Why Are Deadlifts Important?
Why are deadlifts important? No, really, why?
Is it because they are one of the big three compound movements? Or, could it be because they help you build a strong foundation for weightlifting? Surely these things are all great reasons, but what are the best reasons to justify the importance of deadlifting?
Let’s discuss why deadlifting is so prominent as an exercise and in fitness for sport, as well as its important benefits.
WHY ARE DEADLIFTS IMPORTANT FOR SPORT
The sport aspect of fitness is often downplayed and doesn’t receive the exposure deserved outside of the fitness community.
However, when you have certain movements in the sport held to such high regard, it shows the sheer strength and energy needed in such a field.
If weightlifting and powerlifting competitions used isolation movements like bicep curls, instead of compound movements like deadlifts, the sport would be less interesting.
Yet, the sport itself still hasn’t garnered the wide audience it probably deserves.
The thing is, seeing someone deadlift over 400 pounds doesn’t really sound interesting until you see it. That is why deadlifting is important as a compound movement used in the sporting world of fitness.
Even the most watched, known and televised sporting event in fitness — CrossFit — utilizes deadlifts in their competitions. So, even outside of the benefits for health, strength and physicality, deadlifts are important for their sporting and competitive nature.
WHY ARE DEADLIFTS IMPORTANT AS A MOVEMENT
Deadlifts work so many muscle groups in your body that that alone justifies their importance as a movement. Why Are Deadlifts Important? – Muscles Worked in Deadlift
Isolation movements and accessory workouts are great, and do what they should, but they only target certain muscles.
If you implement compound movements like deadlifts, you are targeting an array of muscles and body parts all at once.
The benefit to this is that performing the single movement can achieve maximum results instead of several movements being done to work out individual areas one by one. All exercises, movements and levels of activity are important — as long as you start.
But, once you start, you should always use compound movements like the deadlift to see further progression. The deadlift movement is powerful and successful because it activates so many muscles; some of those muscles include:
- Gluteus Maximus: Butt
- Quadriceps: Upper front legs
- Adductor Magnus: Inner thigh
- Soleus: Smaller part of your calf muscle
- Hamstrings: Upper back of legs
- Gastrocnemius: Bigger part of your calf muscle
- Erector Spinae: Lower back
- Trapezius, upper: Upper neck muscles
- Trapezius, middle: Middle neck muscles
- Levator Scapulae: The muscle from your jaw to your shoulder
- Rhomboids: Upper inner back muscles right below your neck
- Rectus Abdominis: Abs
- Obliques: Side abs
With so many muscle groups being worked, you cannot deny the importance of the deadlift as a movement.
If you were to do only three movements for the rest of your life, I would recommend deadlifts as one of them. The other two would most likely be squats and bench press. With these three movements, the big three, you can’t go wrong.
WHY ARE DEADLIFTS IMPORTANT FOR FITNESS
Now that we know what deadlifts are important to fitness, let’s talk about why they are important for fitness. When we exercise, we often search for movements, routines, classes, etc. that give results fast.
Well, that’s all fine and well, but once you pass that original phase of seeking quick results, you often look for the best exercises. In time, fitness proves that continuous commitment and consistency is what truly strike gold in the results department.
The choice to do a compound movement like deadlifts, consistently, over a long period of time, will produce a lot of development. Another great thing about the deadlift — since it works so many muscles as we stated above — is that you build a strong foundation.
One of the biggest mistakes for beginners getting into fitness is that they want to lift heavy or jump right into working out; working out hard.
If you haven’t built a proper foundation, most of your exercises and routines will be done from a weak starting point that is vulnerable to injuries and improper education of form and technique.
So, when doing compound movements, you build up that foundation and can eventually lift heavier, workout harder and both burn more fat and build more muscle. Results-driven lifters would be insane to forego deadlifts in their routines.
So, why are deadlifts important for fitness? Because they allow you to grow in the gym and there are many variations to participate in. However, the gym isn’t the only place where you can make use of deadlifts; deadlifts are beneficial to your daily life even without the fitness aspect.
