Deadlifts and Overhead press

This guy knows what he's talking about though. He told me the kinseology aspect of his reasoning. Even offered to draw me a picture. So does conventional dead-lifting tear your tendons? Judging from your guys' responses, I'm guessing it doesn't, but can someone tell me why it doesn't?

Just because someone is educated, it doesn't mean you should listen to them.
Ohp is fine with a barbell.
Deadlifts breaking from the floor are a great exercise.

I listened to him is because yes, he is educated, else what would be the point of being educated. For example, if you take a person with an English degree, and you take a person who reads about literature on the internet all the time and reads and writes books, novels, poems, etc. all the time, who do you think knows more about English? The person with the English degree. After all, how can you trust stuff you read on the internet, and how do you know if your writing and reading is good?

Also, the personal trainer gave reasons for his opinion.

You say OHP is fine, but WHY is it fine? What make it superior to standing overhead press?

You say deadlifts breaking from the floor is a great exercise, but WHY is it a great exercise? What makes it better than the RDL?

Just because someone has a degree, doesn't mean they actually understand what they are talking about. On a side note, I knew a number of people with English degrees, doesn't mean I would trust them in that regards. There are many oaths to get a degree, some have more weight than others.

That being said, somewhere years ago, someone got the notion that overhead pressing was bad for shoulders. It is simply not the case unless you have a lack of mobility or other issues with your shoulder(s). If you have an issue, you need to take care of that instead. With that being said, you are comfortable with dumbbells instead, go for it. I suggest doing it standing though. One thin I did wrong for years was doing all my pressing seated. Now I have to do it standing and it took me a number of months to get my core strong enough for it.

Deadlifts has already been mentioned.

This guy knows what he's talking about though. He told me the kinseology aspect of his reasoning. Even offered to draw me a picture. So does conventional dead-lifting tear your tendons? Judging from your guys' responses, I'm guessing it doesn't, but can someone tell me why it doesn't?

Are you having any issues? If you've been doing these this way for months and there aren't any problems I wouldn't be rushing to stop doing them. I'd just file this information to remember down the line if an issue surfaces. No reason to panic just yet

No, no issues yet, but I've only been doing stronglifts for 2 weeks. It's just that if I can prevent a problem before it happens, that would be preferred.

This guy knows what he's talking about though. He told me the kinseology aspect of his reasoning. Even offered to draw me a picture. So does conventional dead-lifting tear your tendons? Judging from your guys' responses, I'm guessing it doesn't, but can someone tell me why it doesn't?

Does anyone have any tips for the standing shoulder press? How do I make it so that my lower back isn't stressed? Do I just lower the weight? Tighten my back?

Any lifting movement beyond isolation machines should begin with taking a deep breath, getting your spine in the position you want, and pushing as much tension as you can manage into your core. People talk about "breathing into your belly" to describe this. It creates a ton of intraabdominal pressure that helps keep your spine in position throughout the repetition. This is what weight lifting belts are for. It gives you something to push against, which increases that pressure.

You know, shoulders are complex and sometimes shockingly delicate joints. I've torn both of my rotator cuffs in the past (in non-lifting circumstances) but I do standing OHP with a barbell in large part because I find the bar gives me stability and forces me to push up evenly on both sides in a way that dumbells don't. I think the main reason beginning strength programs focus on the OHP is because, although form is important, it isn't all that complicated and because when strength is your goal big numbers and constant progression are key. That's easier to achieve with the OHP than with an arnold press or similar. Still, do what works for you, absolutely.

His complaints about the deadlift on the other hand I do have some issues with:

There's nothing wrong with Romanian deadlifts, but the limited range of motion compared to conventional focuses on the hamstrings and glutes almost exclusively. They're great at that, but recruit almost no effort from the quads or adductors that you get from the lower portion of the conventional. If we're talking strictly about strain on tendons, I'd be surprised if stopping at the bottom of a Romanian deadlift and starting back up really results in less strain than starting from a dead stop. I know that's one of the arguments against partial-depth squats, they actually put more stress on your joints than going to full depth because of the effort involved in stopping the weight in that position.

Touch and go deadlifts, where you complete the full range of motion from a conventional deadlift without resetting at the bottom seem to introduce more problems than resetting for each rep. It's too easy to let your form slip on the eccentric phase. I mean, technically, the eccentric phase isn't a part of the exercise, but if you aren't dropping the bar from the top like a competition lifter then you have to maintain your posture perfectly and be sure not to release any of the tension in your core before pulling again. Watch video of even very experienced lifters and see how many really manage that. Personally, I need a one or two second pause on the ground between reps to gasp for air and reset my grip if nothing else.

You're right that stiff-legged deadlifts aren't really a part of this conversation but they aren't a 'stretch'. They're a lower back exercise. Despite the similar general motion to deadlifts, the form is different and they belong in a conversation with good mornings or back extensions not conventional or romanian deadlifts.

I heart this post. Everything I wanted to say and more.

I too have a criminally effed up shoulder and have found the Barbell OHP to be a better exercise for me than dumbbell presses (which I gave up after continually feeling "twinges"). It's most likely personal to the lifter and their (if any) anatomical foibles. If you can derive benefit from a pressing variant, still continue to keep getting stronger and (most importantly) don't injure yourself, then stick with it.

OP: As for the Deads. Touch and go is ok if your form is perfect and you're using something submaximal (ie a challenging warmup for reps, or something for speedwork), but good luck with touch-and-go when you're pulling near your maximum! As the above poster says, you need to get everything set and braced again for the next pull.

Perhaps the trainer wants to keep you lifting sub-maximally so wants you to stick with touch-and-go for reps or RDL? We also don't know what particular kinks in your DL form you may have that this trainer may have picked up on. Perhaps he's misguidedly trying to save you from yourself rather than fixing your form? Maybe he doesn't even know what good form is? Too many things could be going on here (as well as him whoring for extra training sessions...)