The Stiff-Legged Dead Lift

Which brings us to  the last exercise - the stiff-legged dead lift. This is a power movement that works the entire length of your hamstrings all the way up to the lower back. It will also hit your entire muscle group surrounding the backbone, while working your traps, forearms, upper torso, and calves statically.  Like I said with the lunge – wow – think you can handle all that?

The movement:

Shown with dumbbells to demo hand finish position

• With a slight arch in your lower back, chest held high, your head up, and your shoulders straight; lower the bar.
• If you keep your shoulders square and chest out, the bar will not go much more than a few inches past the knees.  The key is to stretch the hamstrings, not touch your toes. Let me repeat that - the movement is not to touch your toes.
• Once the bar is couple of inches past the knees and you feel that strong tension in your hamstrings, pull straight back up.
• At the top of the movement, squeeze the glutes for a second before lowering the bar again.
• Again, it is stiff-legged and with your torso square and tight, the bar cannot go much lower than a few inches past your knees, unless you are really flexible and strong in the hamstrings (even then, you will only go so far down - but this isn’t about flexibility, it’s about strengthening you hams).  If you are able to lower the bar much farther, than your back is drooping and you are dropping your shoulders.   And you open yourself up to injury – a really bad one.
• Also, by keeping knees slightly bent, you protect your lower back.  You can get really strong on this movement.

Good video by Dorian Yates – the Monster King of Olympics – his legs are still bigger than Godzilla’s.

Truthfully, after a session of gut wrenching squats, lunges, and stiff-legged dead lifts, I can’t see how it’s possible to do another leg exercise.  Why bother?  Look at the portion of the lunge movement where you push back into the start position; it is identical to the leg extension movement – both the back and front movement.  Having done the full squat, do you really need to do the sissy squats or the hack squats or any other squat movements?  Sure you could pile on 9800 lbs on the leg press machine and impress all the kids, but why?

If you need variety, do 2 sets of 50 repetitions for the squat instead of the normal set/rep cadence.  That will challenge you.

Do these 3 movements twice a week or at 3 to 4 day intervals and you will need nothing else.

Thoughts on Hamstring training

For the general fitness public, I think hamstring training is either an afterthought or not a thought at all.  For those that do hamstring training tend to do a few sets of high reps with leg curls and call it a day.  Haven’t been to a gym in a while but it seemed like the lying leg curl was being replaced by the standing one leg curl machine for a time.  Dont’ know about now.

I don’t have a problem with leg curls per se but I think there are some misconceptions out there – that makes this exercise not as effective as it could be.

Some tend to make the analogy between the hams and biceps thinking that the functions are similar – yes – BUT only in the most superficial comparison.

So, what I have seen with those doing leg curls are folks focusing on getting that contractions and squeezing at the top.  And ony bringing it down a part of the way – just like cheating on barbell curls.

But here’s the thing – not being a rocket scientist nor a certified anything; just an ordinary schmuck thinking out loud (that is, research and double check what I say) – I think the main function of your hams are to help you move and stand straight – NOT curl your feet up.

So what movements simulate standing and holding you upright – stiff-legged deadlifts, good mornings, deadlifts.  And as with all things, there are a lot of interesting variations out there to include plate drag and glute raises.

For me, hamstring training is about keeping the focus and tension on the muscle while stretching it.  Leg curls and exercises that focus on contraction don’t do that.  Exercises like deadlifts and good mornings do.

Other good exercises would include the lunge (remember – squat, lunge, stiff-legged deadlifts – all work toward and transition holistically) and wind sprints (HIIT).

If you do leg curls, remember these key points:

• Keep your hips down
• Keep your calves flexed with foot in neutral position
• Visualize and focus on bringing your heels to your butt
• Getting full extension is probably not necessary during the movement but bring it down as far as you can before losing tension
• After you finish all your sets, stretch your hamstrings before moving on

Caution

In the movie, Dragon:  The Bruce Lee Story, the film depicts Bruce Lee‘s back being broken by a kick by his opponent.  But in real life, I believe Bruce Lee injuried his back while doing a set of good mornings with 135lbs.  By the way, that’s a pretty good amount of weight for a guy that probably weighed under 150lbs.

The point being, both deadlifts and good mornings are dangerous and can hurt you badly.  You must warm-up, use excellent form, and total concentration on the movement.  Also never round your back.  Keep a slight arch through the movement.  Don’t lean back or drop too far forward- keep the tension on the hamstring and work to stretch the muscle – NOT how far you can lean forward.