> deadlift's are quite dangerous for the untrained.
It's odd to me you picked deadlift to call out as dangerous.
The deadlift is certainly dangerous, but only in the sense that almost any large lift is dangerous for the untrained. But in my experience, the deadlift is a very natural motion for me and most people who I've seen get into lifting heavy. Fixing people's natural instincts is usually just pointing out a few cues--if you look up deadlift workshops most are are only an hour long. And if you are lifting too much weight, you just drop it.
The squat is a much more complicated motion: squat workshops are usaully full-day events, and the ways it breaks down tends to change as you add weight, so just getting the form is a long-term process. It's also a more dangerous lift if you have too much weight because you're under the bar.
I've seen people confuse clean and jerks with deadlifts. Maybe that's what's happening here? The biggest deadlift injury I've seen is scraped shins. It's hard to injure yourself without straps.
1. Hunching your back. This can cause slipped discs and some muscle issues.
2. Trying to controlled-lower the bar to the ground. Contrary to the policies of a lot of gyms, you should get to the top of your deadlift and basically drop: you might keep your hands on it to keep it from rolling away after it reaches the ground, but you definitely don't want to try to slow it down as you lower. If this is too loud for you, use bumper plates or a deadlift platform. This is pretty much guaranteed to cause you severe soreness and tightness as you go up in weight, which will likely clue you in that you are doing something wrong, but if you persist or jump right up to too high a weight, you can tear muscles or ligaments.
Both of these can cause pretty serious long-term injuries. But they're also both pretty easy to fix.
Agreed. I would also add that mobility issues are a short-cut to injury. You have to have great mobility in your hip flexors, IT bands, and ankles in order to perform deadlifts well (as well as any other lower body movement).
Sumo deadlifts are easy enough for a novice and are relatively lower impact. Form strictness is less of an issue for most people with these, and are a good starting point for deads.
Interesting, I looked it up, and apparently there is more disagreement on this than I was aware of.
If you read in depth on the subject, most people are saying it can fall pretty fast: controlling the bar seems to be mostly directed at making sure it takes a straight line down and doesn't hit your knees.
However, some people are saying that they lower it slower to get more work per rep.
All I will say is that my personal experience is that trying to over-control the lower has caused issues for me, and a few other people I've known who deadlifted, and these were always fixed by the cue, "Just keep your hands on it and otherwise let it drop."
And the flipside is definitely clear: if you watch any high-level deadlift competitions, tons of competitors will just completely let go of the bar, and I'm not aware of any injuries caused by doing this.
That said, I'd love to see actual data, as the only information I have found here (including my own) is just appeals to authority.
It's odd to me you picked deadlift to call out as dangerous.
The deadlift is certainly dangerous, but only in the sense that almost any large lift is dangerous for the untrained. But in my experience, the deadlift is a very natural motion for me and most people who I've seen get into lifting heavy. Fixing people's natural instincts is usually just pointing out a few cues--if you look up deadlift workshops most are are only an hour long. And if you are lifting too much weight, you just drop it.
The squat is a much more complicated motion: squat workshops are usaully full-day events, and the ways it breaks down tends to change as you add weight, so just getting the form is a long-term process. It's also a more dangerous lift if you have too much weight because you're under the bar.