i am 6’5 and am having difficulties doing the deadlift. the problem is that my knees get in the way of the bb and the bb hits my knees all the time (i have long legs).
are there different versions of the deadlift that i could try?
thanks
See Mike Robertsons article “Precision Pulling”.
Live it, learn it, love it, I did.
http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=459964
Try sumo… I had a hard time with the convDL. I couldn’t get my knees out of the way, I felt like I was going to fall over backwards, I was a mess and I began to hate DLing. My gym partner suggested I switch to sumo for a while and now convDL are no problem.
[quote]Miskomin wrote:
Try sumo… I had a hard time with the convDL. I couldn’t get my knees out of the way, I felt like I was going to fall over backwards, I was a mess and I began to hate DLing. My gym partner suggested I switch to sumo for a while and now convDL are no problem. [/quote]
I recommend to my taller clients that they perform Sumo style deadlifts and Rack Pulls if they have problems performing Traditional deadlifts with 100% perfect form. Whatever you decide please make sure your form is absolutely perfect when doing deads. If the exercise is somewhat uncomfortable to you, your form may suffer and injury may result.
This may not help, but when I first started deadlifting I read the advice to get as close to the bar as possible, so to speak.
In general, that might work, but I find that getting a bit further back works better for me. I line the barbell up near the bottom lace on my shoes when I get ready to lift.
Of course, you absolutely have to use good form when deadlifting, so if moving the bar forward a bit screws that up, then forget about it.
Don’t forget to go light if you trying something new out.
I’m 6’4" and deadlift wuite a bit with all forms. I would suggest you look on EliteFTS for deadlift suggestions. Lots of good articles and Q/A.
What you need to remember is while there are a lot of “general” rules, no one is built the same way. Because of your height, you may need to start with the bar a little further away from your body than others.
You may also need to check your form. You could be intiating your lift with your back before your glutes and hams fire so your knees are still bent out when the path of the bar gets there. One last thing is turn your toes out a little and be sure to push your knees out hard, like you should on squat.