Deadlift Alternative? page 2

[Ayla2010]

wow crazy that your gym has no bars :/

[UK Guy]

The general recommendation is to deadlift at most once a week with reduced work sets relative to other lifts. As lifters get stronger on the lift they often reduce the frequency to even less than that...maybe once every 8 or 9 days..maybe even once a fortnight.
As for the box carrying....my advice would be .to quote the Nike commercial...just do it. The more you practice that the easier it will become over time.

[UK Guy]

Don't do straight leg deadlifts...not unless you want to destroy your lower back. Locking your knees locks your pelvis into place and the discs take all the strain. Short range Romanian deadlifts with knees unlocked would be a better option.
Just a question..if you don't mind...what's wrong with asking the guys for help at work?

[Dirlot]

fishin-frog - straight leg lifts might be a possibility. I will try those with dumbbells and see how they feel.

UK Guy - No I had not seen that. I don't actually do all that much lifting at work, but when I do I want to be good at it! I'd say, rough guess, I get one really heavy lift a week- maybe 2 on a good week. I probably get 4 or 5 medium difficulty lifts a week. The rest is pretty light weight.

Another issue that I'm sort of dealing with is carrying really heavy spools (think out front, like carrying a box,) and how to get better with that and to be able to carry more weight. Anything I can do to improve that?

Make yourself a sandbag out of an old army duffel bag an pressed wood pellets. It won't be really loose like a normal sandbag but if it spits there wont be sand everywhere.

[Diana Renata]

Ayla- Planet Fitness. What can I say?

LOL UK Guy- Nike is pretty wise aren't they? Good advice. I guess I'm sort of stuck in the "practice makes perfect" mindset. Advice noted on straight-leg lifts. Do you think back extensions could be of any benefit for strengthening the lower back?

I don't mind asking the guys for help sometimes, but essentially being the only girl in the shop, I like being as self-sufficient as possible. I want to be able to keep up with the boys as best I can. It's a small company and being able to hold my own says a lot- especially to the boss man out front. Don't get me wrong, we're like an awesome disfunctional family, and I've got 7 brothers from other mothers, but there are days when I really don't feel like being "little sister."

Dirlot- I am on it with the sandbag! I actually have one needing sand. I had to empty it when it got soaked. Need to be more mindful to keep it out of the rain. I didn't expect those things to be so unwieldy, but wow...

[MprDoc]

Have you tried holding the dumb bells on the sides of your legs instead of infront of your body?? I am not sure how much weight you can dead lift but I would assume you can hold enough weight with dumbbells to make it efficient? I know wire spools are heavy, used to do a lot of wire work.

I don't know if there are other options around but in my opinion gyms without barbells are something that is contributing to the wussification of American society. I would personally track down another gym or, depending on how often you workout, just buy a barbell and some plates. Realistically, by not having gym dues those items could pay for themselves in a couple months and its easy to get a full body workout with a few plates and a barbell at home.

[MprDoc]

CRAIGS LIST! If I didn't have an appartment I would own a power rack, a 20 pound medicine ball, a heavy bag and a barbell with about 350 punds worth of plates and be gold for the rest of my life. Add a jump rope to.

[Jmb]

You should be able to do partial deadlifts on a Smith machine. Just place the bar at knee level and load up the weight. Lift as you would a normal deadlift. It will still get you the benefits of upper back and heavy core work and it should also still hit your hips and glutes a little depending on ROM. Plus, you should be able to go a little heavier since you aren't going all the way down.

In my opinion, aside from the deadlift and squat family exercises it is hard to replicate all that the deadlift works in one exercise with one substitution. I think its sum is greater than its parts.

[Ayla2010]

You should be able to do partial deadlifts on a Smith machine. Just place the bar at knee level and load up the weight. Lift as you would a normal deadlift. It will still get you the benefits of upper back and heavy core work and it should also still hit your hips and glutes a little depending on ROM. Plus, you should be able to go a little heavier since you aren't going all the way down.

In my opinion, aside from the deadlift and squat family exercises it is hard to replicate all that the deadlift works in one exercise with one substitution. I think its sum is greater than its parts.

nooo dont do that.

[UK Guy]

Diana,
Back extensions might help....but are dependent on how you do them. If you lock your knees then you are in a situation similar to the stiff legged deadlift that I warned you about. I do mine on a 45 degree back raise station. I set the height to the lowest level. This allows me to start the movement with my knees partially bent and my spine keeps it's natural curvature. I keep this curvature throughout the movement, neither flexing or overarching the spine. I stop short of full extension at the top as I straighten my knees. The whole action, if you can imagine it would be similar to performing a short range deadlift, lifting the bar from as high as my knees only. This allows you to hinge at the hip, not flex and extend the spine.
The other alternative I've thought of is for you to place a dumbbell on it's end...and then deadlift it sumo style, not too wide a stance though. Thinking about it this would be the natural way that I would pick an object off the floor. Manual labourers are told to lift with their legs...not their back. I still do one controlled set of the barbell sumo deadlift per week as a homage to my former way of lifting, but I don't go too heavy.