But the deficit positions the handle a good 4.5 inches below ground level. You can visualise this clearly in the video by seeing how the handle is positioned below my foot level. This is my last of 4 sets of 3 reps with 110 kgs. It was a challenging lift that required pauses between each rep. I did not have fun.
A regular deadlift is pulled with the handle 9 inches above the ground.
So each deadlift pulled from the height below has to travel 27 inches more than your conventional deadlift. My regular deadlift involves 42 inches of travel. This one involves 69 inches of travel. There’s a terrific dirty joke in there that i am not able to come up with.
The first and most logical question is: Why do this exercise?
And my messy reply is: real world lifting is messy and inconvenient. I will never be able to mimic it. But the least i can do is to try and put myself in uncomfortable positions. For small doses. Atleast once or twice a week.
The two deadlift ‘rules’ that gets thrown out of the book:
1. My back is not in extension or flat. It is rounded.
2. This involves a great deal of knee and hip flexion. It’s a messy lift.
Who is this for?
When i make my clients do a deficit deadlift, it is 2-3 inches off the floor. It is never with this setup.
Odd lifts like this involve building tolerance for gnarly positions rather gradually. You should not rush to pack on the load on this lift. Nor can I program any semblance of linear progression.
The personal appeal was for me two fold:
1. Can I actually adapt to this position? By adapt, can my back muscles, ligaments and tendons become more resilient to produce this movement without distress. Can I learn to lift with my legs even when the back is in a less than optimal position? I am in my fifth year of this lift. And I like how i feel.
2. What would be the exact opposite of the abomination of a rackpull performed by Bradley Cooper’s character in American Sniper.
