I have been having some tgrouble wth my DL recently. I went through Break-in, and right at the end of that pulled a muscle in back during the DL; until then I had no problem with my DL.
Then I did 2 sessions each of FL-A and FL-B. Wham! my DL again. I had to travel and ended up not doing NROL for a week. I got back to it, did FL-1A no problem at all, then did FL-2 after a good specific (i.e. DL warmup), dialing down the weight a bit from where I had left off. Halfway through my first set, again The Twinge, always in the same spot, always on setting down the bar.
I found some very good detail instruction on the DL, including a very helpful recommendation to keep the knees straight on the descent until the bar reaches the knees. That was very helpful. It feels like something "breaks" in my DL, like I am somehow not holding things together.
After The Twinge in yesterday's FL-1B DL, I skipped the remaining DLs and did the remaining 2 sets of other half of the superset (incline DB press). For the next superset, I substituted empty bar Good Mornings for the Romanian DL, and fnished the rest of the workout OK. In some ways it was a good thing I did not do all those early DLs because I was pretty flagged out near the end.
Anyway, my back is mostly better today, and I want to concentrate on being able to do these DLs safely and well. I plan to go down to empty bar DLs at first (I had worked up to 185 before), and am very interested in any supplementary exercises to firm up whatever is giving way. I am super careful on form, and even had a personal trainer I know critique my form (she saw no problem).
This whole DL thing is really stopping me short, and I am taking it very seriously; it feels like my body is not able to maintain its integrity somehow.
As far as movements to progress towards I would work on...
-Pull Throughs
-Hyperextensions
-Sumo Style DL's
Personally I found one of the best method of helping my clients get into form with their DL's was going Sumo Style. The wider stance allows for a little easier of focus on proper hip/back position. Rounding of the back almost stopped instantly naturally and even better with a little instruction.
I also agree in backing off on the weight and perfect that form.
Another random aspect often ignored though is grip strength. You might want to look into throwing some farmer walks into your program.
Cumin, Did you buy the Lift Strong CD? There's a very good article from Gray Cook and Brett Jones called Safe Strength. The whole article is about the deadlift. It begins simply with breath and moves on through all the very rudimentary steps to take you safely to a deadlift. Even if you don't really need to step back this far, it's instructive to go through each step and make sure you're capable of doing it before moving on to the next one.
I also love pull-throughs as a great movement to learn to engage the glutes under heavy loads. I'm sure there's a place for pull-throughs in your program too.
I had to do some searching to find out what a pull-through is; the Ball State videos seem to be having some problems now. Anyway, I think I get the idea of the movement, but I only have some pathetic bands and a power rack with a *high* pulley.
Even just a few reps with the pathetic bands feels real good; I think this may be just what I need.
Nobody else has mentioned good mornings; are they not so appropriate for this purpose?
The Lift-Strong CD will need to wait a couple weeks for my cash flow to flow some more; I did just order Starting Strength yesterday, which I believe also has very detailed DL isntruction. Thanks for the Lift-Strong suggestion, it is now in my mental "to-get" queue.
I had to do some searching to find out what a pull-through is; the Ball State videos seem to be having some problems now. Anyway, I think I get the idea of the movement, but I only have some pathetic bands and a power rack with a *high* pulley.
Even just a few reps with the pathetic bands feels real good; I think this may be just what I need.
I like Ball State's info on pull-throughs. Keep doing them with the bands if that's all you've got.
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Nobody else has mentioned good mornings; are they not so appropriate for this purpose?
Good mornings are an excellent posterior chain exercise, but I would only recommend them to someone that I know can maintain their core stability throughout the set. And since you said this:
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it feels like my body is not able to maintain its integrity somehow.
I think that maybe a pull-through done after some glute activation warm-ups (glute bridging, fire hydrants, etc.) would be the better option. I'd also include a whole lot of core stability work in your program. I'd load up your warm-up with mobility movements that also challenge the core (T-push-ups, spiderman climbs, etc.) and I'd make all your "ab" work core stability (planks, side planks, mountain climbers, etc.) instead of rotation or flexion.
It may be that The Twinge is not purely related to your form - you may be in need of a little adjustment from your chiropractor. I had a similar twinge early on in doing NROL, and a back cracking was all I needed. If you've got something a little bit out of alignment, even if you use perfect form, you're going to feel it when it's under load.
It may be that The Twinge is not purely related to your form - you may be in need of a little adjustment from your chiropractor. I had a similar twinge early on in doing NROL, and a back cracking was all I needed. If you've got something a little bit out of alignment, even if you use perfect form, you're going to feel it when it's under load.
Deadlift accessory exercises
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