Deadlift form question

So I keep getting told that to perform a deadlift I need a pristine, perfectly straight and tight back, and if I have any curvature at all I need to immediately deload and work on form at lower weights more.

But any time I see anyone perform a heavy deadlift or 1rm I see their upper back bend, and sometimes a slight curve of the spine along the entire back. My main concern is the upper back curve, which I have similar to this picture.

My question is, are these people all doing deadlifts with bad form? They're professional powerlifters, I can't imagine they're doing it wrong.

the guy is wearing a belt. if you've been deadlifting for a while you will FEEL when it feels fucked up.

better to be on the safe side then anything.

nothing wrong with a bit of the old spinal curvature

Any curve is bad, unless you're powerlifting deadlift at 50% under your max if it means keeping your back perfect.

sure

but note

vs

>put your lats in your front pockets
this is a cue I heard someone say. The idea is the stabilizing of the upper back in a heavy deadlift will cause a bit of rounding. Its the lumbar spine you need to worry about

I'm in the same situation as you OP. No matter what position i approach the Deadlift, my upper back will round, just like in your pic (my starting position looks similar aswell). Other than that, the mid- and bottom- section of my back are perfectly fine and dont round at all.

>cause a bit of rounding
Then lift lighter.

it's perfectly fine to deadlift with a rounded back.
What's wrong is to round your back in the middle of the lift

You're not pushing you ass out enough, practice romanian deadlifts to learn how to use your hamstrings. You're too much squat, not enough hinge.

>in a heavy deadlift
>then lift lighter
wut?

They don't give a fuck about form.
That's bullshit they shill to the rubes so they aren't liable or feel guilty for snapping a lot of people's shit up.
Powerlifters completley throw form out of the window when it comes to getting that pro-ego lift done.

Yes. If your back is rounding, lift lighter, not rocket science. You don't need to 1rm your lifts.

How is this even possible

They don't care about their health and safety, they only care about setting records and dying a champion.

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I can't even flexion that much on purpose.

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Generally speaking, thoracic rounding is generally seen as being safe to deadlift with, meanwhile lumbar rounding is seen as unsafe. It's also more safe if your level of rounding stays the same from when you start the movement to when it is finished.

Also even if your back does round slightly it can still be in what is technically a neutral position.

Powerlifters take risks and use improper form in a competition to max the weight lifted, they don't train like that and neither should you.

>It's also more safe if your level of rounding stays the same from when you start the movement to when it is finished.
Don't take this as advice that it's okay for your back to round at all though. If your back, lumbar, thoracic, whatever, is rounding, you need to lighten the load to a weight you can lift without spinal curving. Otherwise you're going to snap your shit up 5 years down the road.

If that means going from a 4 plate to a 2 plate deadlift to accomplish this, then put your ego in the ground and lift properly.

jonnie candito

>But any time I see anyone perform a heavy deadlift or 1rm I see their upper back bend
>form breakdown when doing a 1rm

WOW WHAT A SURPRISE. It's a 1 rep max for a reason, it's testing the limits of your strength, and typically no one can keep perfect form when doing a 1RM. If they can it means they can probably pull more.

It doesn't mean they should though, unless you compete as a powerlifter, there is no legitimate reason to be 1rm deadlifting, especially if your form fucks up.

Of course. In fact I think doing a 1RM of any lift is fucking stupid, unless you're competing like you said.

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Youre not eddy coan. Dont sacrifice form for weight. Youre not competing youre not going for world records.

Work on your form stupid head.

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>he lifts with the bar behind his legs and proceeds to gymnastic this shit upwards

At this point these idiots are trying too hard to find a new lift that it just reminds me of those old pioneers that attempted to boil piss to make gold.

What the fuck am I seeing?!

>Many powerlifters deadlift with curved upper back and straight lower back (...) that way they shorten the way the barbell goes before they straighten their hips
>some don't understand it though; the upped back of such powerlifter is curved, but stiff, which means that he curved his back first, and then (from that position) introduced external rotation and flexed the muscle

>keep in mind, that curved back is a conscious decision and a powerlifter, who's ready to bear it's consequence
>a great example is Donny Thompson, professional powerlifter and a world record holder
>when training deadlifting with curved back he got disk injury. I remember his reaction: "I knew better. I trained with curved back and had to pay"

>however never does any powrlifter curve his lower back. This position is a ticking bomb.
>at times though, in order to improve ones results even by a few kg, they can sacrifice a safe position

>that's it about the pros, others should never curve their upped back. Why? Because it increases injury risk and teaches a bad motion pattern, later used in everyday life.

>I really like the line made by Jesse Burdick
>according to him, if you can't dl 270 kg with proper form, there's no point in trying with curved upped back
Translated on the go, so I might have fucked up a bit, but I hope it helps.

I'm overly conscious of rounding my back and so I tend to hyperextend. How do I maintain a neutral spine?

thoracic founding: a-ok
lumbar rounding: abort lift
nobody should be deloading from 405 to 225 to fix a little thoracic rounding that only occurs at 90%+, go back to lebbit faggot

Do you do external rotation? Thrust your hip forward while rotating knees outwards and it shouldn't be possible to hyperextend your back.

I try to in my setup, but maybe I'm not staying tight when it comes to actually starting the lift.

Maintaining external rotation helps glute activation, correct?

>Maintaining external rotation helps glute activation
yeah

I'm no expert, but other thing I can think of is maybe try deadlifing from a higher hip position?

>try deadlifing from a higher hip position?

hmm thanks for the suggestion. I'm deadlifting tomorrow so will bear these in mind

I just did deadlifts for the first time this morning and I'm worried about my form being off. Here's the form I was shooting for: back straight, shins touching bar, squat slightly above parallel starting position, grip slightly wider than shoulders, then lift with legs and push your hips out once legs are extended. Is that it? I read that the bar should be touching your legs throughout the rep, but I found it difficult to do that.

I did 1 set of 10 reps with 1pl8, and could have done more. But I decided to take it easy in case my form was bad.

upper back rounding is "fine" but excessive upper back rounding will make lockout impossible

how to fix?

bent over rows like theres no tomorrow

someone fucking sticky "deadlift and squat with Chris Duffin" yt links or im going to fucking pull a trigger on hiro

Read SS you dyel fag

>stand one inch from bar, heels 8-12 inches apart, toes out slightly
>keeping the hips high, bend down and grab the bar outside your shins
>DO NOT MOVE THE BAR
>bend the knees gently until shins touch the bar, shove knees out. Hips shouldn't drop too low.
>DO NOT MOVE THE BAR
>gaze at the floor 12-15 feet in front of you
>take a deep breath and SQUEEZE your ribcage up between your shoulders as hard as you can. Don't allow the hips to drop.
>while maintaining a rigid trunk, drive your feet into the floor and drag the bar up your legs
>you may need to rock back slightly off your toes before initiating the pull