I'm still Sure!

I remember once setting myself the challenge of running along Chesil Beach near Portland. If you have ever seen pebbled ash that was what this place is made of, not sand but continuous smooth pebbles like stone ball bearings 1/4 inch or so across.
Target was to do a 6 mile run with return trip total 12 obviously, I estimated this would be the equivilant of around 18 or so allowing for slipping as I pushed back, at that time this was a reasonable training run in theory. After what was likely less than a mile I turned back and was walking before my return to the start. Despite being a long pace runner I could see each stride was carrying me forward less than 6 inches. I was likely losing 85-90% of my forward motion rather than the 33% I had estimated and the sheer effort of having to lift my feet out of a shallow trench every step totally did me in.

I need to get some speed work in too. Being quite boring and lazy with simple plodding at the moment. Would gain more by switching one day to intervals than doing the same run 4 days a week. I think Tuesdays would be good for that, squats the evening before so my legs will already be dead, but day off running on Wednesday should allow recovery.
Might look into some HIIT haven't done anything like that in years.
 
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Admittedly I am being lazy (trying to get out of this hotel room and on the road), but on Saturday and Sunday I will have lots of time, have the bar and weights to myself (T is teaching an Orienteering course all weekend), and so am thinking of experimenting with deadlifts.

So, if any of you, my "trusted advisors" - Ryan, Tony, Justin, have a favorite written description/instruction (yours or someone elses) on properly starting to learn a deadlift, will you share with me please? Hints, tips, avoid this at all cost - all welcome. And I am much better at incorporating the written word than gleaning from a video, so I need some guidance on what to watch for and focus on if you share a video.

Thanks guys!
 
Ryan made a good post on his blog which covers a lot of the best standard form. His video is also a lot better than mine and only 13 seconds. I need to find out how to trim excess out of mine.
I would say make sure you are thoroughly warmed up and start this on sets of 10 reps with 15RM so you are never pushing hard while getting form perfect. The purpose of the easy weights is to protect you from any potential injury and have you in a mental state where you aren't worried about doing them, which in my opinion would likely be the only way you would end up hurting yourself, as per sign off.
Deadlift is a confidence exercise above all else. You have to approach it knowing you can lift it without any fear in your mind, which can be easier said than done. I am struggling with this a bit at the moment because I know my hands are struggling to keep hold of the gripz as I am lifting but my base level arrogance is helping me out here.
 
I've read Ryans, and it's pretty spot on. You could read articles until your eyes popped out telling you to take a wide stance/wide grip, close stance/wide grip, wide grip/close stance, ect. Everybody has their way of doing it. Simply put, don't pull, push, and keep a straight back, but you'll be good if you can memorize Ryans instructions.
 
Well, there you have it for general deadlift technique. Since you have experience doing kettlebell swings, you should be right with some of the main elements of the deadlift: hinging at the hips rather than bending through the back; keeping your core and lower back tight; keeping your weight back on your heels; using your hips rather than your arms to get the weight moving. Kettlebell swings, done with enough weight or speed to make you have to fight for it, are actually a really great learning tool for deadlifts because of what they teach you about posture, keeping your arms straight and powerfully extending the hips. I did swings for a while back in the day, and I noticed that since the KB is so far out in front, you really need to dig your heels in, lockout your hips and lean back in order to balance your centre of gravity, which should all carry over to some nice deadlifts, provided you don't overdo it and fall backwards.

Of course, unlike kettlebell swings, you definitely don't want to be swinging the bar away from you when you deadlift. You'll also be bending the knees a lot more than you would with the kettlebell swing.

I'll second what Tony had to say about loads. Don't go and test your 15RM to make sure (that would be defeating the point of starting out with weights that allow you to do several more reps when you're done), but start out using what would generally be considered "not enough weight" and get plenty of practice, building up your technique.

