How does anyone know that his lower back is rounded. You can’t see it from that angle. His upper back is rounded (which is correct form) but beyond that you can’t tell shit. Looks like a great DL to me.
I dunno… looked fine to me. I mean, upper back is rounded, but whose isn’t when they’re pulling maximal weights. If your upper back isn’t rounding a little, your legs are weak! He doesn’t hitch, pulls it clean and drives his hips forward for lockout. I’ve seen a ton worse with people pulling 275!
[quote]devilBASTARDdog wrote:
Some of you all are fucking retarded. I’m a hell of a lot more impressed with EC’s 600+ pound deadlift than anyones 300, 400, 500# lift with “proper form”. The fact that you are criticizing his form and saying he’s compensating for being “weak” in some areas speaks more to your lack of experience than anything else.
He’s pulling over 3x his bodyweight for God’s sake. Yes, his upper back is rounded, but his lower back is neutral which is all that really matters. YOU try standing up with that much weight and see if you can keep your entire back flat. Like EC says in the article, 315 isn’t impressive. 600+ is.
Dumbass.
DD[/quote]
THANK YOU!!
What the fuck is goign on with people criticising EVERYTHING theses days. He just pulled 635 ffs!! Can you do that??? Very bloody unlikely.
I would imagine the people hating on this are the ones using “perfect” form but only pulling 405. It’s easier to use wanting to keep good form on a lift as an excuse than it is to bust arse and get strong. Well done on being weak.
What the hell is “good form” anyway? A definition would be helpful.
this is the same attitude that has reduced united states (olympic) weightlifting - USAW - to little more than a joke internationally. the sport is filled, almost exclusively, with coaches who focus on FORM rather than on the task of developing the physical strength required to move loads on par with top lifters from china, greece, former soviet-bloc nations, iran, etc.
this change in philosophy began in the mid-70’s and USAW has never recovered.
i see this attitude at meet after meet after meet. a lifter will pop a big PR or even a winning lift, hell, i’ve even seen american record lifts inspire comments from coaches like, “sloppy” or “his form was BAD!” or “seemed a bit out front…” insane. in short: every coach now residing at the USOC should be FIRED. every one of them.
don’t let this attitude creep into powerlifting. you’ll never recover if you do. o-lifting and powerlifting have one thing in common: they have officials NOT judges.
they ensure that the lifts are completed within the parameters established by the existing rules. they don’t award style points or judge how technically sound the lift is. it ain’t figure skating folks. the guys who lift the most weight win.
Yeah, I agree with the OP. That lift was crap. Just as bad as this guy’s horrible form:
Sarcasm Off
Okay, here should be a rule. Nobody criticizes his form on the lift unless you post a video of yourself deadlifting more than 635 pounds.
When you can deadlift 635 or more, only then should you be criticizing a guys form on a 635 deadlift.
635 at whatever Cressey weighs is an amazing feat of strength that deserves nothing but applause.
[quote]Mick28 wrote:
Kill’Em All wrote:
would you consider the deadlift on Cressey’s article to be considered good form. Yes the weight is great but our his hips and glutes firing properly?
All you have to do is copy his form and you’ll be fine.
If you lift up both arms like you are going to fly away and then grab the weight you can’t miss bro.
[/quote]
I think he does that to also enable better lat firing. I tried this once before and it seriously improved my lifts because I contracted my lats so much (in addition to everything else). Try it.
I call it the Cressey Salute.
You guys are a bunch of clowns. Everyone of you who responded to the suggestion that Cressey’s form wasn’t top notch said something like, “But he’s pulling 600 pounds!!!” Or, “let’s see you do that.” You guys are missing the point.
Is Cressey’s lift impressive? Yes. Like I said, it reflects a ton of strength. Is that a video I’d want to show to someone so they get the gist of how to pull, no. It really is that simple fellas.
I don’t know how any of you could dispute that his form got loose on that video. His hips appear to rise faster than his shoulders and his upper back rounds. He even appears to hitch a bit at the end, though I’d need to see it again.
It seems clear to me that when the upper back rounds, the lower back is not far behind. Unless Cressey makes every deadlift like this, even at 315, then I’d say that his form deteriorated because the weight was too heavy to make good form.
Is that part of the game when it comes to powerliftng, fuck yes. Does it make the lift much less impressive? No. Does it make the lift a shining example of good form? Absolutely not, and you knuckleheads are forgetting that that–and only that–is what the OP was commenting on.
[quote]Mick28 wrote:
Kill’Em All wrote:
would you consider the deadlift on Cressey’s article to be considered good form. Yes the weight is great but our his hips and glutes firing properly?
All you have to do is copy his form and you’ll be fine.
If you lift up both arms like you are going to fly away and then grab the weight you can’t miss bro.
