Alternative deadlift exercises to work the same muscles?

hawkmancody

Ok so here is my problem.
Whenever I deadlift I make sure to keep my back strait and engage the posterior chain to lift instead of my back.
My problem is that when doing the deadlift my left knee starts hurting ( I did have a knee injury bout 4-5 years ago while playing softball at school witch left me on crutches for a week and it was about 5-6 months before I could run without severe pain. I slipped in some mud while I was up at bat one foot slipped the other did not and my left kneecap ended up on the outer side of my leg (ouch still hurts thinking about it)
Yet when I do squats I have no knee pain at all.

I am doing the ICF 5x5 training and was wondering about ways I could stop the pain with deadlifts or other exercises that I could incorporate to work those muscles.

Any suggestions guys ?

usmcmp

Maybe video tape your deadlift from that side of your body and from the front. You could be collapsing your knee inward which would cause pain. I had a similar injury and I have to remind myself to push my knees out into my arms as I deadlift.

subcounter

Deadlift is an overall exercise so you should pin point the one you wanna work out. For example, if you wanna work your glutes, I would say hip thrusts are great. Especially with a long range of motion with a bench on your back.

As above, I would recommend taking videos from the front and the side, and perhaps post it in exercise section, that way can point to possible posture mistakes. I would also consider talking to a medical professional to see if you have a permanent injury that you might have to work with.

Scotty2HotPie

Your knees should be almost totally out of the equation if your doing deadlifts properly.

It sounds like a technique issue.

I've seen some people doing a mini-squat and flex their knees while trying to deadlift. I'm sure that would put unnecessary stress on the knees. It doesn't look comfortable.

You say you're trying not to engage your back? Not sure what you mean here. I'm no expert, but I think deadlift targets lower back, glutes and hamstrings (along with other minor groups). You can engage your lower back while keeping from rounding.

hellobaconplease

I have a bung knee but have the opposite issue. Squats are super painful, deadlifts aren't at all.

FlufferCat

You could try doing a kind of step up,or step down.On a step block, with dumbbells if you want,you can do one legged step ups onto the step block.Or you can stand on the block,and step down to the back,and up again one leg at a time.
I think Athlean-X ( Jeff Cavaliere ) has a video demonstration of it.It's supposed to take pressure off the knee.

You could try deadlifting with a Hex Bar instead of a straight bar if you're in a gym.I find that a really comfortable,well balanced lift.

Gallowmere1984

Scotty2HotPie wrote: »

Your knees should be almost totally out of the equation if your doing deadlifts properly.

It sounds like a technique issue.

I've seen some people doing a mini-squat and flex their knees while trying to deadlift. I'm sure that would put unnecessary stress on the knees. It doesn't look comfortable.

You say you're trying not to engage your back? Not sure what you mean here. I'm no expert, but I think deadlift targets lower back, glutes and hamstrings (along with other minor groups). You can engage your lower back while keeping from rounding.

Eh? I have never once seen a deadlift that wasn't a sumo or SL that didn't involve a lot of knee activation. This is especially true for people like myself who are "built for deads", with longer legs and arms, and a shorter torso.

Scotty2HotPie

Gallowmere1984 wrote: »

Scotty2HotPie wrote: »

Your knees should be almost totally out of the equation if your doing deadlifts properly.

It sounds like a technique issue.

I've seen some people doing a mini-squat and flex their knees while trying to deadlift. I'm sure that would put unnecessary stress on the knees. It doesn't look comfortable.

You say you're trying not to engage your back? Not sure what you mean here. I'm no expert, but I think deadlift targets lower back, glutes and hamstrings (along with other minor groups). You can engage your lower back while keeping from rounding.

Eh? I have never once seen a deadlift that wasn't a sumo or SL that didn't involve a lot of knee activation. This is especially true for people like myself who are "built for deads", with longer legs and arms, and a shorter torso.

As Compared to squats?? Yes, there's some knee extension, but if the OP can perform squats without knee pain then there seems to be something else going on.

