What am I doing wrong-PS back work?

[RhiannonW]

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Jun-18-02 AT 10:46AM (Est)[/font][p]When I do Pure Strength Back work with the barbell, I feel it too much in my shoulders & arms, and little to nothing in my back. I think I know proper form, so am I trying too much weight?
Also, when exercisers say they're doing the S&H or PS series, do they mean they're just lifting weights? Or do they do some cardio in addition?
My fear is if I drop doing my cardio and just lift weights, I'll lose all the cardio gains I have. But I only have 1 hour a day-5 days a week to devote to my workouts.

 

[Seabush]

I'm not getting much out of the deadlifts. I'm using what I believe to be challenging weight but do not feel it in my hamstrings.

Crystal

 

[sharonm]

Crystal,
When you do deadlifts, imagine pushing through the floor with your heels, squeeze your glutes as you come back to standing. Keeping your back straight, hinge back down from the hips until you feel that slight pull in the hams, push the floor, squeeze and lift. Keep the shoulders back too, don't let them round forward as you lift. Actually deadlifts are for the low back but glutes and hams are all connected. I don't really feel it in my lower back though.



Sharon

 

[Seabush]

Sharon,

I actually feel it in my lower back. I was expecting to feel it in my hamstrings as it is part of the strong legs and abs tape. I'll try your form advice.


Crystal

 

[lounsbury]

RE: Quarter Deadlifts

What Cathe does in PS Legs is really a quarter deadlift, not a full deadlift. She mentions in the video that you shouldn't come all the way back up on the lift in order to keep the focus on the hamstrings. It's definitely a tough one to master -- I do still feel it in my back slightly, but not nearly as much as in CTX Power Circuit when doing deadlifts for the lower back, where the movement is kept up higher (if that makes any sense!). During PS Legs, I just do what Sharon mentioned -- keep my back absolutely straight (even slightly arched), shoulders back, and really focus on lifting from the hamstring/glute area. And really keep your center of gravity shifted toward the back -- your butt should be farther back than your heels, not directly over them. I also keep the movement really low -- drop way down close to the floor, but when I lift the weight back up, it only comes up to around knee height. Hope this helps!

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[lounsbury]

Hi Rhiannon! Hopefully Cathe will answer your question, since she's the expert, but I've noticed that my back workout tends to become an arm/shoulder workout if I'm not focusing on my back muscles during the exercise. Really try to think about squeezing your shoulder blades together to initiate the movement, rather that pulling with your arms. You might want to just try a lighter weight to see if that helps. Also make sure you keep your back straight and shoulders back. It might also help to do the exercise in front of a mirror to check your form -- I know sometimes I think my back is straight, but then I catch my reflection in the stereo cabinet door and find that it's not!

Re: "doing the S&H/PS series" -- I think people usually are doing cardio as well when they say that. For example, I'm "doing a PS rotation" right now, but that just means that I'm using PS for strength work and doing cardio on other days.

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[RhiannonW]

Thanks, Lynne!