There are two ways to lift a weighted barbell off the floor.
The first way will allow you to lift the most weight.
The second will allow you to use most of your body.
Deadlift is the former.
A Clean Pull is close to the latter but not really it.**
Deadlift will degenerate your default motor patterns in the long term,
without fail result in muscular imbalances,
not allow you to build a real back,
and,
even cause gut, digestion, and other visceral problems.
Why?
Because it is a movement born out of ignorance.
Ignorance, not about lifting weights.
Ignorance about the human body itself.
One may challenge this by asking -
why has this movement stood the test of time,
with multiple athletes boasting "world records" for the lift?
To which I will ask them back -
how many of these people lived healthy and fulfilling lives,
or how injury-free and perfectly aligned bodies were these "athletes"
able to experience?
It is individuals like these that have hailed the Deadlift
to be a "good exercise".
Because they themselves were a sucker for all things "good"
and not all things Truth.
But the ignorance did not stop there.
For some who did not have the patience to do this "exercise" conventionally,
that is by having their hands sit outside their knees,
came with an even more asinine version.
An "exercise" I would rather not mention the name of,
and lead the innocent ones astray.
If you are one such reader still spinning your wheels trying to "Deadlift",
I will reveal...
Deadlift is a "good exercise" precisely
because it is an exercise
Yes.
It is an exercise in "feeling good."
Confused?
Let us first understand what is an exercise.
And prepare to have your Mind polluted with "exercise science", tutorials,
and other intellect, shocked as I reveal this...
The word exercise is a misnomer.
There is only the Movement.
And sufficient (visceral) knowledge to perform the movement.
For if one makes a Movement an exercise,
they will get caught up in "getting better" at the exercise,
and never perform the movement.
Their desire to get bigger, stronger, faster,
or "better" in any other sense,
will come in their own way to perform.
And this is precisely why,
when one approaches a loaded barbell with a mentality of "exercise"
they get caught up in "deadlifting" the weight.
And because they try to "deadlift" it,
they never bother to learn how to truly lift the weight.
Please understand this ...
To lift a weight off the floor,
there is only one way to lift.
And this way will be different for every human.
For it is not just that human beings are built differently,
or that some start lifting way past the times when their
Body is malleable and their Mind open to experimentation
and not salivating for cues and Technique,
but that some may have misalignments since birth itself.
All these facts,
make it an absolute necessity for the serious athlete,
to not "try to deadlift"
but to innocently and curiously...
learn how to lift.
For with the latter approach,
their intent will be cleansed of the desire to "lift as much as possible"
without caring at all about their bodies,
or the purity of the movement.
Thank you
~~~
**I say "close to the latter"
because 99% of the athletes trying to "Clean Pull"
are not using their bodies how it is supposed to.
Yes, they are better off than their blinder comrades
busy "deadlifting",
but are still sacrificing a lot.
Here is one of the very very very few athletes
who is lifting the loaded barbell in a way
how he is supposed to.
While most will be confused and say,
"Hey, that is a clean pull!"
they will be missing the point.
Notice the emphasis on "he"
and realize that if you try to "clean Pull"
you will not learn how you ought to Pull!
And most of all,
leave "exercises" like "Deadlift" for the unserious ones,
to continue to contaminate their Minds,
and desecrate their bodies.