Do deadlifts give a blockier look to your physique?
Deadlifts are a fantastic full body exercise for shape, size and overall strength. Known as one of the staple exercises to have in your routine, some believe that by avoiding deadlifts, you’ll reduce the chance of adding mass to your mid-section, thickening your waistline and creating a blocky appearance. This is bad news for both men and women who are looking for that aesthetic, V-tapered look. But is there any truth to this claim?
The Blocky Look.
When people refer to deadlifts as ‘give you the blocky look’, you’d assume this means that from the front view you appear thicker in width. The problem with this statement is that deadlifts in general tend to work the erector spinae, legs and abs. A thicker look from the front would instead be impacted by the size of an individual’s internal and external oblique muscles, not the afore mentioned muscle groups. Take bikini or physique athletes, take a look at their prep routines and you’ll soon see that they include deadlifts at some point, yet still step on stage with incredibly lean waistlines.
Ab Bracing.
Safe deadlifting requires a good bracing of your core (the midsection being pushed outward on the abdominal wall). However, studies have shown that abdominal and oblique activation is low during deadlifts and bracing the core doesn’t involve maximal stretching of the abdominal wall to grow and thicken it.
Genetics.
Your mid-section appearance is mostly related to your genetics, everyone is different. Some may have the desired tapered waistlines, while others may have a slightly thicker look in general (think body-shapes). You can only work with what you’ve got, which is why it’s physically impossible to look like someone else, everyone is built differently. If you’re trying to avoid creating a blocky appearance, here’s some good take away points:
- Planks, weighted crunches, and side bends lead to far greater levels of abdominal and oblique activation than deadlifts.
- Training your abs and obliques frequently with heavy training can create a thicker looking waistline or blockier abs.
- To fix a thick waist, look to reduce direct ab/oblique training throughout your week, especially when lots of your other exercises hit them.
- Don’t avoid deadlifts, they can give your back, legs and glutes a great, solid look. Wider grip variations can even AID in the upper back shape, creating a good looking V-shape.
- Create the illusion of a better v-shape physique by targeting your side shoulders, lats, chest and upper back.
If you’re looking for a more aesthetic look, here’s two great plans from the app and guess what, they both include some deadlifting…
