> deadlift's are quite dangerous for the untrained.
It's odd to me you picked deadlift to call out as dangerous.
The deadlift is certainly dangerous, but only in the sense that almost any large lift is dangerous for the untrained. But in my experience, the deadlift is a very natural motion for me and most people who I've seen get into lifting heavy. Fixing people's natural instincts is usually just pointing out a few cues--if you look up deadlift workshops most are are only an hour long. And if you are lifting too much weight, you just drop it.
The squat is a much more complicated motion: squat workshops are usaully full-day events, and the ways it breaks down tends to change as you add weight, so just getting the form is a long-term process. It's also a more dangerous lift if you have too much weight because you're under the bar.
I've seen people confuse clean and jerks with deadlifts. Maybe that's what's happening here? The biggest deadlift injury I've seen is scraped shins. It's hard to injure yourself without straps.
1. Hunching your back. This can cause slipped discs and some muscle issues.
2. Trying to controlled-lower the bar to the ground. Contrary to the policies of a lot of gyms, you should get to the top of your deadlift and basically drop: you might keep your hands on it to keep it from rolling away after it reaches the ground, but you definitely don't want to try to slow it down as you lower. If this is too loud for you, use bumper plates or a deadlift platform. This is pretty much guaranteed to cause you severe soreness and tightness as you go up in weight, which will likely clue you in that you are doing something wrong, but if you persist or jump right up to too high a weight, you can tear muscles or ligaments.
Both of these can cause pretty serious long-term injuries. But they're also both pretty easy to fix.
Agreed. I would also add that mobility issues are a short-cut to injury. You have to have great mobility in your hip flexors, IT bands, and ankles in order to perform deadlifts well (as well as any other lower body movement).
Sumo deadlifts are easy enough for a novice and are relatively lower impact. Form strictness is less of an issue for most people with these, and are a good starting point for deads.
Interesting, I looked it up, and apparently there is more disagreement on this than I was aware of.
If you read in depth on the subject, most people are saying it can fall pretty fast: controlling the bar seems to be mostly directed at making sure it takes a straight line down and doesn't hit your knees.
However, some people are saying that they lower it slower to get more work per rep.
All I will say is that my personal experience is that trying to over-control the lower has caused issues for me, and a few other people I've known who deadlifted, and these were always fixed by the cue, "Just keep your hands on it and otherwise let it drop."
And the flipside is definitely clear: if you watch any high-level deadlift competitions, tons of competitors will just completely let go of the bar, and I'm not aware of any injuries caused by doing this.
That said, I'd love to see actual data, as the only information I have found here (including my own) is just appeals to authority.
Even then not necessarily sufficient. Source: worked with a trainer on this for months after pulling my back at a crossfit years earlier and still having lingering effects. Sitting a ton creates, or can create, large hip inflexibility, tight hamstrings, etc. If budget and space isn't a material constraint, get a hexbar... it will lessen some of the impact on your back.
Deadlifting (and squatting) is arguably the most important full body exercise you can do, and the staple of every single marvel super hero body transformation, but the risk threshold is fairly high for a beginner.
If you want to stretch, try ROMWOD. A bit intense but likely the most impactful in terms of results.
Sitting tightens the calves too, especially if put your heels on the chair legs to prop them higher. Zero drop shoes, lowering every chair as much as possible, sitting on even lower things, and the "third world squat" all help. I saw my daughter squatting that way and it made me look it up. Adults should be able to do it too. Squatting desks are great. Also, dont do your introduction to CrossFit at a competitive box. Or don't do it at all and do something like starting strength or stronglifts.
There's a lot of back and forth in this thread about deadlifts "being the devil", so I'm glad you brought up flexibility. ROM gets more important the older you get. If you're a washed-up meathead (like myself) working on flexibility makes it easier to get out of the bed in the morning and some mornings it makes it _possible_ to get out of bed.
Doing yoga (yeah, I know) has fixed my hip flexor issues and got my lower body lifts to near PR levels again.
I train deadlifts by using the lightest possible weights and doing 2 sets of practice reps. Focus on keeping the spine stable, use legs to push the weight up. Don't add weight until you video record yourself and ensure your back and hips are on point. Back needs to not bend, and hips need to thrust forward, bar path vertical, close to the body as that's our center of mass. Ensure your sternum stays on the same plane as your stomach and neck, keep the upper back from rounding.
> deadlift's are quite dangerous for the untrained.
This is just false. Sure, the untrained should get some instruction on proper form, and start with manageable weights, as with any exercise. But deadlifting is the least dangerous of the power lifts, and far less dangerous than half the activities in the average WOD.
> Start with "Fix Rounded Shoulders" and "Fix Anterior Pelvic Tilt"
Definitely don't. These are non-scientific maladies invented by fitness personalities to convince you to pay for their specialized expertise to fix your particular biomechanical imperfections. You don't need perfect posture as a prerequisite to benefiting from deadlifting, or any kind of exercise. If you're physically capable of doing the movement, even if your version of the movement is imperfect and not adhering to the mechanical ideal, you're able to benefit from it.
Yeah, it seems weird to always couch squats/deadlifts in the disclaimer of "if trained / done correctly" and then get defensive when people point out that they are dangerous.
If you're starting out doing deadlifts then I'm almost certain you're at a gym where there's someone experienced enough to show you how to do a deadlift.
Start with "Fix Rounded Shoulders" and "Fix Anterior Pelvic Tilt" if you have not already done so. Plenty of great advice on YouTube on those topics.