Originally posted by Corri
On one hand, I'm pretty worried about doing some serious damage to my lower back (all my life people have told me not to lift things that way).
So what kind of benefits are they supposed to have anyway? What's so great about a strong lower back?
Stiff legged deadlifts are how your told not to lift things, deadlifts are EXACTLY how you are supposed to pick up things (with the legs)! These are not painfull, none of this is painfull, your working hard but your not sticking a knife in your leg, very different.
Whats so great about a strong lower back? Whats so great about a strong anything? If you want to be able to squat well, not have lower back problems doing curls etc, then you need a good lower back as well as some abs.
I have had lower back problems, and stiffy deadlifts are exactly my cure, I almost never have any pain when doing these, where if I don't do them regularly - not only does the muscle in that area dissapear rather quickly, but I will eventually have a random lower back issue, as bad as me not being able to get off the floor for several minutes at a time, so for me lower back work is an absolute neccessity for quality of life. In fact, for scoliosis patients the prescription is often direct lower back work.
Deads will hit the legs as well, but for the weights I'm using its much more of a back excersize. I rarely am doing these though, mostly pullups, rows, and stiffies.