So while someone was trying to roast me,i got reminded that i deadlift with a round back. Now I used to deadlift with a straight back,but at some point in time i fkin decided it was a good idea to go for a max push press after heavy paused DLs and fked up my low back. For months and months i would try to straighten my back as much as i could,and i did it,but the pain was still there even after taking a month off. Fast forward to a month out from comp i remember that when i was a beginner up to 3 plates I used to cat form all my deadlifts and my low back never hurt,so against my instinct i tried that. I just bent over and grabbed the barbell,didnt try to round my back more,neither straighten it. The amount of core tension and leg strengh i was able to generate from that position was insane,and with ZERO low back pain. Fast forward 3 weeks after comp,did 530 in comp which is a 30lbs all time PR with rounded back and 0 pain afterwards and am continuing so. Could bracing really have this much more of an impact on low back health than keeping it straight. And im not talkimg about just thoraic rounding.
Bracing is a huge part of deadlifting and lower back health. Canât say more than that without a Video of you deadlifting and the rounding you mentioned.
If you are used to âcat formâ hyper extended deadlifts, neutral spine may well feel âroundedâ to you, but having a neutral spine might explain why you suddenly were able to generate more force. Unless you never braced before in which case that could also explain it. I dare say Iâd lose more than 30lb off my max deadlift if I didnât brace properly.
Altho its a max effort,go to my profile and check my 530lbs,it was done with this form.
It would be very hard to maintain a neutral spine without bracing if you are lifting any significant weight. People who can get away with round back deadlifts (as well as lifting things like atlas stones) definitely brace, otherwise the vertebrae and ligaments in your back are supporting the weight rather than your muscles and it is basically guaranteed that you will get injured.
So the rounding could potentially be harmful or it is def harmful? I can barely brace when i straighten my back
Movement of the spine under load is potentially harmful. I think youâre fine as long as your spine stays in the same position from start to finish.
The video isnât from the right angle to really see your spine. Iâd guess your rounding is actually your thoracic spine. You only have 5 lumbar vertebrae so your lumbar spine could be neutral with some overall rounding.
high risk, no harm if no harm done
You are doing something wrong
I think rounding slightly helps me prevent overextending the other way.
On another note, check out this RDL:
Like literally when i brace my core my low back rounds itself.
Where is the rounding?
That looks neutral.
Like I said, you are doing something wrong. Bracing doesnât mean doing a crunch.
Itâs hard to tell, it could very well be a rounded lumbar spine but the rest looks more or less neutral. It would be better if we had a video of the actual lift than just a shot of the setup.
It looks in the realm of âgood enoughâ to me. I feel like people freak out a lot over back rounding.
I used to have the same mentality until I fucked my back up real bad. I thought I could get away with slight rounding because it didnât hurt or anything but one day - BANG! It felt like something in my back exploded and I was totally fucked for the next week, it took over a month before I felt somewhat normal again.
Stuart McGill has done a whole bunch of research and experiments on how spinal discs herniate, basically it is a gradual process of breaking down the outer part of the disc (repeated flexion, and particularly loaded flexion, is the main cause) until one day it canât hold anymore and you get a herniated disc. You hear of people who only pull heavy every 2nd week or once a month and that kind of thing, that is a good approach for someone who pulls with a rounded back because not only will the muscles get more beat up from each workout with a rounded back but by reducing frequency of heavy deadlifts you will also give the discs more time to regenerate which will reduce the risk of injury.
Really does just seem to be user dependent. Some guys round and blow out backs, some guys round and never do it. Strongmen pretty much spend whole careers loading atlas stones with rounded backs. I imagine individual leverages are going to play a role.
Your lumbar spine looks pretty neutral. The part you circled is your pelvis and sacrum.
THIS is a rounded spine.
