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deadlifts with dumbbells. why or why not?

If you have a barbell available, I would recommend against dumbbells for the deadlift for the following reasons:

1. I'd say the average healthy male who trains with proper form won't take too long before his deadlift eclipses 280lbs. It's always easy to slap some more weight on a barbell, but you're guaranteed to eventually run out of big enough dumbbells. And if ultimately you'll train with a barbell anyway, you may as well learn and practice the lift with a barbell the entire way.

2. I'd worry about keeping proper form. If you have any sort of imbalances on the different sides of your body (most people have one hip or hamstring or whatever that's tighter), or even if you're just a little sloppy, I could see one side of your body coming up faster or twisting or any other kind of unbalanced motion that could easily result in back injury. Having to balances weights separately on different sides of your body can be a fantastic way to train for some exercises - such as dumbbell bench press and (single arm) dumbbell cleans/snatches - but doing that with the deadlift is just asking for injury.

3. Many people struggle already with grip on the barbell deadlift and it'll only be harder with dumbbells. Developing a stronger grip may benefit you in the end, but adding extra challenge to the deadlift for a beginner is typically unnecessary. Moreover, if your grip fails during a lift or if you just need to dump the weight, with a barbell, the weight just lands harmlessly back on the ground. With dumbbells, however, I could easily see someone dropping them on their feet or even having them bounce & roll and hit other people nearby.

4. Don't be a sissy about the scrapes on your shins. They can be a useful indicator you're doing the lift properly (especially if the scrapes go all the way around the knee and up the thigh) and it doesn't take too long for the skin to get tougher. You can also use chalk or wear pants to reduce the damage.
 
Originally posted by: brikis98
If you have a barbell available, I would recommend against dumbbells for the deadlift for the following reasons:

1. I'd say the average healthy male who trains with proper form won't take too long before his deadlift eclipses 280lbs. It's always easy to slap some more weight on a barbell, but you're guaranteed to eventually run out of big enough dumbbells. And if ultimately you'll train with a barbell anyway, you may as well learn and practice the lift with a barbell the entire way.

2. I'd worry about keeping proper form. If you have any sort of imbalances on the different sides of your body (most people have one hip or hamstring or whatever that's tighter), or even if you're just a little sloppy, I could see one side of your body coming up faster or twisting or any other kind of unbalanced motion that could easily result in back injury. Having to balances weights separately on different sides of your body can be a fantastic way to train for some exercises - such as dumbbell bench press and (single arm) dumbbell cleans/snatches - but doing that with the deadlift is just asking for injury.

3. Many people struggle already with grip on the barbell deadlift and it'll only be harder with dumbbells. Developing a stronger grip may benefit you in the end, but adding extra challenge to the deadlift for a beginner is typically unnecessary. Moreover, if your grip fails during a lift or if you just need to dump the weight, with a barbell, the weight just lands harmlessly back on the ground. With dumbbells, however, I could easily see someone dropping them on their feet or even having them bounce & roll and hit other people nearby.

4. Don't be a sissy about the scrapes on your shins. They can be a useful indicator you're doing the lift properly (especially if the scrapes go all the way around the knee and up the thigh) and it doesn't take too long for the skin to get tougher. You can also use chalk or wear pants to reduce the damage.
Click to expand...

I agree with all of these points.
 
SS ,as in unable to work for a living and living off the taxpayer???
I'll not even begin unless that is the case.
Please say it's not so

As far as dumbbell for Dead Lift goes , above was pretty sensible response.
 
Originally posted by: g8wayrebel
SS ,as in unable to work for a living and living off the taxpayer???
I'll not even begin unless that is the case.
Please say it's not so

As far as dumbbell for Dead Lift goes , above was pretty sensible response.
Click to expand...

SS = starting strength. It's a weightlifting program.
 
i tried DL'ing yesterday for the first time in like 2 years since I have 2 bulging discs in my lower lumbar. i started w/135lbs and it was too easy to the point my form felt weird. so i tried 225lbs and did 3 sets of 6. i just made sure to keep my back straight and they actually felt pretty good. they were a little too easy though but I am very very hesitant to go up much more just because I don't want to screw up my lower back.

i always wear sweat pants in the gym and if i didn't have them on, i would not have tried DL'ing because of scraping my shins heh.
 
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