As Justin said, there are a lot of variables you can play around with. Based on my experience with kettlebell swings, you're probably used to hinging in a sumo/semi-sumo stance. All good. The stance I use is much closer, basically feet heel-width apart. My conventional stance makes for a more posterior-chain driven deadlift; a sumo stance de-emphasises the posterior chain a bit and makes you use your quads more. The heaviest deadlifts will be ones with your hands shoulder-width apart. You can certainly go wider-grip than this, and there are big training benefits to doing so if you have the functional range of motion to set up properly with a wide stance, however I'd very seriously recommend sticking to a shoulder-width grip until you have some deadlift experience under your belt, because if you can't do a narrow-grip deadlift properly, you almost certainly can't do a wide-grip deadlift properly.
 
Well, I survived the great deadlift experiment and thank you very much for the tips. Likely I am not the first person to attempt a deadlift with a page of instructions on the ground in front of me, but I will admit to feeling a little silly. Nonetheless, it worked and I have no injuries (aside from a shin/knee bang or 2 but I gather that is considered a positive as compared to not having legs close to the bar).

Thanks for pointing out the similarities to the KB swings, Ryan. That was really helpful and I started off with a set of those to get the hip driving action and core activation into my muscle memory. Then because denial serves me well, and because Tony said to be sure I was well warmed up, I did bunch of other stuff first, including a new max on front squats!

MB lap 1
KB 100 with 15lb bell
OHP 5x55, 4x65, 2x70 these were mixed in with front squats (1 attempt at 75 was a fail)
F Squats 5x65, 5x85, 4x95, 2x115!, 1x95 (this last one was after the deads and my legs/butt said No More!)
Deadlifts 10x45x2 as I got used to the movement
10x65 - felt better with more weight
10x65 - still good, getting better at remembering to lift chest as part of the "driving" action. Hips and knees are fairly natural, but on first lift of a set, I don't lift chest properly
10x75 - this weight isn't particularly challenging, still focusing on body actions and coordinating all efforts
10x75 - felt good about first attempt at this lift overall

T2B - mixed in with deadlifts: 5,4,4,4,3
MB lap 1.5 (33 rungs)
Pullups 3 on rings, then rest were on bar after DL/T2B: 2,3,2 (twanked shoulder - hopefully temporary)
Pulse lunges to finish off my legs: 8 per set/8 each leg

Weight 136.4
 
Nice work on the new front squat PB. It sounds like you did well with the deadlifts, too. I just remembered one more thing I probably should have mentioned -- it pays to wear long socks while deadlifting. They make it more comfortable to hold the bar against the legs, which is the most advantageous position for the bar to be in as it demands lat activation and minimises torque. That might reduce the risk of future shin/knee banging.
 
Thanks guys! I had tights on, so no real damage done. Was feeling soreness in my gluts, hamstrings and quads on Sunday - less so the quads, more so the backside - guess that was the 'posterior chain' thing you mentioned, Tony? No troubles with my back so that am counting that a success too.

Sunday 135.0 - full day of chores and by evening was really stiffening up from all of Saturday's workout, so spent a lovely 20 minutes bouncing on the trampoline. Not my usual gonzo workout, more like trampoline yoga - get the blood moving, stretch, move and wiggle all the body parts in low gravity bursts.

Monday 135.0 - my Achilles tendon was a tad grumpy because I ended up jumping down from the monkey bars on Saturday, so long drop and not so good landing. Anyway, decided on the spin bike this morning. Went for 40 minutes, avg'd 24 mph and kept my cadence near 100 - plain old happy sweaty high heart rate cardio!
 
CrazyOldMan said:
I remember once setting myself the challenge of running along Chesil Beach near Portland. If you have ever seen pebbled ash that was what this place is made of, not sand but continuous smooth pebbles like stone ball bearings 1/4 inch or so across.
Target was to do a 6 mile run with return trip total 12 obviously, I estimated this would be the equivilant of around 18 or so allowing for slipping as I pushed back, at that time this was a reasonable training run in theory. After what was likely less than a mile I turned back and was walking before my return to the start. Despite being a long pace runner I could see each stride was carrying me forward less than 6 inches. I was likely losing 85-90% of my forward motion rather than the 33% I had estimated and the sheer effort of having to lift my feet out of a shallow trench every step totally did me in.

