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
To strengthen your back and reduce the risk of injury in the other situations you mentioned!
For Fitness:
When lifting weights for fitness, the load is concentrated, controlled, and secured. Body Positioning is often focused on optimizing power and doing things safely to avoid injury.
You don’t do a Romanian deadlift with a weight you know you can’t lift, so gradually increasing the weight builds strength without causing injury. You have control over the magnitude of the load, which is also critically important. You can also stop or deload when you get tired.
For Work/Other:
When lifting something like furniture, a heavy box, a patient, or unloading a vehicle, you have little control over how heavy it is, positioning can be awkward, and whatever’s in the box can shift.
If it’s for a job, you can’t necessarily just stop because you’re tired.
TL;DR – you can still hurt yourself when doing Romanian deadlifts, it’s just more the cause of your own ego and less the cause of external factors.
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