[/quote]
Hey what is the deal with Cressey doing that arm raise thing? Could somebody explain that? Preferrably somebody who knows and not just guessing.
Thanks guys. And like I said earlier, the lift was a great ME lift. I sure as hell can’t pull that.
Look, his form isn’t perfect, everyone who PL’s knows that perfect form doesn’t exist on a true Max Effort lift.
To those that are complaining about his upper back rounding…many PL’ers lift like this intentionally. It shortens the distance he has to pull. It’s the same reason everyone uses an extreme arch for the bench, it shortens the distance necessary for the bar to travel.
If Cressey were here to defend himself, I’m sure he’d tell you it wasn’t picture perfect, but he’d also defend the lift as “what was necessary at the time to move the weight”.
Whoever had the judges vs. officials comment was right on. You don’t score a perfect 10 or a 9.9 based on how pretty your lift is, it’s strictly by how much weight is moved as long as it complies with the rules. 3xBW deadlift is pretty amazing regardless of bodyweight or equipment.
[quote]Modi wrote:
Look, his form isn’t perfect, everyone who PL’s knows that perfect form doesn’t exist on a true Max Effort lift.
To those that are complaining about his upper back rounding…many PL’ers lift like this intentionally. It shortens the distance he has to pull. It’s the same reason everyone uses an extreme arch for the bench, it shortens the distance necessary for the bar to travel.
If Cressey were here to defend himself, I’m sure he’d tell you it wasn’t picture perfect, but he’d also defend the lift as “what was necessary at the time to move the weight”.
Whoever had the judges vs. officials comment was right on. You don’t score a perfect 10 or a 9.9 based on how pretty your lift is, it’s strictly by how much weight is moved as long as it complies with the rules. 3xBW deadlift is pretty amazing regardless of bodyweight or equipment.[/quote]
Agreed. The lift was fukin’ great. I hope my form is that good when I’m going for a 3X bodyweight pull.
It’s perfect from for a competition deadlift. Period.
Anyone that says differently is unaware of the differences.
“Bodybuilding” form and competition form is like apples and oranges.
I do the Bill Starr 5x5 and my form is textbook “bodybuilding” form; low back arched, shoulder blades pulled together etc. on all sets.
This has very little in common with a competition and the form used to win.
[quote]devilBASTARDdog wrote:
Some of you all are fucking retarded. I’m a hell of a lot more impressed with EC’s 600+ pound deadlift than anyones 300, 400, 500# lift with “proper form”. The fact that you are criticizing his form and saying he’s compensating for being “weak” in some areas speaks more to your lack of experience than anything else.
He’s pulling over 3x his bodyweight for God’s sake. Yes, his upper back is rounded, but his lower back is neutral which is all that really matters. YOU try standing up with that much weight and see if you can keep your entire back flat. Like EC says in the article, 315 isn’t impressive. 600+ is.
Dumbass.
DD[/quote]
Good comment. There’s some ignorant motherfker’s on this site. Cresseys lower back is in a good position so as far as im concerned it is good form.
People need to read Dave Tate’s deadlifting articles. He is very clear about the fact that letting the shoulders go forwards(rounding the upper back) is correct form.
Think about it…if you keep your shoulders pinned back you have to get further down to pick the bar up. This would lengthen the ROM and make your max lower!
[quote]eic wrote:
You guys are a bunch of clowns. Everyone of you who responded to the suggestion that Cressey’s form wasn’t top notch said something like, “But he’s pulling 600 pounds!!!” Or, “let’s see you do that.” You guys are missing the point.
Is Cressey’s lift impressive? Yes. Like I said, it reflects a ton of strength. Is that a video I’d want to show to someone so they get the gist of how to pull, no. It really is that simple fellas.
I don’t know how any of you could dispute that his form got loose on that video. His hips appear to rise faster than his shoulders and his upper back rounds. He even appears to hitch a bit at the end, though I’d need to see it again.
It seems clear to me that when the upper back rounds, the lower back is not far behind. Unless Cressey makes every deadlift like this, even at 315, then I’d say that his form deteriorated because the weight was too heavy to make good form.
Is that part of the game when it comes to powerliftng, fuck yes. Does it make the lift much less impressive? No. Does it make the lift a shining example of good form? Absolutely not, and you knuckleheads are forgetting that that–and only that–is what the OP was commenting on. [/quote]
I think you made some good points here but anyone that is looking at video of max deadlifts to learn correct form is on the wrong page.
And in defence of the “knucklehead” comments posted. Whether we missed the point of this post or not, it is my opinion that in order to criticize someone elses performance you must achieve a level of performance equal to, or greater than the one you are citicizing.
Who do you want coaching you deadlift, (even if his max lift has shitty form) the guy that can deadlift 315 or the guy that can deadlift 715?
If you want to see perfect form on the deadlift check out men’s health or something of the sort.