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July 25, 2005
How to strengthen your ankles and make your deadlift harder, without adding weight
Question: I have made great gains with your deadlift program from Power to the People! Unfortunately, I have run out of my 300 pounds and I am afraid to buy more iron as I live in an apartment. What is a good deadlift alternative for someone in my circumstances?
Try the one legged deadlift described by Harry L. Good in his 1940 course The Keynote to Great Strength.
Face the bar with one foot centered and the other elevated behind you. Your shin should be an inch or so behind the bar. If you wish, you may extend the pull by standing on an elevation of up to four inches – or by using small plates. You may also do the drill with kettlebells.
Fold forward and semi-squat. Do not let your knee extend over your toes or buckle in. Stick your butt out and grab the bar with the clean or palms down grip. Take a normal breath, tighten up, and lift.
Keep your weight evenly distributed on your foot and your back reasonably straight – the one legged pull is more forgiving than the conventional DL. You will find that you have to contract the glute on the working side very intensely to maintain your balance. Flex it to break the bar off the floor and cramp it even harder at the lockout. It will not take you long to realize that you have discovered one of the most effective glute exercises in existence.
Unlike the regular deadlift, the one legged version enables you to lower the weight slowly safely so your neighbors will stop calling the police.
The one legged DL does a fine job of strengthening your ankles, at least if you lift barefoot.
An average weak ankle tends to buckle in when the person is standing on one foot, especially with extra weight. The movement of the sole of the foot outward is called ‘eversion’. Under the circumstances it is bad news for your leg.
A barefoot Good deadlift will strengthen the muscles on the inside of the lower leg responsible for inversion or drawing of the sole inward. Just grip the ground hard with your toes, keep the muscles around your ankle and on the bottom of your foot tight, and make sure that the inside of your foot does not come down to the floor.
Your 300-pound set will serve you for a while now. If you can pull a 300 regular dead, good luck in breaking 135 off the floor.
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Posted by james at July 25, 2005 5:44 AM