As you age, you experience something called spine degeneration. The pressure of gravity begins to compress the spine, which can limit your flexibility and movement over time. Static positions, like long periods of sitting and standing, can accelerate this process. Developing the muscles in your back and along your spine is crucial to combat sitting posture and protect your spine as you age. A deadlift targets almost all back muscles, including the muscles along the spine, the hamstrings, and the glutes – another muscle that plays a big role in training for longevity. Although the glutes are the biggest muscle in the body, they tend to be the most underdeveloped for the same reason of prolonged sitting. Yes, I am sure you like training your glutes and you are always striving for that instagram booty, but training for functionality is different from training for appearance. When you train for function, your goal is to train the action of the muscle – mimicking what your muscles do in everyday life. The deadlift is amazing for glutes, because it trains the action of hip extension through a functional movement pattern. Here is a visual of this from Coach Sarah.
Your glutes are working every time you extend your hip, every time you sit and stand, walk, jump, step, bend over and pick something up – movement patterns that you are doing continuously throughout your day and most likely want to keep doing for the rest of your life. Longevity means having a strong back and strong glutes. Longevity means heavy deadlifts in your training. Are you curious about what weight to choose for your deadlift? This post from Coach Jacq can help!
NO MORE LOW BACK PAIN
Now what about low back pain? The coaches at All Day Fit commonly hear people experiencing low back pain during their deadlifts. Is this you?
It is not just enough to know how to pick the appropriate weight for your deadlift. If you want to progress and continuously get stronger, you need to ensure you are performing your deadlift properly. The right cues can help you build that mind-body connection and help you activate the appropriate muscles for the exercise you are doing. You can learn founder Cassie Day’s favorite cues to help eliminate back pain in your deadlifts right now!
When you deadlift with the proper load and technique, it can actually help reduce back pain in the future. If you haven’t picked up on this yet, deadlifts help combat the negative impacts of prolonged sitting. After a long day at the office, do you typically have tight hips, tense shoulders, and low back pain? Deadlifts help strengthen the muscles that are most affected by your sitting posture. When you have strong back muscles, they will be more resistant to rounded shoulders. When you train your glutes for their action, they will be working in your everyday movement and help to reduce low back pain and tight hips. It almost sounds too good to be true, but the deadlift might just change your life!
Do you want to learn more about strengthening your deadlift? Join our upcoming workshop, where an ADF Coach will assess your deadlift form and teach you the appropriate warm up and activation your muscles need. You will also go through a series of deadlifts with a Coach to help you learn the proper technique and determine the appropriate load! Will we see you there?!