deadlifts: is the reward worth the risk

I agree with El gaucho. His wisdom is beyond us.

Absolutely. Just make sure you keep form tight.

Jeff Athlean says not really if you're a professional athlete.

You don't need deadlifts or any specific lift at all. You can do other exercises to hit those muscles. However, compound lifts are the most efficient way to get strong and build a muscular physique.

Also, as someone said, deadlifts are safe with good form. Yes, when you start hitting those 2-3 rep sets with weight so heavy that your head veins are exploding, you're risking injury. But that's because at those weights, your form starts breaking down and you try to compensate with other muscles to get the weight up. That's a purely lifting activity based on numbers.

Best thing to do is lift with modest numbers that give you a workout at about 5 reps. No need to kill yourself if you're not going for a powerlifting competition.

On another note, compound lifts are actually safer than a lot of the isolated lifts that people don't worry about. Think about it this way - when you're doing a deadlift, you're incorporating multiple muscles in a controlled movement for explosive power. Nothing is isolated in terms of injury risk. There's not a lot of risk of having a hernia because of this.

The dumbbell row however - you know the one where you put a knee on the bench and do "lawn mower" starts - is a bigger risk for hernias due to the position of the groin and the movement of the lift. No one worries about this exercise though because the weights are small.

tl'dr - Deadlifts are fine. Keep weight modest and keep good form. Worry about those isolated activities more than compound lifts.

If you're referring to the recent Robert Oberst interview where he said don't deadlift, I assume he's talking about insanely heavy deadlifts. There probably does come a point where the risk of injury makes it not worth it, but it's a weight range the average gym rat never really achieves anyway.

heavy singles probably not


but it is used in S&C esp trap bar

Deadlifts build a ton of muscle.

There are a lot of variations to consider, as well. Oberst is probably right that most pro athletes don't.

Most pro athletes don't care about muscle. They're trying to prepare for their sport, and spend hours outside the weight room on sport specific movements. The amount of technique practice for deads is better spent on sports.

For the average guy, deadlift variations are great. Nail down form. I'd class the benefits like this:

Straight bar deads: overall strength.
Trap bar deads: overall strength with a bias towards quad and traps.
Romanian deads: posterior chain strength.
Rack/Block Pulls: back, core and hip hinge strength.
Behind the back deads/barbell hack squats: quad strength.

I’ve built more muscle than any other doing deadlifts but I do agree there comes a point where you sacrifice form and that itself does become very dangerous.

Keeping it in the 5-8 range typically is the sweet spot.

Might have been the first serious reply I've seen from him

Watch your form and don't lift more than you are capable. Always leave a rep or two in the tank on compound lifts too bro