Hey I began deadlifting in the past few weeks. I’m having problems with the bar scraping against my shins in the concentric portion. Last time I deadlifted, it wasn’t too bad and I just got scratched a little. This time, the bar rubbed off those scabs and I bled pretty badly today, even though I was wearing pants.
I suspect it has something to do with my torso and limb lengths, but I was wondering if anyone else had this problem? It’s actually pretty painful (especially when I showered afterwards - stung really bad) and I want to avoid this again. Is this something that I just have to work around with long socks and pants or is there anything that can be done?
By the way, I’m 6’ 1", moderately tall so that may have something to do with it, too.
How tall you are does not affect this. Do you scrap your shin everytime you lift of just the last one or two in a set. Do you summo lift or conventional. How is your form. There are some very helpful how to’s here.
Let them heal. Then wear long tight socks or put tape over your shins. If the sores are really severe right now you may want to buy a cheap pair of those plastic soccer shin guards that you stick in your sock and use that until the sores heal.
I do it all the time, alot of times they bleed. I’ve never found a way to do them without scraping the hell out of myself. Shin guards I’ve heard are good to prevent.
There’s a kid at my gym who (kinda) deadlifts who always pulls from his toes, not his heels, so he scrapes his shins pretty bad. Make sure your form is good. I pull sumo in pants and I get some scratches, but no blood.
A decent set of fleece tracksuit pants (sweatpants) and some long football socks. Just one or the other and I scrape up my shins good, but both seems to do the trick. Lets me keep the bar right against my shin as well, which I think shinpads wouldn’t.
I usually just soldier it through cause I’m psycho.
Haha, no but possibly a little bit of form adjustment should help that. You wouldn’t even have to completely remove the bar from your shins, just make sure you’re not grinding them to the point where they bleed.
I chalk that shit up, it can help a little bit. Also, I’ve seen guys use shin sleeves, like for splints; but I don’t know if they create any type of friction or not.
Height has pretty much nothing to do with deadlifts. Do you deadlift conventional or sumo? adjust your tech so you knees dont hang over the bar. I deadlift with a pretty straight back too in training. Make sure your pull timing is in synch with your upper and lower body. Just push through it, DONT let this bad experience turn you off of deadlifting. The deadlift it the ultimate test of stregnt (and manhood). Hell yea, like Steel Nation said. A thick cut back is the mark of a true Iron Head.
Thanks everyone for your tips. I lift conventional and I tend to start with my hips fairly high. When I try to lower my hips and keep the bar too close to my body, I end up scraping and bleeding.
I think I’ll try the long socks + pants for next time. If I still have trouble I’ll come back and I’ll try to record myself.
the bar scraping is often good, means its staying close to your body. Throw some baby powder on your shins and your good to go. Just make sure you dont get any on your hands before pulling
[quote]getfast24 wrote:
the bar scraping is often good, means its staying close to your body. Throw some baby powder on your shins and your good to go. Just make sure you dont get any on your hands before pulling[/quote]
Nothing wrong with bloody shins. That’s how you earn your deadlifting scars! If your bleeding too much just tape before you start a session, add socks and talc. My left shin is the worst, but I know I am in the groove when I take of the scab warming up. Its even better when you have a good well knurled bar at a comp!
Only the few gifted , short femured people can deadlift with proper form and not wtfpwn their shins, chances are if your normal, or have long femurs, then your gonna have to either get the right protective equipment, tape, powder or whatever, or drink the mug of concrete.
I have never ever ever scraped my shins on the deadlift. About a year ago, after hearing that so many other people do, I actually tried to scrape them and found I couldn’t.
