What is the best way to get stronger on deadlifts or any exercise for that matter?

This is a question a lot of people seem to want to know. Not only for the purposes of getting stronger in deadlifts, but in any exercise they wish to get stronger in. It is not a simple answer, nor is it a cookie cutter template that can be applied with everyone. So I will only answer by giving general tips to follow as some might apply to some and others it doesn't.

Key to gaining stronger is pushing yourself, getting more reps, using more weight, eating more then what your body burns, supplementing properly and the list goes on. Simply just applying these will not increase strength gains overnight. All these concepts and ideas must be incorporated into a planed training program and diet regimen. A quality training routine that focuses on increasing strength on a weekly basis will do wonders compared to a training plan with no goal or substance put into it.

Using more reps or getting more reps also helps push your muscle further by forcing it beyond its limits. This will allow it to grow stronger provided if enough food and supplements are utilized correctly. Forced reps is a technique thrown out there to help you achieve that. This occurs when your at the point where you cannot get anymore reps, then you put all your strength in forcing out more reps. Obviously reps will not be full reps, but more partial reps. If performing these, we recommend using a spotter for exercises where a partner is needed such as the bench press.

Rest-Pause sets also help in getting more reps. Rest-Pause sets is a method where you perform reps with a weight you can handle for 12 reps. Once completed, you rack the weight, rest for a couple of seconds, then un-rack and begin completing as many reps as you can. Then repeat the process for 2 or more times. This allows you to get in more reps with weight that you handle for let say maybe 20 reps. This is a very useful technique to employ when attempting to increase strength.

Another way to increase strength is utilizing food intake. This is often the most overlooked factor as everyone is focused on just adding weight plates or focusing on the training aspect of it. Food is essential and will produce wonders when the right combination of carbohydrates, proteins and fats are added in the right ratios. Supplements also help to a certain point. If your diet is crap or simply sucks, no amount of supplements will help you out. Supplements are there to help "supplement" the vitamins, minerals other important nutrients that you would not achieve through diet alone. If your thinking of spending $100 on the latest hydrolyzed whey, latest creatine or best pre-workout formula and your diet is complete and utter crap! Save yourself the trouble and buy a book on nutrition or use the internet for information.

There is a couple of other ways to get stronger, but these are going down to the vary basics. Whether you achieve getting stronger on deadlifts, bench press or squats, it all comes down to how motivated and dedicated you are about making that goal possible.

The Stiff-Legged Deadlift And Why It is Important!

The stiff-legged deadlift is probably a more common under utilized exercise for the main reason of people not training legs in the first place. If you do manage to train legs, chances are, you put more effort into your quads then you do your hamstrings. What gives? Hamstrings are part of your leg? It could be the fact that most people do not see the muscle or have no clue on why it is important to train it. So let me get straight to it! It is important because it is such a vulnerable muscle, it is used constantly, and injuring it just plain sucks!

Do not neglect this muscle! It does so much work and stabilizes your posterior chain is makes it that much more important. As I mentioned before, having dominant quads puts more stress on the hamstrings as they have to work double time to keep it balanced. Same goes throughout the body. hamstrings!

Stiff-Legged Deadlift In Action Performed By Jaime Eason

Both rear and front muscles must be trained equally and build up strong to avoid discrepancies. It allows both muscle groups to keep the body balanced. So next time on leg day, focus on hamstrings first, then hit squats or you have a separate day for

Hamstrings is a muscle group that is used throughout the day. Remember, they are used to keep your whole posterior chain balanced and keep the body upright. Have lower back problems? This could be an issue. Using stiff-legged deadlifts can remedy that. Unlike your normal deadlift, the stiff-legged deadlift is exactly performed as it is titled. Rather then keeping a bend in regular deadlifts when beginning the movement or the lowering portion of the movement. The legs remain rigid and stiff when lowering the weight. This puts tremendous focus on the hamstrings allowing for greater stimulation. Unlike deadlifts, this is not an exercise you should go heavy on. Keep it light until your hamstrings are built enough to handle it.

You do not want to injure the hamstring because it hurts and it is a pain to walk! It just simply sucks! I had an injury in my hamstring when I first started deadlifting. The stupid part was that my hamstrings was weak as hell. I was your typical upper body guy until I pulled my hamstring and couldn't walk for a week! So that is when I realized how important training the hamstrings really was. This is when I started to incorporate the stiff-legged deadlift which over time, I notice a huge improvement in my posture and amount of weight I can handle on deadlifts.

All I am saying is, the stiff-legged deadlift is the perfect exercise to help improve hamstring strength and maintain good posture. If you want to know how to effectively use it, check these workouts!

When Should I Do Deadlifts? Back Or Leg Day?

To be honest, it can vary on what your training goals are. Deadlifts has so many uses and so much variety can be introduce with the exercise. Many people ask whether to do them on back or leg day. Can you do them on both days? This depends largely on your training level and your ability to recuperate. Beginners will suffice from doing deadlifts one time a week as it will suck a lot out of you and will require the beginning trainer more rest then the advanced.

Photo By Muscle & Performance

More advanced trainers can benefit from deadlifting on both days as they have conditioned their body more efficiently from years of training with weights compared to the beginner. Now comes the question, what is best muscle group to use them with? Both are good, but I have found using deadlifts on only either back day or leg day and alternating each week. So if you perform deadlifts on back day, then next training session when you do legs, you include them. At least a 1 week in between should be good.

Since deadlifts do target the whole area of the body, you can specifically target the upper back portion by using rack deadlifts. Essentially you are taking the legs out of the movement and focusing more on pulling with your upper back. In this exercise you can add more weight than normal as you are starting from the middle portion of the exercise where you would be strongest compared to pulling off the floor. This is good to help build up your strength in this part of the movement when you perform it from the floor. Are they a true substitute for regular deads? No, but they can be supplemental to them.

As mentioned above, you use rack deadlifts on back day and use regular deadlifts from the floor on leg day if you prefer to do them twice a week or prefer to alternate them. As before, it depends on your training level.