Dead Lifts???

Before you get all stoked on weight lifting, which I'm sure is great and all, what kind of shape are your abs in?

Maybe start by boosting your ab workouts so they balance out your overdeveloped back and shoulder muscles (speaking from my own personal experience here), I find that to often be the culprit when I start having back issues. Making sure I have targeted crunches in my routine usually helps even this out: 1 set = 40 crunches, 10 standard, 10 legs up, 10 left side obliques, 10 right side obliques. I throw this in between my sets of hindu squats and hindu pushups. Each set is an interval, rest for 30s to 1 min between, repeat till you're toast and then stretch. Takes 20 minutes for me to warm up, hammer through 4 sets of the above and stretch down, and works a whole bunch of opposition muscles to keep your climbing muscles happy.

Also, I think the hindu pushups help with the back too, but I'm always doing them along with the above, so I can't tell you if they work in isolation. And none of these things require spending money.

Jason Kim wrote: Would disagree with this, and so do some notable strength coaches. When you use a mirror to observe your own form during a lift, you disengage important neuromuscular feedback pathways by replacing them with visual cues. You need to learn how to feel the lift, in other words. Having a qualified coach is best, but using a video camera to record your movement and then self-critique can also work.

Interesting thought. I'll have to poke around a little, but I can definitely see where this could be problematic. I agree that a coach or video would be better, but I would still argue that when you are first starting a big lift like the deadlift looking at your form during a lift won't hurt as much as doing it incorrectly. I will agree with you that relying on that feedback is probably an inhibition to further development when you've got the form down.

Thanks for something to think about tomorrow in the weight room!

Another vote for Rippetoes Starting Strength. Fantastic book.

Romainian dead lifts are horrible on your lower back. Seriously do some squats for a few weeks and then progress to dead lifts. Romainian dead lifts are brutal and will most likely injure you if your lower back is weak. If you can keep them mellow than perhaps they will be beneficial. I would definitely work on squats first before progressing to dead lifts, especially Romainian.

Ryan Williams wrote: Not so fast. OP, you did say you were 6'4" and scrawny (I'm guessing 170-180lb?). The bar weights 45lb so that's 195lb. Deadlifts are not easy to master for tall and skinny people - I know because I am 6ft and was about 140 when I started lifting. It will take a while for you to need more than 195 - at least long enough for you to figure out if it is worth spending money to buy more plates. And like Jason said, you can usually find them cheap or free because people buy them for New Year's Resolutions and shit, and they either sell them or leave them behind when they move.

I'm 5'9" and weighed about 140 when I started deadlifting years back. Training 1.5 times a week and progressively loading the bar, I got to 300 pounds in 3 months. YMMV, but 195? That'll get light, quick.

I say buy some weight. Decide you don't want it and pop it right back on craigslist, you'll get your money back.

One more vote for Starting Strength.

skitch wrote:The last few months I have been pushing my climb a bit, but every monday my mid to lower back is sore/tired/tight and I want to continue climbing harder but hopefully without this happening. A friend of mine is really into Kettlebells, and he thought that might be the answer, I asked a couple local badass climbers, that are also Crossfit trainers (which I do not participate in), what they thought of swinging bells would do and they both thought that I would likely f_ck my back up more if I didn't do them 100% perfectly. They suggested dead lifts.... SNIP

Both Kettle bells and dead lifts are rad but can wreck you if not done correctly. If your back is pretty stiff/sore, you might want to look at working your glutes as a start. The exercises linked below look really simple but if you have weak back/glutes they'll spank you pretty well. I reckon one of the easiest workout tools to have at home is a Swiss ball. You can work your back and glutes amazingly with one. Romanian dead lifts, suggested above are also great...

realsimple.com/m/health/fit…

Do not teach yourself dead lifts, esp without a mirror. Please seek professional instruction from a POWERLIFTER or a CSCS who actually works with powerlifters. You might not hurt yourself in the beginning, but you will later when your technique is shit and you are trying to go up in weight.
Begin thinkin of your legs as springs which protect your back from harm and strengthen them.
You've got a barbell and 150 lbs of weight and a rack! Excellent...
Start training on your feet! back muscles are postural and help stabilize and support skeleton for all other movements..
Learn press & push press. Bent over row, front squat, overhead squat, seated goodnornings, goodmornings.. Seek advice from a knowledgeable trainer to learn this stuff, you can easily hurt yourself later when you add weight if you don't learn it right!
start out with a stick!! form is key!! then the bar. Then a little weight progressively. your aim is to strengthen the deep muscles which stabilize not the superficial ones. You will identify plenty of inflexibility and weakness in the hips, back and shoulders from these simple exercises.
Take time to fix your back and make it strong.. Avoid chronic back pain!! Be wary of crossfit trainers who claim to know all the lifts.. They might.. Or they might sorta know how to do em. The $1000 price tag, couple days in a class is all that stands between you and being a crossfit trainer. ;)

Has nobody mentions mark twights gym jones work outs, you'll pay for his knowledge but nobody does it better