Does anyone have any problem with deadlifting scraping up their shins and even quads. Lately, I’ve been pulling more on the back of my feet which has increased my ability to lift more weight and also has proven healthier for my back. The problem I have is that my shins and even quads are raw from draging the bar up them. Any thoughts?
Thanks.
Yep! Most will chime in and say they wear pants when they pull, and if they wear shorts people will know they pulled the day before because their shins will be beat up.
The bar hits your shins.
/thread.
I had the same issue – although it wasn’t as bloody as you describe – until I realized I could raise my hips at the start position just a wee bit and still maintain form. This put my shoulders slightly over the bar and eliminated the shin/quad scraping.
Of course, lowering the bar is more like the eccentric part of a stiff-legged deadlift until the bar passes the knee at which point I could bend at the knees and set the bar on the floor.
The book Starting Strength fixed my woes on the deadlift.
Eric Cressey also has an outstanding 3 part series of articles on the deadlift here on T-Nation. Here is the first one:
[quote]pepperman wrote:
Does anyone have any problem with deadlifting scraping up their shins and even quads. Lately, I’ve been pulling more on the back of my feet which has increased my ability to lift more weight and also has proven healthier for my back. The problem I have is that my shins and even quads are raw from draging the bar up them. Any thoughts?
Thanks.[/quote]
I think this just shows you’re doing it properly. Scraped shins are a badge of honor.
Beware of taking the getgopi’s advice and raising your hips a little at the start of the deadlift. While this can sometimes eliminate the scraping, it may do so at the cost of your technique. It is quite easy to get into a bad motor pattern if thinking about raising the hips first. Terrible idea. IF (and this is a HUGE IF) you are able to understand exactly where to keep (not “raise”) your hips (BEFORE you start the motion) and dial it into the “sweet spot” you can probably get the best of both worlds.
However I don’t recommend this because if you don’t have an experienced coach watching this modification it can quite easily slide out of control and ruin your form, and put more strain on your back (raising hips = more back in the motion, and a very inefficient way to start the pull). I see exactly what he means, but it is hard to put into words and is most likely only teachable in person. I would put it out of your mind until you can ask a good deadlifter and PL guy in person and get their instruction. Quite frankly you are much better thinking about what you are doing now—pulling from the back of your feet and thinking about sinking your hips right before beginning the pull–this is much more efficient technique.
Aragorn, I actually said I was able to maintain form even though I raised my hips a bit. I am not talking about leading the concentric part by raising the hips and not the shoulders. Both the shoulders and hips still need to raise simultaneously. I have not had any issues with this. I also mentioned good references that confirmed my form correction. Both Cressey and Rippetoe actually mention positioning of the hips. So it may have been that I had inefficient form before because my hips were too low.
Plus I am 5’7. Therefore my advice may not apply to someone who is 6’5 and/or has a different body type.
As for the bar scraping the shins being a badge of honor: That may be ok for a competitive powerlifter who has to make a living out of his sport. But for those of us who like rambling around the city in our shorts and swimming in community pools, scraped shins just might be a bit unsightly and probably not practical either 
Having said that, if acquiring perfect form eliminates shin scraping, why not go for it?
bah, deadlifting form…
i know dude, it hurtss
[quote]GluteusGigantis wrote:
bah, deadlifting form…[/quote]
Lmao the little kids deadlifting and imitating powerlifters was soo bad ass, haha. Gonna be some strong mofo’s when they get older. 
I have a patch of red skin with no hair on it just above my knee from deadlifting yesterday. What I suggest as the best cure for the pain of it scraping your shins is not being a pussy, I tried it a while ago and never looked back.