Isometric Strength of Powerlifters in Key Positions of the Conventional Deadlift

By George K. Beckham, Hugh S. Lamont, Kimitake Sato, Michael W. Ramsey, G. G., Michael H. Stone. 2012

62 citations recorded by the source corpus.

bench press and deadlift. For each event, the ultimate goal is to lift as much weight as is possible. In the deadlift, a lifter lifts the barbell off of the floor until standing upright. The lift is finished upon extending the knees and hips with scapula retracted. Two styles of the deadlift are used in competition. The sumo style uses a wide foot stance, upright posture, and a grip width that is narrower than the feet.1 Conversely, the conventional style deadlift uses a narrow foot stance, generally a more bent-over posture, and a grip outside of the legs. Three key phases have been identified in the literature for the conventional deadlift.2-4 The first phase, or lift-off, occurs when the lifter first applies force to the bar and the bar rises off of the floor. The second phase, knee passing, occurs when the bar moves from below to above the knee. The third phase, or lift completion, occurs when the lifter transitions into a full upright position. While these specific regions of the deadlift are known, little has been done to examine how each position might contribute to deadlift performance. The most disadvantageous position represents a limiting factor in overall performance, thus identification of this position may lead to better training prescriptions. To the authors’ knowledge, no literature exists that assesses the force generation capabilities of lifters in these phases of the deadlift, however in a number of studies examining the isometric mid thigh pull (MTP), a weightlifting-specific position, a variety of athletes produced high levels of peak forces.5-7 Peak force measured in these studies showed moderate to strong relationships with dynamic mid-thigh pulls, jumps and a number of other dynamic measures. Therefore, since little is known about the force generation capabilities of lifters in the key phases of the deadlift, the purpose of the study was to evaluate the isometric maximum strength of powerlifters in bar positions corresponding to key phases of the deadlift and also to compare those positions to the MTP, given the strong relationship the MTP shares with a variety of dynamic measures.

Subfields: Biomedical Engineering, Orthopedics and Sports Medicine

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/62de2bf4958129c787c71b7466eaa0aa20a20cdd

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In Biomedical Engineering

  1. T. Suchomel
  2. M. Stone
  3. Sophia Nimphius

In Orthopedics and Sports Medicine

  1. Sophia Nimphius
  2. T. Suchomel
  3. M. Stone

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