exercises that help with the deadlift?

[thewickedtruth]

My hams suck..period. I'm looking for exercises that will really help my deadlift out. Especially those first few inches off the floor. I'm doing alot of hypers (no reverse hyper machine), leg curls, and pull throughs on a low cable but don't know of anything else that will make a huge difference..I would do good mornings but i'm rotating them out with my squats and deads in a 3 week mini cycle.

[The Squadfather]

glute/ham raises, good mornings, stiff legged deads, dumbell deadlfts, front squats, box squats, pulling regular deads standing on plates or a platform, glute/ham will build the living shit out of the hams, get on youtube and there is a great video clip of Layne Norton doing them with a plate in each hand which is EXTREMELY hard, these are a million times harder than leg curls.

[Hedgehog]

glute/ham raises, good mornings, stiff legged deads, dumbell deadlfts, front squats, box squats, pulling regular deads standing on plates or a platform, glute/ham will build the living shit out of the hams, get on youtube and there is a great video clip of Layne Norton doing them with a plate in each hand which is EXTREMELY hard, these are a million times harder than leg curls.

SF's touched on what can be done, I've highlighted my faves.

[MisterMagoo]

you said you pulled 675. i'd say whatever you're currently doing is fine. i'll add my vote to GHRs, also good mornings.

[Overload]

Any man on this earth who can deadlift 675 should have very impressive hamstrings.

instead of pulling off a box or plate, try deadlifting with 35 pound plates instead of 45's. you will have to get lower and it's the same as standing on a platform. this will help with off the floor power.

[thewickedtruth]

Any man on this earth who can deadlift 675 should have very impressive hamstrings.

instead of pulling off a box or plate, try deadlifting with 35 pound plates instead of 45's. you will have to get lower and it's the same as standing on a platform. this will help with off the floor power.

I pull off a box and it's not reinforced at all...if you have any quad shake you bounce all over the place and it fucks it up so the plate idea I LIKE ALOT!!!
I wouldn't call my hams impressive at all. I think all the stiff leg'd deads I used to do has paid off in a pull. I have started to drop my ass down like you recommended in the "suma vs conventional" thread and i'ts helped alot to get my legs into the push. I'm going to try to setup something in the gym to do glute/ham raises becasue those look ridiculously hard.

The only things I've ever done for pulling are stiff leg'd deads for years and here for the past year or so I've rotated conventional deads with rack pulls and it seems to pay off. My rack pull just below the knee is only 40lbs heavier than my dead lift. I can't wait to get some bands to start pulling against them to really help my lockout too.

Good mornings I used to do until I almost squashed myself with 405 i'm sure a few of you remember that rant...but I'm going to go back to doing them help with them as well. I appreciate the advice guys! I want to be apart of the 800lb club and I've got a long road ahead of me. 600 used to seem impossible like a 400lb bench but it's like everything else...just when you hit one goal you start getting hungry for another. Just never satisfied with myself.

[Vet]

Deadlifts are my nemesis---part of it is my build, I'm 5'7" and weigh in the low 300's.  My arms are ridiculously short, the same as my legs and I've got a long torso.  So, I'm a great bencher and squater relative to my size, but suck at deadlifts.  I can pull decent weight off the floor, but getting it to lock out is a whole different story. 

The two exercises I've gotten the most from are heavy reverse hyperextensions and GHR's.  Platform deadlifting or using 35's is ridiculous because I can't get down that low physically without curling my back in a way that I think isn't healthy. 

I also like good mornings, but you need to work those heavy.  Too many people are afraid of getting under 4-500 lbs with a good morning.  Do them in the rack if you are that afraid of them. 

Belt squats (using Ironminds belt) work great if you are a sumo deadlifter and they really help with your bottom position in the squat. 

I've been experimenting with sandbag swings (like pullthroughs with a sandbag/big kettlebell) while I look around for heavy kettlebells.  I actually think just using sandbags Ive seen a bit of an improvement in my lockout. 

I'm also to the point of thinking real hard about buying my own GHR so I've got one.  None of the gyms were I'm currently living have one and I really feel as if this exercise is a key to getting a good deadlift. 

[thewickedtruth]

Deadlifts are my nemesis---part of it is my build, I'm 5'7" and weigh in the low 300's.  My arms are ridiculously short, the same as my legs and I've got a long torso.  So, I'm a great bencher and squater relative to my size, but suck at deadlifts.  I can pull decent weight off the floor, but getting it to lock out is a whole different story. 

The two exercises I've gotten the most from are heavy reverse hyperextensions and GHR's.  Platform deadlifting or using 35's is ridiculous because I can't get down that low physically without curling my back in a way that I think isn't healthy. 

I've been experimenting with sandbag swings (like pullthroughs with a sandbag/big kettlebell) while I look around for heavy kettlebells.  I actually think just using sandbags Ive seen a bit of an improvement in my lockout. 

I'm also to the point of thinking real hard about buying my own GHR so I've got one.  None of the gyms were I'm currently living have one and I really feel as if this exercise is a key to getting a good deadlift. 

yeah no joint around here has one cept for metroflex so I'm having to think of ways to get it done or just buy a machine. I tried the pull throughs and in all honestly think they're shit....hard to get any sort of weight that makes you work wtihout pulling yourself back and almost falling over when you lock it out. I was reading about the deadlifts and I'm tall so shortening the distance has been a big deal for me. Spread your legs a litlte farther out almost like a sumo stance and try pulling like that for awhile. Not only does it help wiht the glutes and hips for lockout BUT gets you down closer to the bar and significantly reduces your ROM... I can't sumo as much as I pull conventional which would mean my glutes and hips need work too so I'm going to start pulling sumo from time to time to help with that. 5'7" in teh 300's holy shit what a tank! 

