Upper Back Rounding During Deadlifts

so i’ve been watching videos of Konstantin konstantinovs (awesome name) deadlifts and recently reread andy bolton and elliot newman’s 1008lb deadlift article. Obviously Konstantin pulls with a very rounded upper back, and in the article andy said one should “relax” the upper back while maintaining arch in the lower spine (not sure if he’s saying to intentionally round the back).

i’ve been trying out the upper back rounding and it seems to have helped; i’m feeling stronger in my pulls. I’m just wondering if anyone deadlifts/has deadlifted in this manner and if there is any advice that could be given. Obviously i’m very wary of this method as a slip-up in focus where i round/consistently round my lower back is asking for trouble.

thanks in advance

For me, it helps with conventional but makes sumo more difficult to lock out. I pulled conventional for a long time with a lot of thoracic flexion and never had any kind of injury from it.

chances are your upper back will round a bit even if you arent trying. I wouldn’t try to specifically focus on doing it though, because like you alluded to, you might subconciously lose your arch

I’ve never been hurt doing it and I’ve been doing it for a few years now with some decent weight.

Doing it doesn’t even really hurt what I believe to be a bulging disk in my T spine (not from doing this).