I need to get some speed work in too. Being quite boring and lazy with simple plodding at the moment. Would gain more by switching one day to intervals than doing the same run 4 days a week. I think Tuesdays would be good for that, squats the evening before so my legs will already be dead, but day off running on Wednesday should allow recovery.
Might look into some HIIT haven't done anything like that in years.
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Good to see you decided to give the HIIT a try. I find intervals to be torture, but when I have done them, I do notice speed gains, and changing up training is always good!

Recently saw a really interesting documentary about exercise and there was a section about HIIT and its health benefits (the entire show was focused on the health benefits (as opposed to say, weight loss) of exercise. There has been some interesting research done at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh on insulin resistance improvements through HIIT. Participants did 4 30 second intervals each workout and 3 of these workouts a week (so 6 minutes total) - there was significant improvement in their glucose response (much lower) after only 2 weeks, and overall, their bodies produced less insulin to lower their blood glucose, an indication that their insulin resistance was improving. The other benefit that occurred for only some of the participants was improved vO2 max - some people are responders others are not, and this can be predicted genetically.

I read recently that 40% of normal weight adults have some degree of insulin resistance. Given that most of my friends/family/coworkers are not active, I figure that most of them are on that path given how they eat - standard American diet (SAD), regardless of their weight. Wouldn't it be great to think that just 6 minutes a week might help?
 
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I love those days when I get to the office trembling and exhausted from a good workout.

Ran 2 fairly fast miles on the treadmill, 2% incline - first at about 8:30, second was 8:06. Little bit of walking before and after.

BOSU lunges for a 5 minute song, then step-back lunges for another long song, and then a mix of tick-tock and other lunges holding the 10kg medicine ball for a last song. My lunge song mix is really good so it's easy to keep going.

Pullups: finally got a set of 5 continuous (4 has been my max for ages) so was happy about that. Mix of 3's and 4s, kippers and straight after that for a total of 20.

Played a little on the balance disks in between pullups

Pushups: 3 sets of 8 mixed in with T2B - 20 of those

Got some new gloves with a rubber grip - likely a little bit of a cheat since they help me hang on longer, but they feel good and my hands didn't get nearly as sore
 
I could likely do with improving my insulin resistance. My biggest failing on diet is sweet food, which I am getting under control more now but I would say the only reason I don't have diabetes is my exercise level. Worst case was eating virtually all of a 2kg bar of galaxy chocolate in one day, along with normal intake of food, can't have been good for me.
 
JustinRVA said:
Have you ever tried chalk?
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I could use it at home because all of our "equipment" - bars, weights, tricky/monkey bars are outside, and since we are moderatly serious rock climbers, we do have chalk, but I hate the way it feels. Unless it is a very warm/sweaty day, I don't use it climbing either. My gym (and now that it is cold and dark in the morning more of my workouts will happen there) doesn't allow chalk.

I'm good with a little bit of 'aid'.
 
135.4 - made some super yummy lasagna on the weekend so my grain-based carbs are higher than my normal 0. I don't mind, this (or higher) is a better weight for me. And since none of it is wheat, I have yet to become a psycho-mental lady with a belly ache, so it is all good!

Was having an exchange with a friend yesterday about having a Ninja mindset - she claims I do, I was lamenting not having as much agility as I used to. Anyway, when it was still nasty, nasty cold this morning such that we didn't want to run from home, I headed to town. But, on the way to the gym I remembered a wonderful alternative - the Buffalo Park exercise course! The 2 mile dirt path has about 15 exercise stations, some simply body weight or calisthenics, others have fun equipment like monkey bars, ring traverse, balance beam, wooden wall to climb over, pullup/chinup bars, ladders, rope climb, situp station.

