Deadlift

We do a lot of pulling at CrossFit N6 and the Deadlift is certainly on of them. Why? It's literally the movement that gives you the best bang for your buck. If you just have a heavy 5x5 or 5x6-8 at a heavy weight, you've given yourself an ass kicker of a workout. It's simple but works wonders strengthening almost every muscle in your body. Although it's known as a posterior chain movement, it truly works everything to a certain degree. 

Why do people ignore them? Well because there are so many muscles involved, there is risk of injury. That's where your coach and your form come in. If you start and move the lift while you're in good position: weight on the heels, neutral lumbar spine, chin tucked in, hamstrings engaged, keeping the bar close to your body etc., this lift is completely safe even at heavy loads. The danger occurs when we know how to move but go so heavy, or take inefficient rest and our supporting muscles are so fatigued, that we can no longer maintain good position. So find a weight that's extremely challenging for your rep scheme and ensure that you maintain good position throughout 

Here are some reasons for deadlifting heavy more often:

1) Muscle Growth

This tops the list of benefits for very obvious reasons. Most want to grow muscles and I know what you're going to say, "I'm a female and don't want to look bulky." Trust me, you will not look bulky. If you want lean muscle, you still need to increase the amount of muscle. Most ladies who come in and are thin, are actually what I call "skinny fat" and we all need a little extra quality muscle. The Deadlift can make this happen. You get a rigorous full body workout-and when you combine that with heavy lifting, you naturally release growth hormones that induce muscle development.

2) Strength Gain

If you want fast strength increase on all the exercises that are part of your workout routine, deadlifting is your solution. It increases your grip and core strength like no other exercise can. Want a bigger bench? Stronger squat? Pullup power? Easy fix, just deadlift heavy. And you all know you want to get stronger.

3) More Power

Power while sometimes used interchangeably with strength, is actually different from it. Power is the ability to exert great force over a short period of time. Strength is the ability to move or support heavy objects sustainably for a longer period of time. Power is useful for athletic performance. A football linebacker tackling an opponent, a tennis player returning a serve, a basketball player dunking over opponents etc. If you play any sport, deadlifting will make a big difference in your performance.

4) Testosterone increase

This helps with recovery and the growth and maintenance of quality muscle. You see those juice heads taking steroids in magazines all the time. Deadlifts demand that your body releases more testosterone, which allows you to grow and get stronger. In females, it is much harder to release testosterone but implementing some heavy deadlifts will allow them to naturally produce more without any side effects. 

5) Better Overall health

Stronger, more testosterone, more positive outlook on life equals better overall health. It’s simple. Doing deadlifts also improves your cardio. And as you know, good cardio is important for overall health. You also build joint strength and your immune system gets stronger. Most Compound exercises will do these things but the one thing that makes the deadlift stand out, is that it does this for your entire body. It’s a true full body movement.

6) Positive Effect on other exercises

When you combine the above benefits, what you get is increased strength and flexibility on all other exercises. When you do heavy deadlifts, you are actually doing heavy lifting using all the major muscles in your body, back, chest, legs, arms etc. So when you do other movements like your olympic lifts, you'll be in better positions due to added flexibility and strength that will allow you to stay in good position throughout a fast lift, like the snatch. 

7) Fat burning

Because of the exertion involved during the deadlift, you recruit more muscle fibers, and burn more calories than you could with other movements. The result is increased fat burning.  If you speak to any serious strength coach, you know that compound movements are the best exercises for fat loss. And the deadlift is the king of compound exercises so you get the idea.

Combine movements like the deadlift with a little WOD and voila, you've got a formula for success.  This is our philosophy at CrossFIt N6. We keep programming simple not sexy because the simple works but the sexy is simply fluff.

Love,

Coach Sil