Six-time Mr. Olympia Dorian Yates was the most dominant champion of the 1990s and is considered by many fans to be one of the greatest bodybuilders of all time. One reason behind his success is his attention to detail, including when he trained.
Yates advocated proper form and maximizing muscle tension. While many bodybuilders were trying to find easier solutions in the gym, Yates was making things harder for himself. He recently took to social media to break down a staple movement in his routine: the stiff-legged deadlift.
[Related: How Strong Was Dorian Yates? Breaking Down the 6-Time Mr. Olympia’s Training Style]
How Dorian Yates Performed Stiff-Legged Deadlifts
Yates used stiff-legged deadlifts only for the hamstrings and nothing else.
“I’d utilize my years of building my mind-muscle connection and shift the focus to my hamstrings,” Yates wrote on Instagram. “That was the target area, not the lower back.”
That focus is why Yates used lifting straps to support his grip. He lowered the weight until it was around his shins before standing tall. The weight plates themselves never touched the ground until he was done, which helps keep the emphasis on the hamstrings.
In his traditional “Blood and Guts” high-intensity training style, he performed only one warm-up set before his single working set to failure. He was not concerned about strength.
“I’d drive up using 160 kilograms for my working weight,” Yates shared. “Yes, I could’ve gone much heavier, but it would’ve meant sacrificing my form. Plus, this was the fifth exercise in my leg routine, too!”
According to Yates’ book, Dorian Yates — A Warrior’s Story, the British bodybuilding legend maintained a slight bend in the knee, despite the name of the exercise, and completed eight to 10 reps for his working set. (1)
In the Instagram video above, Yates performed eight reps without employing extra intensity-boosting techniques such as partial or forced reps.
“The mechanics of this exercise doesn’t lend itself to forced reps, etc., so I end there,” Yates explained.
In his book, Yates wrote that he began leg workouts with leg extensions, followed by leg presses, hack squats, and leg curls before stiff-legged deadlifts. He trained single-leg curls and finished with standing and seated calf raises to close his sessions.
Lifters who try Yates’ version of the stiff-legged deadlift should properly master the form before challenging themselves with more weight.
“It takes practice to nail this, but you’ll feel the difference once you do,” Yates concluded.
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Reference
- Dorian Yates – A Warrior’s Story. A Portrait of Dorian Yates: The Life and Training Philosophy of the World’s Best Bodybuilder : Dorian Yates : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming. (1998). Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/dorian-yates-warrior-s-story/page/60/mode/2up
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