[Vet]

yeah no joint around here has one cept for metroflex so I'm having to think of ways to get it done or just buy a machine. I tried the pull throughs and in all honestly think they're shit....hard to get any sort of weight that makes you work wtihout pulling yourself back and almost falling over when you lock it out. I was reading about the deadlifts and I'm tall so shortening the distance has been a big deal for me. Spread your legs a litlte farther out almost like a sumo stance and try pulling like that for awhile. Not only does it help wiht the glutes and hips for lockout BUT gets you down closer to the bar and significantly reduces your ROM... I can't sumo as much as I pull conventional which would mean my glutes and hips need work too so I'm going to start pulling sumo from time to time to help with that. 5'7" in teh 300's holy shit what a tank! 

I switched to sumo about 16 weeks ago and saw a significant jump in my deadlift.  I squat wide, so I deadlift wide too.   It also feels more comfortable on my knees than going conventional. 

LOL@ Tank.   I may be short, but 7'6" in volume.     

[thewickedtruth]

I switched to sumo about 16 weeks ago and saw a significant jump in my deadlift.  I squat wide, so I deadlift wide too.   It also feels more comfortable on my knees than going conventional. 

LOL@ Tank.   I may be short, but 7'6" in volume.     

big is big...and I have a buddy that's 210@5'10" and he's pretty fucking big...but 300lbs is just LARGE! 

when you pick up sumo does it feel more like a squat to you going through the motions? I go wide on squats but if I got too wide I can't hit depth.

[Vet]

big is big...and I have a buddy that's 210@5'10" and he's pretty fucking big...but 300lbs is just LARGE! 

when you pick up sumo does it feel more like a squat to you going through the motions? I go wide on squats but if I got too wide I can't hit depth.

I'm the smallest man in my family if thats any consolation to you.  My kid brother (who is a diesel technician) has about 3 inches and 35 lbs on me.


Yeah, the thing I noticed by going sumo is I can get my hips and legs to fire just like in a squat.  If I remember to get my ass down and lean back, I have great accelleration off the floor to my knees.  Its the knee to lockout region I struggle with. 

Band deadlifts---reverse and conventional are also exercises I really like.  The reverse band deadlifts has really helped my grip. 

[Overload]

All i did for my last deadlift meet was low pulls with 35 plates with chains. then i would do rack pulls from just below the knee the next week. i alternated back and forth for about 3 months, i made some impressive gains doing this.

i'm 6' tall and i've always pulled better conventional, but i have long arms. i used to pull sumo but as i stated before i was pulling my groin alot and didn't want a major injury. i haven't pulled sumo in a long time.

Good mornings are great and chains are good as well. i've never done deadlifts with bands but i know squats with bands are a guy.

i've never done the glute/ham raises on a bench but we had a reverse hyper machine at my old gym and i used it alot, pretty much the same thing.

Good luck.

I pull off a box and it's not reinforced at all...if you have any quad shake you bounce all over the place and it fucks it up so the plate idea I LIKE ALOT!!!
I wouldn't call my hams impressive at all. I think all the stiff leg'd deads I used to do has paid off in a pull. I have started to drop my ass down like you recommended in the "suma vs conventional" thread and i'ts helped alot to get my legs into the push. I'm going to try to setup something in the gym to do glute/ham raises becasue those look ridiculously hard.

The only things I've ever done for pulling are stiff leg'd deads for years and here for the past year or so I've rotated conventional deads with rack pulls and it seems to pay off. My rack pull just below the knee is only 40lbs heavier than my dead lift. I can't wait to get some bands to start pulling against them to really help my lockout too.

Good mornings I used to do until I almost squashed myself with 405 i'm sure a few of you remember that rant...but I'm going to go back to doing them help with them as well. I appreciate the advice guys! I want to be apart of the 800lb club and I've got a long road ahead of me. 600 used to seem impossible like a 400lb bench but it's like everything else...just when you hit one goal you start getting hungry for another. Just never satisfied with myself.

[thewickedtruth]

All i did for my last deadlift meet was low pulls with 35 plates with chains. then i would do rack pulls from just below the knee the next week. i alternated back and forth for about 3 months, i made some impressive gains doing this.

i'm 6' tall and i've always pulled better conventional, but i have long arms. i used to pull sumo but as i stated before i was pulling my groin alot and didn't want a major injury. i haven't pulled sumo in a long time.

Good mornings are great and chains are good as well. i've never done deadlifts with bands but i know squats with bands are a ####.

i've never done the glute/ham raises on a bench but we had a reverse hyper machine at my old gym and i used it alot, pretty much the same thing.

Good luck.

I did my speed deads off an 8" box yesterday and my hams are so fucking sore today it's ridiculous. I really think if I do them like this ALL the time after squat and good morning rotations it'll REALLY help with getting the weight off the floor fast. I had to almost sit on my calves to pull the weight off the ground but DAMN did it feel good. Right now my lower body work is rotating squats, rack deads, good mornings, then deads until the spring in hopes of trying to set a new state raw dead record in my weight class. stil no bands..    Looks like i'm going to have to cancel my order and go buy the whole band pack. I can't use chains in my gym. I'm lucky enough to wear chalk.