By Dr. Greg Shepard
Two side views of the spotting technique.
Motivation is why football teams dead lift' Straight Leg Dead Lifts. The Key to Speed!
History's strongest football player, Terry Long, dead lifts 865! From East Carolina U. now with Pittsburgh.
The dead lift is a core lift for football players and an auxiliary lift for all other sports. The straight leg dead lift is a core lift for all sports except football and is a top priority auxiliary for football players. Dead lifts are great for overall strength development but especially in the trunk area and the traps. The problem with dead lifts is that many athletes will get muscle spasms in the lower back which causes pain. This can be almost entirely eliminated if you'll use our spotting technique. Put one hand on the lower back and the other arm around in front. The crook of the elbow will fit around the lifters shoulder with the forearm and hand on the lifters chest.
The lifter and spotter work together and on a command, the lifting begins with the spotter pulling back and slightly up. This prevents the lifter from leaning forward and putting all the weight on the toes. This is by far the primary cause of low back problems. The BFS spotting technique allows a player to lift hundreds of pounds safely. An average team will always have several players who can dead lift 500 or more pounds. It's amazing the psych level that can be attained when a whole football team gets together on dead lift day. The BFS record was set by Dothan High School with 24 underclassmen dead lifting 500 pounds or more. We dead lift for the motivation, psych and self concept factors.
The straight leg dead lift is a real secret. Stefan is shown doing this lift from an elevated position. Stefan states, "Every athlete should do straight leg dead lifts. Powerlifters will do them with very heavy weights but an athlete should do only 40% of his squat max. Therefore, if your squat max is 400 then you would only do about 160 pounds. Do 3 sets of 10 reps in a very slow and controlled manner. This way the athlete will strengthen and stretch the glutes and hamstrings at the same time. It is also very good to strengthen the lower back. Straight leg dead lifts are one of the great keys to unlocking the gate of super speed."
Our new core lift video (page 12-13) has a super dead lift section. The video is the best way to learn how to do these two lifts correctly.
From BFS Magazine — November/December 1986. Part of the BFS Magazine Archive (1980–2014).
