If we are taught to never lift with our backs, why are there popular exercises like Romanian deadlifts and good mornings which has you specifically lifting with your back?
In: Biology
Think of your spine like a stick of wood on a table. If the stick is standing straight up on the table, you can put a 100lb of weight on top the stick and it won’t damage it because wood is strong in compression. Now lay the stick on its side over the edge of the table and put the 100lbs on the end and it will snap the stick in half.
Your spine is made up of discs, when they are aligned straight they can carry a lot of load in compression and your back muscles/core can brace your spine very well in compression. If you’re standing over an object with your back parallel to the floor, you can pretty easily generate enough force to round your back and cause a disc to slip/other types of injuries. Properly done, the Romanian deadlift and good mornings use your hips/legs to lift/lower the weight while the back and core muscles brace the spine in neutral position. It is still possible to round your back using too much weight and cause injury doing these as your legs are quite strong compared to your back, but much safer than just attempting to lift only using the back muscles.
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