I shake my head. I follow a Youtube channel of a young guy who talks about business and firearms. The last video that showed up on my feed he was in a gym, about 60 pounds overweight (he has had some medical problems). I watched do a routine where you a type of countdown alternating burpees with conventional deadlifts.
Having back problems that were amplied by several years of convential deadlifting as a keystone to my routine; it was painful to watch, and on the video he talks about back pain. He gave it a good effort, but had to stop before he made to his goal. I don't often comment on people's choice of exercise, but I like the guy, and suggested the combination of burpees and conventional deadlifts might not be best thing he could be doing for the health of his lumbar and sacral vertebra. I also suggested he switch to a trap bar, if he was going to do deadlifts.
He appreciated the advice but took the blame for a lack of form. O.K., I did my part. But then his trainer chimed in on the comments with the B.S. about proper form always preventing injury and some Nietzsche style encouragement. I explained that the sacral vertebra act as a hinge on conventional deadlifts where the pressure of the weight is at one point entirely on the joint, asked him to let me know if he had the same advice ten years hence. Anyway, I was stepping on his turf and bowed out.
I am not against conventional style deadlifting, but it is not a exercise to use as an conditioner because of the wear on the lower vertebra and the risk for form breaking down. That is also a problem with burpees. You can probably get away with them when you are young, but it definitely has an adverse effect if you already have compression and deterioration in the lower spine.
I've lost count of the number of students I have who have had debilitating injuries from doing Crossfit style workouts in P.E. But, they gut it out and blame themselves. I had one that had to leave the Marine Corp because of a high school deadlifting injury that never healed. As the old saying goes - why is youth wasted on the young? I could also add - Why do I even bother?
Thank you DD. I got diagnosed when I was in my mid thirties with a great deal of deterioration in my cervical, lumbar and sacral vertebra. Foolishly I lifted heavy a decade after that. When I had an ATV accident in 2005 the X-ray revealed the same. So I have to be careful of how and what I do. It is the cumulative effect of years of weight training, rough and tumble martial arts, manual labor and several accidents. On the positive note, I can train like I do now, and if I am careful of what I do and am cognizant of what I am doing when I am doing it, I can stay healthy for many years to come.
Maybe some day we'll have a discussion about injuries we've worked through with the emphasis on what matters - how we worked around them. Might very well get some good ideas. Greg, I'm sorry to read about your back. That's a tough one. Adds to my respect for you and your commitment to and for training.
DD - God Bless our knowing wives!
" But Isometric deadlifts with an isometric strap kill my back no matter what. Do You feel these are differant than with weights? "
Mike me no problem, but that goes back to individual differences in structure and prior injury. I believe with the burpees the jump is part of the problem. The times I did the jump as part of the burpee I always had spinal compression the next day; albeit I already have substantial deterioration in my spine. The push-up part I could do OK, but I could see the potential for shoulder injury.
Greg, one of the injuries I got was from DLs in Oct. 1962. I was skinny, weak and was gonna eat the weights if that's what it took to get bigger and stronger. So I combined stupidity with idiocy and, at 5'10" 150 lbs. hit the DLs as hard as I could. Stiff legged (knees locked) DLs. Worked up to three sets of five reps with 300 lbs. I was getting strong. Never saw it coming. A disc in my lower back popped. A Dr. told me an operation was maybe two or three in ten I'd get better, three in ten no improvement and three in ten it'd be worse. The kicker was one in ten I'm paralyzed from the waist down. So for fifty six years I've lived with it. It healed in a way, I still lifted but no DLs. Played hockey, boxed in backyard bouts with friends (usually) etc. I was lucky it wasn't worse. I'm stiff in the A.M. when I get up but I'll be 74 in a few weeks, so I'm not complaining. I agree with your post 100% on DLs: if you have to do this use a trap bar. And I'm a devout believer in the approach we have here at Lionquest.
Oh - to show you how stubborn and stupid a good ole Scots-Irish boy can be I trashed my right knee doing squats. At age 63. As my French Canadian wife would say, "Sacre Bleu! Calisse du tabernac."
I never really did to much deadlifting with weights. But I know when I do the Atlas One Leg Row, Self Resistance deadlift with an isometric strap or Exer-Genie, or Good Mornings I keep my head up. I never look down and this seems to work great for me. But Isometric deadlifts with an isometric strap kill my back no matter what. Do You feel these are differant than with weights?
I sometimes do a burpee without a push up and jump. Correct me if I'm wrong but two things with this cause problems with the back. I would say a general thing is the range of motion one uses. But the two things for me is kicking the legs to close to the chest and the push up part. The push up part I would say for me is not getting set in a good position to do the push up. I just use the range of motion that's comfortable for me and haven't had a problem. Also I'll use them as a conditoning exercise and don't worry about the exercise police.
Honestly with my back history I don't even think I would attempt the combonation or deadlifts and burpees done the conventional way.