Lowering / Dropping the Deadlift?

[WellHalloThere]

Hallo.

I'm a pretty new lifter, been consistently lifting and eating properly for approximately two months or so now. My current bodyweight is 145 and fairly lean.

During my workouts, on the days where I do Deadlift, I've been doing a 5 x 5 Deadlift.

I've been *extremely* cautious about my form, as I understand the dangers of improper form, and never want to injure my back.

I lift with what for my personal strength level feels relatively heavy and strenuous, while still be able to 100% always maintain form. I've currently built it up to 195 5 x 5, and am going to attempt 205 5 x 5 on Monday, but I have some questions about a specific part of the lift. That being, the downwards motion.

I've heard mixed things about this. Some people say that you should drop the weight, others say you should control your descent. Some say that controlling your descent on the downwards motion (I saw a video of Elliot Hulse talking about this) actually increases the hypertrophic response, thus you will technically build more muscle, whereas dropping the weight is better if you're looking to build "explosive" strength.

Other people have said that when Powerlifting or when lifting relatively heavy re: your personal body weight and strength, that the slow descent can injure you.

What I'm really worried about is injury. I feel fine about descending slowly with the weight, but since I'm lifting with what for *me personally* is relatively heavy and doing a 5 x 5, as opposed to doing a lighter weight and doing a 6 x 10 or something for example, I'm afraid that that could in the long run when moving up to heavier weights present injuries. However I'm honestly not sure if that's true or not.

I've seen some videos of people who drop the weights or who just let them fall with their hands on them but not really controlling their descent, and I think that in competition it's the upward motion that matters, not the descent.



Essentially I'm just confused. So TL;DR, is it dangerous to lower the weight slowly when lifting heavy per your body weight and personal strength level, or is it not dangerous?

[hanger1989]

I always just slam the weight down pretty quickly. It makes abit of a noise in my gym, but I ain't to bothered. A lot of guys in my gym do it this way.

You probably can lower the weight down slower if you want to but I personally think it's safer to just drop the weight down and get on with the next rep.

Also lowering the weight slower is gonna fatigue the muscles on the downward motion, so your not gonna be able to lift as heavy, or get as many reps in doing it this way. I think deadlifting more weight and for longer reps is better for your ego, and should give you more motivation for the exercise. It has that affect on me anyways.

[Dazious]

Controlling the negatives is most certainly good for hypertrophy, but with deadlifts, especially working anywhere near your max, slow negatives will definitely increase the risk of an injury.

Like Hanger I never slow down the negative, with the exception of when I am doing stiff legged DLs with a lighter weight, trying to traumatise my hamstrings as much as possible.

[Lowpala]

Just control the weight you lift. If you can't control the descent then it is too heavy.

You will build the muscles required for good solid form on the negative and not have to worry about an injury. Letting the weight pull you around is a good way to strain your back.

IMO the only time people should be dropping the BB is in a powerlifting comp where they are lifting ridiculous amounts of 1 rep weight, not multiple reps/sets.

[Lowpala]

Controlling the negatives is most certainly good for hypertrophy, but with deadlifts, especially working anywhere near your max, slow negatives will definitely increase the risk of an injury.

Like Hanger I never slow down the negative, with the exception of when I am doing stiff legged DLs with a lighter weight, trying to traumatise my hamstrings as much as possible.

Off topic, if you are working your hamstrings on a STIFF legged DL you are doing them wrong.

[WellHalloThere]

Interesting stuff.

Thank you all for your replies, I feel like I've learned a decent amount and now know more-so what should work for me personally.

I'm more interested in powerlifting than bodybuilding personally. For now, I may keep controlling the descent of the weight, but in the future as I move up in weight, I may just let it fall. I find that powerlifting is more interesting to me personally, thus it keeps me coming back to the gym, having fun and gaining more strength in that sense due to how it keeps me more motivated to come back over and over again, so I think I'm probably eventually going to convert to letting the weight go down on it's own as it becomes heavier, to avoid injury.



