The 2 Biggest Problems With Deadlifts: Asymmetry & Instability

Do you currently have deadlifts included in your training regime? This exercise holds it’s place as one of the three big compound lifts done by many, but like it’s brother and sister the back squat and the deadlift, this lift falls short of the mark if your goal is better movement and longevity. While it can be said to be a great way to strengthen the posterior chain, something very important for good back health, the risk to reward ratio tips too far to the side of risk and not enough to the side of benefit.

In this short video Stephen digs into two big problems associated with excessive deadlifting.

Asymmetry

Firstly, they can exacerbate the asymmetries people already have present in their body. If someone has a natural rotation or bend in their spine in one direction, loading the spine vertically in this way can put us further into the asymmetry. Even though some might argue that it’s necessary to heavily load the body this way in order to increase strength and build muscle, the negative impact of compounding these asymmetries far outweighs any benefit in the long run.

Instability

Secondly, the position at the top of the lift can create instability in the hips due to the fact that there is only vertical loading present, with the absence of any horizontal force production. When we move we have to propel ourselves in a forward direction, and even though deadlifts are said to be good for hip and glute strength, the absence of horizontal movement can actually lead to more hip instability.

When someone walks or runs, crucial elements of their hip movement happen in the form of rotation in the transverse plane of motion. Without training this function and integrating it into your movement, your body tries to compensate and starts to move the pelvis excessively side to side, and up and down (think hip hiking and dropping) instead. This extra compression due to instability can lead to pain and injury down the line.

The Alternatives

At Functional Patterns we have lots of alternatives for deadlift style movements. We mainly focus on unilateral one leg variations that also involve some rotation of the spine and pelvis in order to truly integrate the posterior chain to the rest of the body. By doing this we can increase strength and improve how we move with none of the drawbacks.