• shoelaceshingehookshinschestinhalepush heelsup shins & thighshipschest

...Of all the lifting patterns that will evoke greater strength gains in a short amount of time, I feel this one is key. If you tell me the goal of the program that you're doing with almost any individual does not really involve huge gains in strength, then you haven't read the latest research on metabolism. Even if you are trying to help someone lose weight, getting them into some form of lifting will actually stoke their metabolism, increase their base of metabolic rate and far exceed those simple gains you are supposed to get through cardiovascular or light weight training alone. And, if you have to do one heavy lift, I can't think of a better one that addresses the whole body than the dead lift. So, once again, we are back to who do you train that can't benefit from some strength?Once you feel you have an appreciation for at least the basics of the dead lift, realize how important the single leg dead lift can be. The deep rotators, adductors, abductors and flexors of the hip are designed as much as stabilizers as movers. The single leg dead lift allows them to function in this role. They become stabilizers of the hip on a torso on a pelvic girdle that is moving over top of this hip. This is a great way to train, and a great way for the trainer, the strength coach, and the physical therapist to see subtle left-right differences. It also provides the ability to both demonstrate stability and strength when driving from a single extremity.I want to talk about two lifts from a single leg dead lift position. I want to talk about a hard pull and a functional pull, or a sports lift. The hard pull involves a Kettlebell in each hand, while standing on one foot, with about a twenty-degree knee bend, while the other leg reaches in full hip and knee extension behind the body. The leg reaching behind the body is not allowed to externally, or internally rotate. The toe should be pointed toward the ground at all times. External rotation of the leg will actually allow the hip to open up and throw off mechanics to a significant degree. When two Kettlebells are lifted while standing on one foot, the Kettlebells help balance each other. As you may have noticed, it is easier to walk with two weights, one hanging from each arm, than one weight, because of the balancing effect offered by the two. This reduces the amount of rotation and really focuses on the hip drive and hip extension. This is a great way to develop strength and look at left-right differences in basic strength with the hip drive. Spend time here, learn how to do this lift, see differences on yourself and then pick one other person and use it to train them.The other lift is a single arm, single leg dead lift. Everything is the same with the lower body, but now the weight is only used in the hand opposite the leg that you are standing. This creates a cross body rotational torque that you are not supposed to yield to. A significant amount of rotation is generated when you stand on the left leg and pull a weight with the right arm. Core stability is being able to prevent the rotation. Creating a hip drive and not allowing any side bend or rotation is functional stability, this is life-like stability. It means you can use the power of your hip without yielding the stability of your torso.Very often we go into core training and try to isolate the muscles of the core simply to make someone function better. When we find out that their core works fine as long as their hips aren't moving; it's when their hips are moving that their core starts to compensate simply for left-right differences, weakness, tightness and asymmetry. This gives you an opportunity to look at the functional representation of an individual's stability, while going through a dynamic functional movement. All the more necessary to look at the left and right differences with a right arm, left leg pull, compared to a left arm, right leg pull.So I will leave you with a few pearls with regard to the dead lift. First of all, if you haven't been incorporating the dead lift into your programming, don't feel bad. I practiced and was quite successful for some time avoiding the dead lift, thinking this is only a power lifting move, only for those who want to lift sick amounts of weight. I didn't really see the functionality of the dead lift. I saw the functionality of the squat, because I saw so many individuals who had lost their functional ability to perform a deep squat. Regardless of whether they deep squatted with weight or not, individuals that couldn't perform a deep squat, even with their own body weight, seemed to have more functional problems than those who could. Squatting below parallel wasn't the issue for me; it was just identifying those people that had lost that movement pattern.Identifying those individuals helped us develop the Functional Movement Screen and core training methodologies that broke through simple abdominal training and got into whole body pattern training. This allowed us to prevent quite a few injuries, which is what the research is starting to show. So, I thought the squat was doing it all for me, and I was wrong. The squat needed to be mobile, and if you don't have a squat, you need to get it back right away. But, if you try to strengthen only in the squatting pattern, chances are your joints are going to take a little bit of a beating. Only a few of us are natural born squatters, just like a few of us are natural born runners. However, if you are not a natural born squatter, squatting is still good for you. You just can't expect to get all of your lower body strength training from squatting alone, and leg pressing isn't a substitute. The leg press will reinforce some things that probably don't need to be reinforced on somebody aspiring for function, which brings us to the dead lift.Most people are overtraining their quads and under training their glutes, and the dead lift naturally jumps on your glutes. It makes you have core stability, it makes you stabilize and it makes you drive those hips. It keeps those glutes active, keeps your core hard and keeps your posture in check. So, I've been stating a phrase for quite some time that a lot of people aren't getting. I basically say, maintain your squat, train your dead lift. If you've got a squat, don’t you dare lose it. Train it a little bit, maintain it, do all those core stabilization things that I published in "Athletic Body and Balance", to show you how to keep that squat. But, train your dead lift.You can't damage joints doing proper dead lifting. Muscles are the major stress agent of the dead lift, whereas ankles, knees, hips and back can't help but are stressed a little when squatting. The dead lift is all about muscular control and drive. And, remember, you can monitor the range of motion requirement of that dead lift. You can dead lift a Kettlebell off of a crate, or a Reebok step or a chair, as long as it’s a significant weight and you are