Over Age 75 – Dead Lifts

[joewattie]

Due to age, arthritis and an inventory of injuries I thought I would never do another dead lift but then I stumbled upon a hex bar a bit back and, oh wow, I’m doing dead lifts! The hex bar offers several advantages over an Olympic bar that make the impossible possible again.

1 – The bar wraps around you instead of sitting out front. No leaning forward, you simply squat and stand up. The result is much easier on the back. And safer.

2 – The hand grips are parallel to your sides (rather than parallel to the front of your body like an Olympic bar). The resultant grip is more natural and there is no rolling out of your hands or messing around with reverse grips to prevent said rolling.

3 – The diameter of said grip seems to be slightly smaller than an Olympic bar such that smaller guys (Marco Rubio?) can grip it better.

4 – Proper form is simpler, easier to master thus … safer.

5 – The handles/grips flip up or down. If you flip them up it reduces the range of motion by a couple of inches. It’s a nice feature if you’re really tall or … really old :-)

6 – All the above features combine to allow one to lift heavier weights. I’d say 10% or more. If tonnage equals hypertrophy then this is the bar for you.

This bar, this lift, is like a “total gym” for the lower body. Butt, quads and hamstrings all with one lift.

[bodyhard]

Due to age, arthritis and an inventory of injuries I thought I would never do another dead lift but then I stumbled upon a hex bar a bit back and, oh wow, I’m doing dead lifts! The hex bar offers several advantages over an Olympic bar that make the impossible possible again.

1 – The bar wraps around you instead of sitting out front. No leaning forward, you simply squat and stand up. The result is much easier on the back. And safer.

2 – The hand grips are parallel to your sides (rather than parallel to the front of your body like an Olympic bar). The resultant grip is more natural and there is no rolling out of your hands or messing around with reverse grips to prevent said rolling.

3 – The diameter of said grip seems to be slightly smaller than an Olympic bar such that smaller guys (Marco Rubio?) can grip it better.

4 – Proper form is simpler, easier to master thus … safer.

5 – The handles/grips flip up or down. If you flip them up it reduces the range of motion by a couple of inches. It’s a nice feature if you’re really tall or … really old :-)

6 – All the above features combine to allow one to lift heavier weights. I’d say 10% or more. If tonnage equals hypertrophy then this is the bar for you.

This bar, this lift, is like a “total gym” for the lower body. Butt, quads and hamstrings all with one lift.

When my wife was working out with me, she had a hard time figuring out how to execute a proper deadlift without breaking form I had her use a hex bar all the time.