Starting Strength, 3rd Edition - Mark Rippetoe [163]
The starting position, at lockout over the chest, will be the point where the bar is in balance directly above the shoulder joints and where the locked-out arms are vertical, just as in the bench press. But because of the angle, the distance between the rack and the start position is much shorter for the incline, so the bar is actually much easier to unrack and re-rack than it is for the bench press. For this reason, the experienced lifter might find that a spotter is less important for the incline, although this statement should not be construed as permission to be stupid.
If the incline is to be spotted, the equipment must be compatible. Most good benches have a spotter platform built into the frame. This allows the spotter to be sufficiently above the lifter such that if a problem occurs, the spotter can safely pull the bar up from a position of good leverage close to the bar. A spotter standing on the floor cannot be depended on to help, and if heavy weights are to be used, the equipment must allow for correct spotter position. Likewise, if you feel as though two spotters are necessary for the weight you’re doing, you should either use a lighter weight or do a different exercise, because two spotters cannot safely spot an incline, and heavy 1RM attempts on the incline bench press demonstrate a poor understanding of the purpose of assistance exercises.
Figure 7-22. The incline bench press. Note the vertical bar path and the position of the bar over the clavicles.
Deadlift Variations
We’ll discuss four main variations here: the RDL, the SLDL, deadlifting from blocks, and the goodmorning (both flat-backed and round-backed).
Romanian deadlifts
Once upon a time, as legend has it, the incredible Romanian weightlifter Nicu Vlad visited the U.S. Olympic Training Center. Vlad was strong, probably as strong as any human being has ever been at a bodyweight of 220 pounds; word on the street has it that he front-squatted 700 pounds for a double. So when Vlad performed an exercise that no one had seen before, it quite naturally got a lot of attention from people not as strong as he was. The exercise involved taking the bar out of the rack from the hang position, stepping back to clear the rack, and then lowering the bar down to the mid-shins and raising it back to the hang position. This movement looked like a deadlift, but one that started at the top instead of the bottom, so naturally it had to have a new name. The term “Romanian deadlift” has been applied to it since then, although its name translated from the Romanian is probably something different (if it even has a Romanian name; the exercise has been developed since that day entirely in the USA and may simply have been Vlad’s way of dealing with unfamiliar equipment). It is referred to by the initials “RDL.”
Figure 7-23. The great Nicu Vlad: the importer, as legend has it, of the Romanian deadlift. Vlad was pretty damn strong.
The RDL has two important characteristics that distinguish it from its parent exercise. The first is that it uses very little quadriceps because the knees start off nearly straight – unlocked, but not very – and pretty much stay that way, so the quads don’t have an opportunity to actively extend the knees during the movement. The RDL is specifically intended as a hip extension exercise, and the quads are not supposed to be involved except to isometrically anchor the knee angle from the anterior. All the work that occurs through the bottom of the range of motion and that would normally be shared between knee extensors and hip extensors is done only by the glutes and the hamstrings. The lower back muscles keep the lumbar spine locked in line with the pelvis. The hamstrings, acting at their