I've fought knee pain for years due to a wrestling injury, so squats have always been tough for me. But I've never experienced any sort of knee pain from deadlifts.

The OP's first statement not using his back to lift the weight is what caught my eye.

Gallowmere1984

Scotty2HotPie wrote: »

Gallowmere1984 wrote: »

Scotty2HotPie wrote: »

Your knees should be almost totally out of the equation if your doing deadlifts properly.

It sounds like a technique issue.

I've seen some people doing a mini-squat and flex their knees while trying to deadlift. I'm sure that would put unnecessary stress on the knees. It doesn't look comfortable.

You say you're trying not to engage your back? Not sure what you mean here. I'm no expert, but I think deadlift targets lower back, glutes and hamstrings (along with other minor groups). You can engage your lower back while keeping from rounding.

Eh? I have never once seen a deadlift that wasn't a sumo or SL that didn't involve a lot of knee activation. This is especially true for people like myself who are "built for deads", with longer legs and arms, and a shorter torso.

As Compared to squats?? Yes, there's some knee extension, but if the OP can perform squats without knee pain then there seems to be something else going on.

I've fought knee pain for years due to a wrestling injury, so squats have always been tough for me. But I've never experienced any sort of knee pain from deadlifts.

The OP's first statement not using his back to lift the weight is what caught my eye.

I interpreted it more as he wrote it. Since it is essentially impossible to deadlift without the back, I assumed that he meant he was avoiding upper back rounding. Either way, kinda hard to tell exactly what's meant without a video, as the back is part if the posterior chain, so there's a lot of conflict in the whole post.

hawkmancody

Yes I meant that I try to keep back straight when deadlifting. I will try to take some videos Monday of my form and post them in the exercise section for critique. Thanks for the answers

aelunyu

Knee pain usually (but not always) happens as a part of the concentric role of the quads in the deadlift. A deadlift is first a push into the ground and then a pull from when the bar reaches roughly knee height with the entire posterior chain. If your left knee is hurting as you lock out, there could be many reasons. If it's hurting right off the ground, you're not in the correct positions to activate hamstrings and glutes, placing too much emphasis on the quad/knee complex.

Reasons for this might be that you're allowing the weight to drift away from you in the beginning of the pull especially on your left side (which means you have lat or core imbalances that prevent you from getting tight off the floor). This places most of the stress on your knee as it becomes the primary fulcrum point for the rest of the lift. Remember, the farther the weight is from your body, the more you have to work to pull it.

It could also be that since you have previous injuries to the knee, your setup favors your right side as to not aggravate the condition, which actually destabilizes your entire kinetic chain. The weakest point of that chain is the injured left knee, causing it to collapse or hurt.

without seeing your deadlift, it's hard to determine, and to be honest, it could just be a case of a nagging injury you have to work around. Proper form is certainly important especially in deadlifts.

macmathuna

aelunyu wrote: »

Knee pain usually (but not always) happens as a part of the concentric role of the quads in the deadlift. A deadlift is first a push into the ground and then a pull from when the bar reaches roughly knee height with the entire posterior chain. If your left knee is hurting as you lock out, there could be many reasons. If it's hurting right off the ground, you're not in the correct positions to activate hamstrings and glutes, placing too much emphasis on the quad/knee complex.

Reasons for this might be that you're allowing the weight to drift away from you in the beginning of the pull especially on your left side (which means you have lat or core imbalances that prevent you from getting tight off the floor). This places most of the stress on your knee as it becomes the primary fulcrum point for the rest of the lift. Remember, the farther the weight is from your body, the more you have to work to pull it.

It could also be that since you have previous injuries to the knee, your setup favors your right side as to not aggravate the condition, which actually destabilizes your entire kinetic chain. The weakest point of that chain is the injured left knee, causing it to collapse or hurt.

without seeing your deadlift, it's hard to determine, and to be honest, it could just be a case of a nagging injury you have to work around. Proper form is certainly important especially in deadlifts.

This