Form Question- Rows and Deadlifts

[irish196]

Hi. I have been doing the Power Hour workout on the Power Hour + dvd. I still can not figure out the form for rows and deadlifts. You say "tip at the hip instead of bending your knees", but it looks like bending your knees is exactly what you are doing. What exactly should tip at the hip mean? I just don't feel like I am doing these correctly.

The same with dead lifts, it looks liek you are all bending your knees, but when I bend my knees I don't get that "stretch in the hamstrings" that you talk about. Any tips for these two moves?

 

[amyg]

Not Cathe but when she says "tip from the hip" I expect she means "rather than the waist" because you want to be at an angle with a straight back; it can feel at times like you have a bit of an arch in your low back. (If you bent at the waist your spine would be curved forward.) You can do both simultaneously, if you bend your knees and tip from the hip; try it in the mirror.

Having your knees soft or bent will alleviate some lower back or hamstring discomfort. Regardless, you never want to really do anything with your knees locked so having soft knees yet straight legs would be the most rigid your lower body should be. When you look at Cathe, try to picture her skeleton and what angles her spine is in relation to her leg bones. That is what you're trying to mimic for the right form.

HTH a little!

 

[irish196]

wonderful response! Thanks so much. I think I get it now!

 

[amyg]

Yay! You're more than welcome. ;-)