The sun was up, the temperature was up above freezing at last, so I went out for a fun run/exercise course. I never see anyone else doing the exercises, lots of runners and walkers, but no one plays. It is really a shame as it feels so good.
 
CrazyOldMan said:
I could likely do with improving my insulin resistance. My biggest failing on diet is sweet food, which I am getting under control more now but I would say the only reason I don't have diabetes is my exercise level. Worst case was eating virtually all of a 2kg bar of galaxy chocolate in one day, along with normal intake of food, can't have been good for me.
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I've been doing a 4 week challenge and one of the rules I set for myself was to deduct a point for every sweet. It has kept me aware of how very often I would happily reach for a treat, and yes, I've lost a fair number of points anyway. Luckily there are many things I get points for - sanity maintenance cardio, weight training, etc. I've yet to to go negative, but it has been close a couple of times. Last week while I was on the road was really hard.

One book I read this summer, Fat Chance by Robert Lustig, MD suggested that one should try and limit a sweet to just once per week (harking back to "the good old days" probably). That is likely how it was for me growing up (a really long time ago!), but somewhere along the way I got into the habit of having a little something most days. Anyway, it has been interesting, it has raised my awareness, and to be completely honest, I will be so glad when the challenge is OVER!
 
Sure! said:
I could use it at home because all of our "equipment" - bars, weights, tricky/monkey bars are outside, and since we are moderatly serious rock climbers, we do have chalk, but I hate the way it feels. Unless it is a very warm/sweaty day, I don't use it climbing either. My gym (and now that it is cold and dark in the morning more of my workouts will happen there) doesn't allow chalk.

I'm good with a little bit of 'aid'.
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There is liquid chalk grip aid. I hate it but get on with normal chalk ball. Major thing is just to dust hands with it so it's still your grip just without sweat.
 
135.2 Did not really have a plan headed into the gym this morning and then I spied the stairmaster machines as I walked into the cardio room - haven't done those in ages and they would be perfect as I was at the exciting conclusion of my current audiobook, The Red Pyramid so I really wanted to keep listening. Can't listen to an audiobook and run fast, I need tunes for that. Anyway, the stairs are a steady, hard, high heart-rate workout that I both love and hate but having the book to listen to would lesson the "hate".

Level 9 (met of 9.3) for 25 minutes. I tried to pay attention to floors climbed as that is the most reliable comparison number (for when Tom and I are trying to out do one another) but I let all the numbers jumble in my head - calories, floors, mets, distance. Oh well. Level 9 is nothing special, level 10 and 11 are significantly harder and I've spent a fair amount of time on 10 and some time on 11 when I was doing a max HR test.

Next, up into the weight room for more unfocused whim training - started by mixing pull-ups with T2B and was really pleased to be gettting a much better pike going with the Toes 2 Bar. Then somewhere in midst, I realized there was really no one on the weight racks so I decided to add some OHP and front squats. The press was not good having already done 2 sets of pullups and 2 sets of T2B, but I muddled through, and continued to mix up all 4 things. In then end I was pleased with the pull-ups and T2B, weights, not so much.

Pull-ups 4, 4, 4, 3
T2B 5, 4, 5 (nice pike!), 5, 3
OHP 5x55 2x65
Front squat 5x65, 5x85, 3x95
 
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135.2
Started off my day with farmer walks - I knew it wasn't going to be a hard freeze overnight so just left the water jugs in the truck to get this morning. 55 steps, 50(ish) lbs each hand, done twice.

Since I had hit all of my workout goals for the week today was free-pass day in the gym for me. Kinda thought I would run, but a controlled burn just south of town left my breathing clogged so instead I went for incline fast walking - 7% grade, 4.8 mph for 30 minutes, climbed about 1000 feet.

Hamstring was a tad grumpy so did some work on it:
single leg deadlifts with 20lb kb
100 kb swings
single leg balance, kicks, and rotations

Have a date with T for a Saturday long run - 6-10 miles depending upon his route choice
Likely do a yard workout Sunday and both days should mostly be spent putting a new roof on a shed.
 
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