Adarq.org

What if you have really long arms? Should you aim for the hip crease anyway? That would pretty much give me a snatch grip...

pull shoulders back, even bend elbows slightly but keep bend constant.  The dip at the start with the knees helps this a lot as well.  I may try and do a video on it if it seems like Im not clear here, its kind of hard to portray in words, once you get it you have no question youre doing it right though.

  First off Im sorry for taking so long to respond to your rdl video Vag, Ive been moving into a new house in the same complex with my gym and havent had much time at all. 

 The way we teach the rdl is to start with glutes fired forward, weight on heels, and bar swept into the hip crease using the lats.  You need to actively PULL the weight into you while youre tensing the glutes.  bend ONLY at the knees, 3 inches, while keeping the glutes forward, and the weight on the heels.  If you watch Pendlay clean and snatch progressions, this is position 1 in my blog.  This bend (3 inches) will remain constant throughout the entire exercise.  When you reach full hip extension, this is where you finish.

 To start the movement, sweeping the bar into your thighs with the lats as you push the hips to the rear, you will descend as far back with your hips as your flexibility allows.  DONT think about the barbell going DOWN, simply sweep it in against you, and think of the hips going back.  With the starting position described, you will not bend at the knee any more than is already pre set.  This is one of the most important things and easiest ways of not turning the exercise into something its not supposed to be.

 To finish you simply drive your hips into the bar, while continuing to sweep the weight into you with the lats.  You will finish in the exact position you started, with the knees slightly bent. 

There are other ways to do it, but this method has proven very useful and really allows a glute driven rdl while taking the issues of knee extension out entirely that typically happen when starting to learn the movement.  Remember that the bar is not the focus on the way down, its merely there and "ignore" the depth it reaches.  Focus is entirely on hips moving back, then hips moving forward.

Quote from: LanceSTS on October 01, 2012, 10:18:05 pm

Quote from: AlexV on October 01, 2012, 02:45:11 pm

its cause he is soo tall

Completely unrelated, but in the schroeder/iso article he references knee pain caused via popliteus and that activation of it solves this issue.  How is he referring to activating the popliteus? Contraction of the hamstring of front leg?

nice new articles btw 

What's the schroeder article you are talking about?  Do you have a link?  Very interested in this article will read through this one at work!

http://evolutionaryathletics.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/isoextremes-dr-j-2.pdf

its cause he is soo tall

Completely unrelated, but in the schroeder/iso article he references knee pain caused via popliteus and that activation of it solves this issue.  How is he referring to activating the popliteus? Contraction of the hamstring of front leg?

nice new articles btw 

  Lifts look much better.  Dont get too overy critical of minor details that cause you to get frustrated.  Your squat is FOR SURE training your legs in a way that will strengthen them for athleticism.  Sure you can eventually get even more upright and more stable, but what youre doing now is also effective as you continue to improve technically.  Keep trying to improve and dont fall into that "I simply CAN NOT do xxxx".  You can, and look how far youve already come.

  I wouldnt get so frustrated with the missed pr's either.  Some days youre going to have "off" workouts, its many reasons that cause this and some of them are actually positive.  Having a set goal of volume like 30-40 total reps at >80% can really work well for you in those cases, you get some very crucial volume in even though youre not hitting a pr, that will enable future pr's in the next weeks. 

  Raptor - yea, if you keep at it you can get to where youll get the glutes to turn on.  Go light, pause, etc., then soon you can turn it into a regular speed

  Vag- sorry for interruption log 



 If you want to talk more on it Raptor start a thread in my section on it and Ill get to it when I get back from gym tonight.

Yeah I have been practicing a posterior-tilt in my KB swings but at the end of the movement, and it really gets the glutes fire. The idea came from Bret Contreras' "American Deadlift".

But like you said, the "chest up and out" is exactly what got me where I am in the first place. It does a bunch of stuff, it usually turns you very quad dominant as well, for example even in the KB swings I have the tendency to keep an upright torso and bend the knee and take the tension of the hamstrings too so... it's all messed up.

How he describes that "American deadlift" is exactly how I am explaining the rdl, only keep the knee slightly bent and at the same angle with the rdl through the entire rom.

Every single one of the athletes I get that has the problem you do got it from squatting with those cues overdone.  Sometimes they are fairly strong already as well but they tend to feel their hams and quads in the squat much more than their glutes until they fix it.  I have them "flex the abs while staying tall" rather than chest out and it helps over time.  Think of a plank standing up 

Luckily I use the deadlifts as straight leg deadlifts FOR the hamstrings so... whatever

 You will get tons of hamstring work, in the way they are supposed to work with a proper rdl.  What you said right there identifies your problem perfectly.  "I over arch and dont know why, but im gonna keep hammering on that movement pattern and strengthen it so I have no chance of doing it right."

 Thats akin to using the barbell row as a bicep exercise. 


 You CAN fix it, and getting to neutral takes practice.  Try flexing your abdominals without shortening the torso.  Try to shove your pelvis through the end of your glutes as you go down ie. "turn the pelvis upside down".   Thats not possible obviously but given that cue will help a lot in getting to true neutral where you are driving from the correct muscles.   

 The problem you have is very common, especially with people who have been lifting for a while.  So much emphasis is put on "chest up and out" that it gets overdone, and eventually takes the glutes out the movement.  Start with an unloaded rdl, go to the bottom, and see if you can contract your glutes.  If you cant, go up again and "pull down" with the hip flexors.  Keep at it until you get the glutes firing hard, this will be the position you are looking for.