Why Do We Need To Deadlift?
There is usually a debate between which exercise is the best of them all, squat or deadlift ?
Both are daily functional movements that we do often without even noticing. So who's really to say which one is more important ?
A lot of people also tend to think the deadlift is a dangerous movement and should be avoided altogether. Sorry Planet Fitness... it's just not true. Any exercise can be dangerous and cause injury if not performed properly. The deadlift activates more muscle's than any other functional movement, especially our lower body. Another debate here can always be whether the deadlift is meant for the back or the legs, the truth is you're working both in different ways. Your back is sustaining the load of the bar and is helping keep it in your hands, while your hamstrings and glute's are actually making the movement happen. Your hamstrings are lengthened at the bottom of the exercise, they contract and shorten as we stand up and the glute's bring the hips forward.
The movement is the same as getting down to pick things up off the floor, a key skill in our daily live's. The deadlift will improve your ability to do so and also improve your posture, as the movement works the complete posterior side of the body.
How many times have we injured ourselves moving? Or you've heard someone say they pulled something in their back after moving something to heavy? The deadlift will help prevent that!
Lift safely in your day to day life and incorporate some variation of the deadlift at least once a week in your exercise program if you're not already. Whether you are someone that only trains 2-3 times a week or 5 +, the deadlift should be done in at least one of those workouts. That being said there are many different variations and ways of doing the deadlift, and finding the right way to do it can be tricky. You'll want to ease your way into this movement if you've never done it before, practise your hip hinge bodyweight first before you go adding weight... the glute bridge mimics it perfectly! Also a great movement to start with if you've never done deadlifts before.
Robyn