Deadlift: am I doing something wrong?

Papillon22
Papillon22 Posts: 1,160 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
First time I did it, I felt an intense burn mostly in my Achilles tendons and calf muscles. And now that area has been sore and stiff for two days. Is that OK? I was so worried about protecting my lower back, that this throws me off.
Thanks for any suggestions!

Replies

  • darrensurrey
    darrensurrey Posts: 3,942 Member
    You might be leaning forwards a bit too much. I sometimes get this from Romanian deads and barbell bent over rows.
  • haroon_awan
    haroon_awan Posts: 1,208 Member
    Do you have any video of you doing the exercise? The most likely issue would be to do with form, as durren says.
  • 212019156
    212019156 Posts: 341 Member
    Were you doing conventional or stiff legged? This would be a weird condition for a conventional deadlift but for stiff legged I could definitely see how it could happen.
  • darrensurrey
    darrensurrey Posts: 3,942 Member
    Were you doing conventional or stiff legged? This would be a weird condition for a conventional deadlift but for stiff legged I could definitely see how it could happen.

    Agreed. I think she's probably not trying to drag the bar up her shins so to compensate has to lean forwards much more.
  • 212019156
    212019156 Posts: 341 Member
    That is an excellent point. A lot of times if I am doing deadlifts wearing shorts I get cuts on my legs.
    Were you doing conventional or stiff legged? This would be a weird condition for a conventional deadlift but for stiff legged I could definitely see how it could happen.

    Agreed. I think she's probably not trying to drag the bar up her shins so to compensate has to lean forwards much more.
  • Papillon22
    Papillon22 Posts: 1,160 Member
    Thanks for your replies!
    I was trying the conventional deadlift with dumbbells. No video of it. I'm trying it again on Wednesday, so I'll focus on whether I'm leaning forward too much or squatting too low because: 1- my arms are short and 2- the dumbbells too bulky to pull them close to my legs.
    Thanks again!
  • darrensurrey
    darrensurrey Posts: 3,942 Member
    You could experiment by having the DBs move up and down to the side. Technically, it's a hack squat but you could argue it's like deadlifting with a traps bar. See if you still experience the problem.
  • 212019156
    212019156 Posts: 341 Member
    Dead-lifting with dumbbells held to the side is going to de-emphasize the back and emphasize the quads. This would be almost identical to a trapbar dead-lift. I would recommend doing this variation only if you have back problems. Use a bar with standard foot placement to get the full benefits of the dead-lift. By the way why are you using dumbbells instead of the bar?

    Back to your original issue, since I now know you were using dumbbells I wonder if you were squatting down to far which would throw your knees really far forward, thus over stretching your calves during the movement.
  • Papillon22
    Papillon22 Posts: 1,160 Member
    Thank you for your replies and suggestions!
    I think I might have been squatting too low, so I'll try it differently next time. Btw, I use dumbbells because that's all I have at home and I'm tired of waiting for the right time/equipment/blah blah blah :smile:

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