Deadlifts on Leg Day? Don’t Waste Your Time
Ok, this is a thing I have been seeing here and there, so I feel it is time to address it with my personal opinion. (My opinion do not associate with powerlifting, as the 3 main lifts are squat, bench and deadlift. All of which may require to be trained in 1 session to test energy/strength levels for a meet/competition. My opinion is targeted specifically for bodybuilding and normal gym training individuals).
The deadlift is a whole body lift, I will not deny that at all. You are required to utilize almost every single large muscle group within the body. However, when you look at the starting point of a deadlift, you are basically either at parallel or just above that with your stance. The majority of the lift engages the upper-body to get the weight up, and I say that majority is roughly 70% of the entire lift. Now that 30% is quads, calves, glutes and hamstrings. The range of motion does not induce the legs to do majority of the lift, the majority of the lift is engaged with the back muscles. I don’t know about everyone, but after I do a solid 4-5 sets of deads, my back is the area feeling the pain…and not my legs.
Now think about it this way…
Say you’re training legs, and you just smashed through squats, leg curls, leg press, etc. and you know your entire muscle group is taxed to no end. Do you really think you have the power and energy to efficiently do deadlifts after all those LEG SPECIFIC EXERCISES? If you’re training legs hard (as they should be trained; do not question that) then you won’t have the energy to do deadlifts or even CARDIO for that matter. Cardio after leg days is another topic I’ll get too later, and that topic relates to Inner Drive and pure Dedication, which are two things you need to push yourself to new levels of intensity.
So on your leg days, keep to the things that are KNOWN to build great legs, which are:
- Squats
- Leg Press
- Lunges
- Leg Extensions
- Stiff Legged Deadlifts (not the same as traditional deadlifts)
- Hamstring Curls
- Glute Kickbacks
- Bulgarian Squats
- Sissy Squats
- Hack Squats
- Abductor/Adductor
- Calve exercises
Remember, to get the MOST out of the deadlift, you need all your energy, and utilize all that energy on that main muscle group that is targeted…which is Back day.