WHY ARE DEADLIFTS IMPORTANT FOR BETTER HEALTH
Health varies from several factors. Good health varies from person to person. Improving health through fitness is universal.
For those of us new to working out, and finding our footing in the gym, we often think very small.
- “I need to lose fat“
- “I need to gain muscle“
- “I’m too big“
- “I’m too skinny“
We jump onto crash diets and do hours of cardio or eat large amounts of any food in sight and hit the assisted machines at the gym. Rarely do we do proper research before starting at the gym.
This lack of knowledge leads to mistakes, wasted time and zero improvement towards better health. Utilizing important exercises like deadlifts and other compound movements, free weights and smarter cardio approaches lead to the real results we seek.
Deadlifts can help burn fat, build muscle and strengthen all the way down to your bones — solidifying your foundation.
WHY ARE DEADLIFTS IMPORTANT FOR LABOR INTENSE WORK
In life, we all have to work. For some, hard labor is the only type of work we can do, we are offered or even sometimes prefer. The thing with hard labor is that it can take a toll on your body. If you stay active, workout hard with proper form and stretch often, hard labor is much easier to keep up with.
One of the major benefits of practicing proper form for deadlifts is that it crosses over into physical work — particularly in warehouse work — as you are often expected to lift heavy objects and often in a hurry.
The biggest problem with hard labor jobs that require lifting is that the jobs themselves force you to practice heavy lifting without proper technique. When you are in a hurry to lift something, you don’t often bend at the knees or go into a squat, let’s be honest.
For the most part, when we lift for work, we bend at the waist and lift with our backs. This can definitely be detrimental for your back, particularly the lower back, but it is what we are generally forced to do.
So, in that case, imagine if you strengthened your lower back muscles and other stabilizing muscles used to lift at work. Deadlifting closely mimics the natural lifting technique we as humans use to lift for job-related activities. Proper deadlift form and practice will ensure you lift better at work and avoid injuries down the road.
Furthermore, this will help to strengthen your posture and keep your back and core tight.
Hard labor will also make you feel older than you are. Plus, with age, your lifting abilities can start to diminish. If you lift heavy and workout hard, you can help fight against weakness due to age.
WHY ARE DEADLIFTS IMPORTANT FOR AGING
As people get older their bodies tend to get weaker and less active. That isn’t always the case, but it happens a lot and is usually justified with sayings like, “I’m just getting older.”
In fitness, we truly believe that nobody is “too old” to chase their goals or attempt certain exercises. Your body may not be what it used to be, may be weaker and even need more rest — but it isn’t useless. The thing that’ll make you feel older than you are is giving up on an active lifestyle.
Working out, in general, will help fight against the feeling of aging. A healthier lifestyle overall will help fight against aging in the physical sense.
Alas, fighting aging itself is impossible. We all age and it hits us all. What we can control is how hard it hits us and how soon we feel it. Learning compound movements, such as deadlifts, earlier on will help you in the future to stay feeling young.
Feeling young, healthy and strong is only made easier by actually being healthy and strong from a young age into your later years.
Outside of looking good, try to feel good. Feeling good will lead to feeling younger, stronger and healthier — all stemming from physical activities like deadlifts.
WHY ARE DEADLIFTS IMPORTANT?
In the end, deadlifts are what you make of them. There are several reasons to hold deadlifts in high regard, but I think the most important thing to realize is these reasons aren’t always just fitness or gym-related.
Life can be made better, daily activities and work can be improved and health can be altered all through something simple like deadlifting. When you think of the bigger picture, and accept deadlifts as an important part of your general lifestyle, you’ll appreciate them for more than a movement you do while working out.
Treat your deadlifts as the spark for all of these great benefits for your life, health, fitness and longevity.
Find what you appreciate about deadlifts and what importance they hold to you. Yes, they’re great for building muscle and implementing in workouts, but always keep the bigger picture in mind.
All exercises you do should be important to you; it’s an added bonus to know why they are important.