One-A-Day: Deadlifts

Hey everyone,

For our third 'One-A-Day' workout, we focused on deadlifts.  We completed this workout Sunday evening, after a full day of painting our house, so we were tired at the outset.  Still, we wanted to complete a workout and decided to keep it simple and short.  Thus, we picked three variations of the deadlift and decided to do four sets of each (i.e. 12 sets total).

The deadlift is a classic weightlifting exercise.  In essence, it involves picking weight up off the ground.  However, deadlifting is not often seen as a cool or trendy exercise (it's not new and it's really tough!).  We have incorporated deadlifts into our training over time, but not as frequently as we should have.  This workout, focusing solely on deadlifts, helped show us how important an exercise it is!  Deadlifts pay big dividends for boosting strength, conditioning, metabolism, and overall athleticism. 

Now, for our workout; here's what we did:

1. Straight-leg deadlifts (strength)
2. Double kettlebell, single-leg deadlifts (balance)
3. Alternating kettlebell deadlifts (muscular endurance)

On paper, this workout appears fairly simple and easy.  After the full day of painting and after selecting some challenging weights, the reality was far from simple and easy!  We were both surprised by how much effort 12 sets took.  Similarly, the post-workout soreness in the following days was a reminder of how fundamental and important deadlifts are to our fitness.

We are looking forward to our next deadlift-only workout, as we start to build more volume (sets/reps) and increase our strength (add weight).

- Alex & Tannys