Nothing But Deadlifts?

Well, since I've been cross-posting so much from what I post over at mma.tv, I might as well keep on, right? Just this morning, I saw a post where somebody said they were going to ditch all their weight training, and do nothing but deadlifts for the next six weeks.

Here was my response.

If you're just going to go with one exercise, I would go with Clean & Press or Clean & Jerk instead.

You obviously won't be using as heavy of weights as you might with a deadlift routine, but since you'll be pulling much faster, you'll be generating as much - if not more - power (it would all depend on how much weight you're using in each exercise and how fast you perform each one).

The Clean portion will thoroughly tax your posterior chain as deadlifts would, however, with the Press (and lesser extent Jerk) you are now also working the entire shoulder girdle as well - something pretty much avoided when doing strictly deadlifts (DLs will tax your traps and rear delts, but emphasis on your medial/frontal delts, pecs, and triceps is minimal). If you add a Front Squat or do Squat Cleans, you're now also getting all the leg work you'll need.

Plus, C&P - when done for reps - involves a *serious* conditioning component, much akin to the complexes mentioned above. For even more conditioning, do Dumbbell C&P instead, one arm at a time.

Just my two cents...

Wiggy - MMA Training

In looking back over it, another suggestion - if you weren't that good at the "catch" portion of the Clean - could be to do two exercises. First, do heavy High Pulls from the floor. Then follow it up with Presses or Jerks out of the rack. That would give you about everything you need. Toss in some Chins and some Jump Squats (with Dips now and then), and you'd be even better.

Wiggy