain with squatting or deadlifting, as you put increased amounts of forces through the spine. For more on the glute-ham raise, including how to do … | Reply to this comment, August 27, 2013 at 8:24 am | Reply to this comment, June 11, 2013 at 8:26 am This causes the vertebrae of your spine to compress, but also to compress forward. You should probably listen to him if you have any hope of getting a butt that good. I’m… Read more, January 25, 2012 at 11:58 pm Assuming you don't bounce off something hard at the bottom of the squat, the spinal compression forces are extremely low and should present no risk unless you have a pre-existing spinal injury. This includes the coordination of fine muscles and daily activities, such as handwriting or buttoning a shirt. Unfortunately, many of people do deadlifts with straight legs, which can cause major back injury. I’ve heard that over time, squats, shoulder presses, deadlifts, etc, can compress the spine, especially with heavy weight. Deadlifts are a very difficult exercise to do properly. Someone said that they think squats and deads put pressure on, or compress the spine. When and athlete is recovering from a lower back injury it is important to keep the lower body and posterior chain engaged. Likewise, in order to strengthen tissue, you need to load it. A lot of people try to lift with their back instead of their quads. In addition, many athletes will allow the hips to shoot up at the beginning of the pull which not only deloads the lower body but places undue strain on the spine. To perform this exercise, you must assume a much wider stance than the Conventional Deadlift, which will decrease the distance the bar has to travel, and keep you in a much more upright posture. He tweaked his back and all of a sudden his n=1 conclusion was that ALL deadlifts are bad. | Reply to this comment, August 18, 2014 at 1:38 am Deadlifts do not strengthen your whole spine. does weight lifting compress your spine. In addition to improving posture and strengthening your muscles, deadlifts improve your strength and power. They'll ensure whatever might be limiting the nerve movement is addressed. Now, before I start, I want it to be clear I am not a Chek clone, and I LOVE squats and deadlifts. Research by Brinckmann et al. | Reply to this comment, September 20, 2019 at 6:29 pm This can be a result of degenerative spinal disease. They included a lot of exercises we would traditionally see in strength & conditioning programs (and much less frequently seen in physical therapy and chiropractic clinics) such as deadlifts, goblet squats, lunges, planks, and step-ups. The myth that deadlifts cause back pain comes from people doing them incorrectly. And if that doesn’t convince you, one of the smartest guys in the industry, Gray Cook, produced an entire dvd on why EVERYONE should include deadlifts in their programming. | Reply to this comment, February 3, 2015 at 6:37 pm Point #1: Wolff’s Law and Davis’s Law. | Reply to this comment, September 18, 2013 at 4:49 am Logbook. They are horrible for your spine, period. In this episode of Quah (Q & A), Sal, Adam & Justin answer Pump Head questions about the top three or four supplemental exercises to boost overall deadlift strength, research about squats compressing spine, doing more sets when you are not getting sore, and their best financial advice for newlyweds.. Masterworks, the stock market for paintings. (1997) confirm this research. I knew I... For IFBB pro and type-1 diabetic Dr. Brett Kahn, nutrition is a matter of life and death. Practicing great deadlift form and enhancing your performance while executing deadlifts can actually help you to reduce your back pain. | Reply to this comment, February 24, 2012 at 12:02 pm | Reply to this comment, September 30, 2020 at 7:54 am When your back is flat or slightly arched, your discs compress straight down, allowing for maximal dispersion of force. EVERYONE should include deadlifts in their programming, Set Yourself Up For Nutrition Success With a Kitchen Refresh, “Are Deadlifts Dangerous and or Overrated Exercise?? By Mike Carlson  ... Q: I have trouble with my triceps, specifically the long-head sweep. Weightlifting that increases axial load (weight in line with the spine) can make pain worse. Theoretically this load is too high for the spine to handle. | Livestrong.com | Reply to this comment, July 25, 2013 at 7:16 am I know many of the political pundits out there like to go on and on about how we’ve fallen into this “wussification of America” mentality (everyone gets a trophy, there are no winners and losers, kickball being banned, can’t say Merry Christmas without offending someone), and after reading stuff like the above, I couldn’t agree more. Furthermore, as Bret noted, deadlifts teach the glutes to share the load which spares the spine. | Reply to this comment, April 16, 2020 at 12:57 pm As with squats and deadlifts, overhead weightlifting puts your back at a mechanical disadvantage. They were un-swayed, and he mentioned how someone had him doing deads off of a 6 inch box and “it destroyed my back…not in a good way.”. These exercises include leg presses (when done seated with hand grips), deadlifts, ... they can axially load the spinal column (compress the spine from the head area—as when a person dives into shallow water and lands headfirst). According to the authors, “the study showed that intensive training will increase the bone mineral content (BMC) to an extent that the spine can tolerate extraordinary loads.”. | Reply to this comment, June 11, 2013 at 8:25 am The last is with feet in your deadlift stance. True story. | Reply to this comment, November 1, 2017 at 2:09 pm Tony Gentilcore. The deadlift is a very fatiguing lift, especially if you’re being limited by your spinal erector and/or grip strength. | Reply to this comment, February 18, 2013 at 8:28 am More : The Diet Detective: Understanding Back Pain Relief and Prevention Doing a straight-legged deadlift and rounding the upper back with no curvature in the low back can damage your lumbar spine, and give you a … Today I got into a bit of a debate. Copter Labs sculpted this site’s magnificent posterior chain. Since the hex bar places greater force through the knees, your legs do a lot of the work; this makes the hex bar deadlift similar to the squat exercise. The 3 deadlifts below do just that. (1993) showed that weightlifters possess 10% greater total body bone density and 13% greater lumbar bone density than controls. Trap Bar Deadlifts. However, as myself, Eric Cressey, Mike Robertson, Bret Contreas, and countless other coaches have noted: when coached correctly – with a neutral spine and with a proper hip hinge – they’ll do more as far as “bullet proofing” the body than any other exercise. | Reply to this comment, May 15, 2013 at 10:35 am DO NOT LOOK UP! I highly recommend the book called "Starting Strength" from Mark Ripptoe if you want in depth information with anatomy of the basic barbell movements. A: There is spinal compression, but provided your exercise technique is correct and you start out with a comfortable weight and build up gradually as your progress permits, your body will be strengthened so that it can withstand ever-increasing spinal compression without sustaining any damage. The core muscles used most in the deadlift are the erector spinae. | Reply to this comment, March 2, 2020 at 6:32 pm With the necessary muscle building loads remaining near maximal, and the negative lumbar shear forces reduced, the trap-bar once again provides the best of both worlds. | Reply to this comment, July 23, 2020 at 5:06 am Last week one of the readers of this blog emailed me and couldn’t believe what he had just heard. Spinal cord compression may affect fine motor skills and coordination. After all, all you’ve got to do is bend down, grab the bar, and stand up. Will You Get a Wide Back from Doing Deadlifts? Deadlifting = strong bones + soft tissue. As a matter of fact, my good friend Bret Contreras had these zingers to say on this very topic: Obviously regular sitting wouldn’t give you more intradiscal pressure than really heavy deadlifts, but I would definitely agree that prolonged sitting is more deleterious on the spine than deadlifting.