How important is the deadlift?

[Timeah]

I think the importance of the lift depends solely on the individual goals.

for me, its important.

 

[Goosey]

Goosey - would you go so far as to say that you only really need deadlifts and weighted pullups/chins to build a thick and wide back?

So much is going on in the shoulder and back, a lot of muscles.
For a healthy strong back and shoulders;

The must haves are:
A row
Chin-ups
Dips (upper body squat)
Farmers walks
Dead-lift
Side-bends
Curls

at the end of the day you got to have variety, variations of the above are required.

That's just my opinion.

 

[Rugby88]

Im not saying they are essential for a bodybuilding point of view, of course doing heavy deadlifts while smashing large quantities of anabolic steroids will cause significant hypertrophy in the muscles associated with a large blocky waist, although it pales in comparison to the GH gut of alot of top bodybuilders.

Drugs aside however, heavy deadlifting and squatting do not thicken the waist or destroy the V-taper, whilst you may not have the smallest waist you could achieve like the classic bodybuilders Darkoz and Silverback jack off too, heavy deadlifting doesnt cause the waist to somehow become massive and chunky.

Just have a look at our resident world champ Scott, and other natty top level bodybuilders/powerlifters like nathan wallace, and my mate boyd buffier (placed second to nathan this year).

Why did you mention drugs? I am unsure of the reason why drugs would be brought into this? "GH guts" are not from lifting they are from the bodybuilders organs growing due to the use of Growth Hormone.

 

[DREADLIFT]

Why did you mention drugs? I am unsure of the reason why drugs would be brought into this? "GH guts" are not from lifting they are from the bodybuilders organs growing due to the use of Growth Hormone.

Why else would I mention drugs, professional bodybuilding and anabolic steroids go hand in hand. Now either you were argueing the professional bodybuilders DONT deadlift as often as it builds a thicker mid section, which I agreed on due to the use of anabolics.

Or you're argueing for the amateur/basically natty bodybuilder excessive deadlifting and squatting builds a thick midsection, which is retarded.

I didnt say gh guts come from lifting. Im saying it comes from all the gh, so avoiding deadlifting to minimise the waist is pointless when your guts are touching your knees.

 

[taurus]

At my old gym there were two current, or very recent mr.australia's (nabba & ifbb) and both would comment on my deadlifts, saying "we would love to do those, but apparently they make your waist blocky & for us its not about function, its about looking good on stage" & "if we do deads, we do them from knee high"
It was interesting. One of them is known for his freaky small waist too, so maybe theres something to it??

 

[Goosey]

At my old gym there were two current, or very recent mr.australia's (nabba & ifbb) and both would comment on my deadlifts, saying "we would love to do those, but apparently they make your waist blocky & for us its not about function, its about looking good on stage" & "if we do deads, we do them from knee high"
It was interesting. One of them is known for his freaky small waist too, so maybe theres something to it??

I dont think so.

As I stated earlier, this "idea" was propagated mainly by Gironda.
Gironda worked to a percieved ideal.
He viewed bodybiulders as a collection of bodyparts.

I don't know much, but what i think is; shape is dictated by bone structure.

You cant change the shape of that or muscle, but muscle will become thicker as it becomes stronger, or that could be the other way around.

A muscle grows in size, which enables or provides the environment for a muscle to become stronger.

 

[Goosey]

If you're doing Ab Crunches right, leg raises right, and Side bends right, this could have an impact.

But more often than not, a persons that responds well to exercise is not going to do that exclusively.

 

[DREADLIFT]

Training the obliques contributes more to a blocky waist than deadlifting.

 

[judgey]

I dont think so.

As I stated earlier, this "idea" was propagated mainly by Gironda.
Gironda worked to a percieved ideal.
He viewed bodybiulders as a collection of bodyparts.

I don't know much, but what i think is; shape is dictated by bone structure.

You cant change the shape of that or muscle, but muscle will become thicker as it becomes stronger, or that could be the other way around.

A muscle grows in size, which enables or provides the environment for a muscle to become stronger.

You've mentioned on a number of occasions that you can't change the shape of the muscle (or bone structure). That's on a muscle by muscle basis. Surely if there are 4 muscles in a particular area of the body and I work 2 of them much more intensely than the others, the area of the body will look different.

Given that exercises like deadlifts work a whole host of muscles in one go, some people may elect not to do them. Rack pulls may for example hit the actual erectors in the back more than the hips themselves and this might explain the thinking of that bodybuilder.

 

[Goosey]

You've mentioned on a number of occasions that you can't change the shape of the muscle (or bone structure). That's on a muscle by muscle basis. Surely if there are 4 muscles in a particular area of the body and I work 2 of them much more intensely than the others, the area of the body will look different.

Given that exercises like deadlifts work a whole host of muscles in one go, some people may elect not to do them. Rack pulls may for example hit the actual erectors in the back more than the hips themselves and this might explain the thinking of that bodybuilder.

There are only one or two exercises where you can totally isolate one muscle.

All other exercises, there is an inderect effect.

With rack pulls, your glutes are doing the mechanical work, your erectors are not.
The erectors would be if there is flexion/extension of the spine.
But that's tricky and a better option .

 

[Goosey]

Seated goodmornings are also a recipe for disaster for the resistance is coming from the wrong direction..

 

[Rugby88]

Why else would I mention drugs, professional bodybuilding and anabolic steroids go hand in hand. Now either you were argueing the professional bodybuilders DONT deadlift as often as it builds a thicker mid section, which I agreed on due to the use of anabolics. Huh????

Or you're argueing for the amateur/basically natty bodybuilder excessive deadlifting and squatting builds a thick midsection, which is retarded.

I didnt say gh guts come from lifting. Im saying it comes from all the gh, so avoiding deadlifting to minimise the waist is pointless when your guts are touching your knees.

This honestly makes no sense at all haha - I think your confused - dont even mention drugs it has NOTHING to do with what we are talking about...

Yes they have GH guts due to their lorgans growing - yes..ok? your point? Doesnt have anythign to do with deadlifting or not

And to say bodybuilding goes hand in hand with steroids so does powerlifting, oly lifting, sport in general...

 

[Rugby88]

Its fairly know that heavy deads, squats etc will give you that blockier look when it comes to the mid section as this is where you get all your power from. You will also find if you tested the hip flexor/glute/ab strength of alot of bodybuilders they would be fairly weak - even though they look strong.

Powerlifters, oly lifters, sports people etc you will find alot of the time will have a blockier look due to their training...bodybuilders of course dont want to look like that...that isnt the goal.

 

[Mickdog]

How do you test your overall strength? Deadlift imo is the only way to do this. But as for training, can you improve your deadlift max by not doing a conventional deadlift, if so deadlifting is unnecessary unless testing strength. Once again imo to improve your deadlift you must deadlift. But most important one must be awesome in doing so. Awesomeness is the key