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It’s Dead Lift, Not Dead Lower

A few years ago my place of employment was only close enough to one gym, pretty much forcing me to work out there. It was Life Style Family Fitness, which I think they should rename Fitness for Pussies.

The dumbbells only went up to 80, they only had one squat rack, and no deadlift platforms. If you so much as set a weight down too hard, some fat-ass out-of-shape Personal Trainer goo-gobbler would come running over screaming “Don’t drop the weights!”

I was stuck there for the better part of a year, which meant no dead lifts or power cleans for that same amount of time. I finally landed a new gig at a place close to a gym where people were actually allowed to lift weights. Their equipment included two deadlift platforms.

Done correctly, the dead lift is a great way to training your whole body and gain muscle all over. Done incorrectly, and you put your lower back at risk.

Lifting stuff is something many of us do every day, so strengthening the muscles required for doing this is a good idea. Learning the correct way to dead lift means we’re more likely to lift other stuff the right way as well, reducing the risk of lower back injury.

Which brings me to my rant, succinctly summarized in the post title: It’s Dead Lift, not Dead Lower.

I approach the bar, set my grip, pull it out of the hole, then drop it was a satisfying clamor. The more weight, the more impressive the noise. That’s motivation in and of itself when you plop 400 pounds down and every looks over to see what the ruckus is all about.

But seriously, the motion used to pull the bar up off the floor is different from the motion used to set it down. I’ve know plenty of folks who have hurt themselves doing dead lifts and it almost always happened while they were lowering the bar.

It especially annoys me when some douche is doing touch and goes, only they’re really bounce and goes and his back is rounder then J-Lo’s posterior. It’s only a matter of time mister weight bouncer…..

Watch Olympic lifters. They don’t lower the weight, they drop it, and you should too, especially once you start getting up close to your max.

Ready, set, pull the bar, lock the hips, drop the weight. Repeat. And if your gym doesn’t let you do that, find a new one!

If you absolutely feel the need to lower the bar, or there aren’t any gym alternatives, here’s an article with some pointers on how to get the bar back back down to the floor with the rest of you intact.

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