Why should you choose to deadlift during your workouts? What makes this form of exercise superior to other forms? Deadlifting is a form of compound exercise that has been gaining in popularity over the last several years. This is due to the way it works the biggest muscle groups in one’s body.
Whether you are an athlete, an avid fitness lover, or someone that is just looking to get started with their fitness journey, this form of exercise can be incredibly beneficial. Today we are going to dive into the benefits of deadlifting and how it compares to other forms of exercise and weightlifting. Let’s begin!
What Are Deadlifts?
The deadlift is a well-known weightlifting exercise done by professional bodybuilders and average gym-goers alike who all want to improve upper body strength and endurance. The deadlift requires you to use a barbell deadlift while in a wide or narrow stance depending on your current athletic performance. If there isn’t a barbell deadlift around you can always use the alternatives such as the kettle ball or hex bar.
What makes deadlift so popular and loved by many athletes and gym-goers is that it provides numerous benefits for many muscle groups. Deadlift is considered as one of the main “compound” exercises which means doing deadlifts targets most of your body muscles increasing your athletic performance, muscular growth, endurance, and strength.
Deadlifts can also improve and further prevent numerous problems like back pain, improve posture, improve vertical jump and it is also a great way to burn calories!
Although there are a lot of well-known benefits from training with deadlifts, you should know how to perform deadlifts correctly as improper form and training while deadlifting can result in a lot of mild to serious injuries. Instead of providing you with benefits, this will do the opposite.
We are going to talk more about the main benefits of doing deadlifting as well as properly teaching you the correct form of deadlifting to avoid mistakes while doing this strongman exercise.
How To Properly Deadlift
There are a variety of things to be considered while doing a proper and correct form of deadlift because there are many deadlift variations. You can do deadlifts with the common barbell deadlif, a hex bar, or a kettlebell as mentioned before.
But for the basics, you should always take a deep breath and start with the barbell on the floor, properly put the weight plates on the bar, make sure to go things slow, don’t ego lift. With the plates properly placed on the bar, the barbell deadlift should be inches above the floor. To do a proper narrow stance deadlift you should stand with your feet properly grounded on the ground under your hips.
If you wish to do the wide stance instead, stand with your feet outside your shoulders, the toes pointing directly out. After you find your footing, take a deep breath and slowly stick your hips back and bend forward while you properly grip with your hands the bar.
While it may sound simple and easy, this requires time and patience to be mastered. It is also best to have someone of an expert like a gym instructor to fully watch you out while doing the deadlift, this way the exercise will be thoroughly smooth and safe.
Benefits Of Deadlifts
There are many benefits to deadlifitng, specifically due to the muscle groups that the movement targets. While there are many benefits to explore, we are going to discuss the top benefits that personal trainers, bodybuilders, and gym goers report!
1. Builds Multiple Muscle Groups
Alongside pullups, bench press, squats, and lunges, deadlifts are one of the most popular exercises. This exercise is utilized by many gym goers because it works effectively in building many muscle groups.
Deadlifts target the covered abdominal muscles, lower back muscles, the glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps. It also actively engages your forearm muscles considering that you have to grip the bar properly to avoid it from slipping.
Deadlifts make your workout routine more efficient because in doing so you are targeting multiple muscles in your body instead of doing isolation exercises in each of your preferred muscles to be trained which can take time.
Doing a standard 3-4 sets with 8-12 reps is efficient enough to promote muscle breakdown which then leads to muscle growth.
2. Can Improve Athletic Performance
Whether you are a professional athlete or not, deadlifting can greatly improve your athletic performance because as said before, deadlifting targets many muscles in the body which overall increases muscle strength and endurance.
Deadlifting also works the leg muscles which is useful for things like running, kicking, and jumping which is mainly used in sports such as soccer, volleyball, or basketball. The explosive performance of doing deadlifts also contributes to more powerful movements. Not only that, it has been scientifically shown that deadlifting can improve vertical jumps which is beneficial to many athletes.
A study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning also pointed out that a 10-week duration of deadlifting twice a week makes the hamstrings, quadriceps muscles more apt to complete powerful movements.
3. An Efficient And Great Way To Lose Weight
Many beginners in their fitness journey have this presumption that for them to lose weight and get those shredded abs they have to do a large amount of cardio. In reality, doing a lot of cardio can do more harm than good especially if you’re trying to pack on some muscles.
The real way to lose weight while gaining muscle in the gym is by doing compound exercises such as the deadlift. We’re not saying that doing cardio, such as running the elliptical or treadmill is bad for you, just try to limit it if your intent is to grow muscles and appear “bigger.”
A study by ACSM’s Health and Fitness Journal found that deadlifts burn more calories than those regular cardio exercises.Alongside the deadlift, the only other compound exercise that can burn more calories while efficiently promoting muscle growth is the barbell back squat. This is because a lot of lower and upper body muscles are worked in doing so.
4. Deadlifting Gives You A Cut Body
It’s a great ego boost to see your muscles developing and becoming bigger as you progress in the gym. Just like anything in life, seeing real tangible progress can truly motivate you to keep going.
Deadlifting alongside all the other major compound exercises is the main important factor in achieving a muscle built body. If you are wanting to achieve the classic “gym-rat” body physic this exercise can be extremely beneficial.
Final Verdict: Give Deadlifting A Try
Deadlift is not just for body builders! It’s an extremely beneficial exercise for anyone who is looking to increase strength, grow muscle mass, or even lose weight.
It’s also important to note that deadlift is not just for men, despite what stereotypes might make you think. While deadlifts do help men bulk up muscle wise, the same does not happen for women. This is mainly because of the differences in hormones. Deadlift can help women lose some weight and tone down their bodies too.
Men have more testosterone in their body which gives them more of an advantage in bodybuilding as they can lift heavier and have more the potential to develop larger muscle mass, while women on the other hand can pack on some muscles but not as much.
So whether if you’re just trying to tone your body and get that lean look or if your trying to build and grow more muscles, deadlifting and doing other compound exercises while incorporating the right diet (caloric surplus or caloric deficit) depending on your body type and fitness goals can be incredibly important in getting you that Aesthetic body look.
