by
healthy_blogging
I've been bringing you a lot of deadlift articles because deadlifting is one of the most important muscle building/strength training exercises that you will ever do. All you have to do is look at powerlifters to see how useful they are in generating strength, power and and mass. But strength trainers and body builders can get just as much benefit from deadlifting. This time I'm going to show you how to do the stiff leg deadlift with dumbbells. Dumbbell stiff leg deadlifts are an excellent compound exercise because they:
- strengthen the lower back muscles
- strengthen abdominal muscles
- stimulate growth hormone production and release
How To Do Dumbbell Stiff Leg Deadlifts
You'll need a pair of dumbbells for this exercise. First do a warm up set. Grab a pair of light weight dumbbells and place them in front of you on the floor. While keeping your legs straight, lean over and take a dumbbell in each hand. Keep your back straight - arching your back can lead to serious injury. Use your core muscles to pull yourself upright. Keep your shoulders back. Hold for a moment then lower the weights down again. Do this for ten reps then choose heavier weights. In the demo I used 50 pound dumbbells because that amount is good for a warm up set. Do not lift heavy during the warm up, save that for the rest of the workout.
Choose dumbbells that are heavy enough to perform four to six reps of the stiff leg deadlift. If you can do more than six reps the weights are too light, if you can only do a couple of reps the weights are too heavy. Do five sets of the exercise. Your goal is to lift for strength but not taking it to fatigue. After finishing up your sets, do some other back exercise e.g. pull ups, rows, etc.
Each week increase the amount that you lift, as you become stronger the exercises will become easier. That's what you want, steady progression. Once you've gotten as far as you can with the dumbbell stiff leg deadlift you'll be ready for the barbell version of the exercise.
You'll notice increased strength and power that will translate to other exercises. Just see how much your benching, dips, push ups, pull ups, leg press, etc. improve with deadlifting. That's how important this exercise is.
Summer is only weeks away. Do you want to spend those months weak and flabby or do you want to have a strong, sexy body? Exercise is the way to get it. So get off the computer and workout. Now would be the time.
"Great Chest and Whole Body Workouts: How To Do Dumbbell Stiff Leg Deadlifts" copyright 2011 Great Chest and Whole Body Workouts. All Rights Reserved.
