Deadlifts and looooong femurs

Ok, i’m having a problem with my deadlifts. Today i was doing them and this trainer, who is the only one i actualy listen to, came and told me i was bending way to much at the waist, so much that my back was not that far from paralel to the floor. I tried to do them starting with my hips closer to the floor and we came to the conclusion that my femurs are so long that i just have to bend a lot because my waist is so far from my knees.

What i want to know is how much do you all bend at the begining of your deads? Do you start with your ass the closest possible to the ground? I didnt have any lower back problems since i started deadlifting although i do feel considerably sore in this area after my DL workout. This got me worried, you think its possible that due to my long femurs i simply have to bend to much at the waist? Or maybe the problem is my tecnique? Help please.

How tall are you? I’m 6’3. Deadlifts often seem harder for tall people. I have to lean forward quite a bit and I find that deadlifts really target my lower back. Anyway, I try to sit back as far as I can while still maintaining balance. This helps, but my torso is still at a 30-40 degree angle from the floor. You could try sumo style for a little bit, but I don’t think that this is the best style for maximal posterior chain training.

For the last time, tall guys can deadlift fine. The guy with the biggest lift ever is 6’6. Anyway, I do them more Dave Tate style than Ian King style, so I don’t squat down much.

Actually, i’m not that tall i think. I’m 1,81 m (how much is this in feets?), but i have very long legs.

I was reading the dead zone by Dave Tate, and from what i understood he sugests that you start with your ass not so close to the ground, doesn’t he? I think my torso is probably also near to 30-40 deegres from the floor at the begining of the movement,do you think i shouldn’t worry about this much? I mean, if i’m not having any lower back problems and my objective is to target the posterior chain as much as possible then this will even make it more efective, won’t it?

I’m not tall (just under 6 feet) but like Jason my torso will be at something like
45 degrees, and the knees are flexed also
about that amount. These figures are very approximate. In other words, I’m down to what is certainly a good partial squat, probably comparable to what a lot of guys THINK is parallel when they’re squatting but
what is really about a half-squat. P>

The only way I can see for your torso to be almost parallel to the floor is if your knees are unbent or nearly unbent. This is a stiff-legged deadlift, not a deadlift.

Check out Ian King’s Q&A on deadlifting form. He makes the deadlift more of a leg exercise while the lower back acts more like a stablizer. (Actually I will say that I never really got the technique down until I watched his video (killer leg exercises), but I don’t think that it is absolutely necessary to buy it, just keep in mind (as King puts it) "That if your lower back is fried after a set then you’re doing it the wrong way.

Can you post the link to the article you mentioned, or tell me what issue it’s in? I’ve done searches for ian king, Deadlift and couldn’t find it.