[wirednut]

Hi All,
I typically use a smith-machine for doing these. My question is how far from the bar should my legs be. I've been messing around by standing away from the bar and it seems to put more focus on the hams. I usually get my legs up near the bar to do the lift. Moving too far from the bar seems it would have some danger involved.
TIA

[RobInKuwait]

Originally Posted by wirednut

Hi All,
I typically use a smith-machine for doing these. My question is how far from the bar should my legs be. I've been messing around by standing away from the bar and it seems to put more focus on the hams. I usually get my legs up near the bar to do the lift. Moving too far from the bar seems it would have some danger involved.
TIA

I wouldn't use a smith machine for these. You need a natural range of motion to get a good hamstring stretch and range of motion. I'd use a free barbell, or preferrably some heavy dumbells to go down until I felt a stretch in my hams then keeping my back straight come up.

[wirednut]

I can use a freebar or dumbbells , not a problem.
Does it matter how far my legs are from the bar when I start the lift?

[natedogg]

The barbell should practically be scraping your thighs/shins throughout the movement in order to take any emphasis off of your lower back. SLDL are a good way to **** your lower back up if done incorrectly. Also, have a slight bend in your legs. You'll feel it more in your hams this way. I do at least.

[exnihilo]

I find good mornings are a better exercise than SLDL, works the same muscles but I don't get any back pain from GMs.

[Longdog]

A regular bar is far superior, but I have used a smith for SLDLs a few times when the racks were occupied. Its a weird motion, but its do-able. Its easier on a smith that has a slight angle to it, if you face the direction so the angle fits your natural SLDL movement. You want the bar to be closer to you at the bottom of the movement. As others said, the bar should be literally an inch from your shins at the bottom.

DBs are good too, but it's hard to get enough weight.

[hypo]

Use a barbell, and keep your back rigidy straight the whole movement. You'll feel an awesome stretch in the hams if you go down far enough

[wirednut]

Any need to do leg curls if stiffs are being done?

I'm building my legs for ice hockey.

I am using a bb strictly now with over/under grips.

Currently my leg day is squats, stiffs, leg curls, standing calf raises and db lunges. I do deads 3 days later on back day.

thanks!

[exnihilo]

The two work slightly the hams slightly differently, but imo machine leg curls are crap. Do GH raises, or swiss ball leg curls.

[CDB]

Originally Posted by exnihilo

The two work slightly the hams slightly differently, but imo machine leg curls are crap. Do GH raises, or swiss ball leg curls.

Swiss Ball Leg Curls? How do you do those? I love using my ball for crunches and hyperextensions when I do them, but I can't picture in my mind how you'd do leg curls using a Swiss ball.

[wirednut]

Originally Posted by CDB

Swiss Ball Leg Curls? How do you do those?

I found it on this page, down towards the middle, it's #5.

http://www.dolfzine.com/page537.htm

[exnihilo]

The only problem with that picture, the guy isn't really arching his back or pushing his butt up much. The way to do that exercise to really slam the hams is to arch the back like crazy and really push the butt up, and bring the heels back so they almost touch the butt when you do a rep.

[natedogg]

Originally Posted by wirednut

Any need to do leg curls if stiffs are being done?

I'm building my legs for ice hockey.

I am using a bb strictly now with over/under grips.

Currently my leg day is squats, stiffs, leg curls, standing calf raises and db lunges. I do deads 3 days later on back day.

thanks!

There's nothing wrong with leg curls. I'm concerned with doing deadlifts 3 days after sldl. That would fry my lower back and not in a good way either. How's that working out for you? I would do one or the other personally. Or maybe alternate weeks. Over/under grip can be dangerous once you start getting up in weight as well. I've heard of people tearing their biceps (under grip) doing this and I can never really get comfortable myself using the under/over grip. I would either work on strengthening your grip or try using wrist straps.

[exnihilo]

Originally Posted by natedogg

There's nothing wrong with leg curls. I'm concerned with doing deadlifts 3 days after sldl. That would fry my lower back and not in a good way either. How's that working out for you? I would do one or the other personally. Or maybe alternate weeks. Over/under grip can be dangerous once you start getting up in weight as well. I've heard of people tearing their biceps (under grip) doing this and I can never really get comfortable myself using the under/over grip. I would either work on strengthening your grip or try using wrist straps.

Leg curls have basically no strength carryover to any other exercise. They can add a little mass to your hams if they're really lacking though.

As for grip, over-under works well for me, though I've been contemplating going to the thumbhook grip, in order to get in a better starting position for the deadlift. Whatever you do, DON'T use straps though - just fix your friggin grip. The stronger your grip is, the stronger the rest of you will get - there is an inhibitory feedback mechanism between having a weak grip and how much weight you can hoist, I have seen people add 15lbs to their bench just by focusing on gripping the bar more strongly, and the bench is not even one of the exercises that is heavily affected by this. A deadlift with a strong grip will feel MUCH easier than a deadlift with a weak grip, even if the weight on the bar is the same - I promise you. Straps don't fix the problem, all they do is make it hard to fully let go of the bar.

[natedogg]

Good to know. Though I could care less about powerlifting or moving the heaviest weight possible.

Oh, chalk works really well for grip if you want to go strapless.

[exnihilo]

Chalk is in a totally different realm than straps... *shrug* if you feel like hopping on the TUT bandwagon, best of luck to you man.