Thanks a ton for all the info, different perspectives and help you guys posted in such quick time too.

[Dazious]

Off topic, if you are working your hamstrings on a STIFF legged DL you are doing them wrong.

I disagree with you here and so does most of the internet e.g: http ://www .bodybuilding. com/exercises/detail/view/name/stiff-legged-barbell-deadlift

I feel an awesome stretch in the hams when I do SLDL.

[skel1977]

Dont drop the weights. I hate people who do this in my gym

[ChaosOverAll]

I've always held onto the weight but not tried to resist it when lowering, basically a semi-controlled dropping of the weight. I think some people are so worried about picture perfect form that they feel like they need to lower it down with total control, basically reversing the deadlift motion. Bad idea for most people. If you can drop it without it rolling all over the place I'd say do it. To hell with the people at the gym if it means keeping your back injury free. You could always put a ten pound plate in front of each side before you lift so that when it drops it shouldn't roll past that.

[ironwill2008]

Essentially I'm just confused. So TL;DR, is it dangerous to lower the weight slowly when lifting heavy per your body weight and personal strength level, or is it not dangerous?

Lower the bar with a reasonable amount of control; that part of the lift contributes to strength gains too.

Injury is always a possibility during any phase of any exercise. That's why maintaining tightness, control, and good form at all times is always recommended. Following good procedure will greatly reduce the chance of getting hurt.




ETA:
Dropping a heavily-loaded bar, besides making you look like a douche bag, could damage the equipment and/or the floor, and could give gym management cause to cancel your membership.

[Rasputin4]

Just control the weight you lift. If you can't control the descent then it is too heavy.

You will build the muscles required for good solid form on the negative and not have to worry about an injury. Letting the weight pull you around is a good way to strain your back.

IMO the only time people should be dropping the BB is in a powerlifting comp where they are lifting ridiculous amounts of 1 rep weight, not multiple reps/sets.

This. Too many people lift more weight than they can really handle. If I can't handle the descent, I'd hesitate to feel safe doing the lift at all.

[Rasputin4]

Lower the bar with a reasonable amount of control; that part of the lift contributes to strength gains too.

Injury is always a possibility during any phase of any exercise. That's why maintaining tightness, control, and good form at all times is always recommended. Following good procedure will greatly reduce the chance of getting hurt.



ETA:
Dropping a heavily-loaded bar, besides making you look like a douche bag, could damage the equipment and/or the floor, and could give gym management cause to cancel your membership.

This, too. IMO the negative will contribute more to strength gain than boosting your ego with more reps while dropping the weight.

[Muzzlrpress]

Lower it at moderate speed. Not slow, and not dropping it.

[WellHalloThere]

Thanks again for all the replies guys!

I've been doing some research on my own as well VIA YouTube and talking to some of my bodybuilder friends, and it seems that for my personal goals, letting the weight go down on it's own seems like a better option for safety, as well as keeping me interested and therefore coming back over and over again.

I much prefer powerlifting as stated before.

Not literally dropping it, but giving it a pseudo-controlled descent. So not literally dropping it, but not literally doing the same amount of time as the upward motion on the downward either.


As for people thinking "Oh that guy's a douchebag because he pseudo-slams his weights, and only when he does one specific exercise. What a dongle." in the gym, I'd prefer letting those types of people be their ignorant 'quick to judge' selves about my reasons for doing this going forward, rather than slipping a disc in my back and not being able to walk properly ever again :/... So that's cool .

So all in all, I think that odds are I will be switching from my current 100% controlled descent to more of a mix in the future, of allowing it down on it's own more-so.


Thanks a ton for all in the info and helping me find what works right for me personally.

[Rasputin4]

Well, I never meant that you should lower the weight as slowly as you raise it up. But there needs to be some control there or else you're increasing your chances of injury.