showing me the proper hip hinge, you're going to benefit. And, as you get stronger and more stable, you'll be able to go lower and eventually get that thing off the ground. It is possible to do half squats and disrupt the squat pattern, however, you can do half dead lifts without hurting the dead lift pattern. It's a purely big muscle, strength move. So, my little phrase has been maintain the squat, train the dead lift. If you don't have a squat, get it back.Do everything we've told you to do in the Functional Movement Screening methodology, and in my book, "Athletic Body and Balance", and rebuild that squatting pattern. It's already in there; you've just got to let it out. You've already squatted, at least some point in your life when you were little; you just quit doing that for some reason. So, maintain the squat, train the dead lift. If you're looking for lower body training that enhances core stability and protects your back, this is the way you get strong. You can hit the dead lift two or three times a week without having to think you're going to have some major joint problems. Not many of us will be able to hit the squat this many times and not actually hurt the squatting pattern or hurt our joints in the process. So, maintain the squat, train the dead lift.Now, let me give you some hints for training that dead lift. Lift a big weight, keep the shoulders relaxed and don't forget to breathe. Keep the grip strong, that'll keep your shoulders safe. Really extend that back leg, both at the knee and the hip; don't extend it higher than the spine, it should look like an extension of the spine. If your chest goes down two inches, you lift that back heel two inches, if your chest goes up two inches, you lower that back heel two inches. They should be perfectly connected; it should appear as an extension of your spine.Remember, a functional representation of your left-right stability is the cross body single arm, single leg dead lift. And, a functional strength representation of your hip drive and core stability is the double arm, single leg deadlift, Kettlebell dead lift. One focuses and enhances your strength; the other dials in your function and stability. If you feel you need more stability than strength, if you feel you are wobbling on that off center load with only one arm pulling the Kettlebell, spend more time there, but don't neglect the two arm pull. If you feel like, 'my balance is impeccable, I can pull that one Kettlebell, the other side is just really hard, I feel like I want to drop the weight or something like that', then your body is basically telling you, we've got a strength problem. Lighten the weight a little bit, but lift two and really do those pulls. We're not looking for thirty reps here, we're looking for between one and five reps. Shoot for four, get a weight that you know on your best day you can do about four times and never finish ugly. If the third one is the last one you've got, set them down and be done with it. Lastly, when you do a dead lift, you set the weight down each time. I just said basically do a set of four, and really, what I mean is do four sets of one. Reach down, dead lift the weight, set it back down under control, stand back up without the weight, gain your composure and gain your posture, clear a breath, go back down and get the weight again. Actually, it's four sets of one, not one set of four, but you know how we're looking at it.The idea is to hit about two or three sets of each lift, unless you have an asymmetry. And, if you have an asymmetry, try a one to four ratio until that weaker or less stable side comes around. It won't take long; a little bit of focus and a little bit of awareness and a good stable foot position. Drive from both the heel and the big toe, don't put too much weight on the toe, don't put too much weight on the heel. Keep that balance. When you're on one foot, you need more control so you want to feel that whole footprint on the ground, but don't let the knee drift in. Think about maintaining that knee out over about the fourth or fifth toe, remember in this position the knee is very protected.I hope this has helped in giving you some food for thought as well as some things to practice in your own training before you try on someone else. I don't think I ever talk about or even try an exercise on anyone else, that I don't have two or three weeks of playing with it myself first. I've got to become an expert on that new lift because I've got to feel it, I've got to see it and I've got to realize how I feel the next day when I do it. I hope you do the same.If you want more information about dead lifting and learning to incorporate dead lifting with a very client base, please look at, "Secrets of the Core--The Backside". That's a DVD that Brett Jones and I did, and it basically focuses on the dead lift. It shows you how to first screen, then how you train, develop, and finally how you pattern a dead lift. So once, two, three times a week, you've got the best strength move on the planet to keep metabolism up, muscles hard, bone density where you need it. It also provides a simple way to look at a functional representation of both strength and stability between the left and right hip, which is a big thing, we all overlook. A lot of the reasons that the core is not dialed in is because it's trying to compensate and make up for the asymmetry between the two hips. The hips are the powerhouse of the body; if their not putting out equal power, you make for it in the core. This will typically translate into micro-trauma, or sets you up for an injury.WORK OUT SUGGESTIONSFor functional hip strength:Get two Kettlebells that you can do a single leg dead lift of between two and four repetitions. If you are equal, do three sets of about two to four, between the left and right side, alternating. Instead of changing weight, create a package where you do your first set for four repetitions, and remember, set the weight down each time. Your second set for three repetitions and your third set for two. If you lose balance, the rep does not count. If you cannot pull the Kettlebells off the floor, elevate them to an appreciable height where you still get the work, but don't lose balance. If you have an asymmetry, switch to a package of one to four sets, or two to five sets, focusing mostly on the problematic side.For functional stability:Do a single arm, single leg dead lift that you can do for three to five repetitions. If you have an asymmetry,use that one-to-four/two-to-five ratio on the weaker side. If you don't have an asymmetry, set the weight down every time. You may use a slightly different height than you do with a two arm dead lift, and that's okay as well. Keep the weight the same and reduce your rep requirement if that helps. Requiring five repetitions on the first set, maybe three repetitions on the second set, two repetitions on the third set.Try these packages and see how they do. You may be sore in a whole bunch of new places and that's okay