It makes no sense to hit up the gym and stray from what you’re there to do. So here are a few Spot Me Girl tips and tricks to help you be more productive in the gym

To sum up

Being more productive in the gym is what will help you start seeing results from your workouts. When your daily schedule seems like a never-ending to do list, exercise always seems to be at the bottom of the list.

Not anymore, girl! With these top tips, you can strategize your time in the gym and maximize your efforts while you’re in there.

The benefits of exercise also extend far beyond having a better figure. It’s a great productivity booster in general, working to kick up your energy levels and improve brain function. Don’t forget to make your training fun and you’ll be even more motivated to work out!

It’s one of the big three workouts and, for many, it’s the biggest one in terms of weight you can lift. We can vouch for this one girl, deadlifts feel awesome, grow all over muscle and make you stronger. Plus, who hasn’t just felt super jealous of those girls who can pick up those big bar bending loads? Be honest now.

Now we’re all on the same page about the incredible muscle-growing movement that is the deadlift, lets delve deeper into how to get the best deadlift form.

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• Best deadlift form
• Common deadlift mistakes
• How to sumo deadlift
• What muscles do deadlifts work?
• Final word

Best deadlift form

Before you head to the bar and start piling on the plates, you need to ensure your form is tight. The deadlift is a powerful movement, but, as with any other big lift, it can cause injury if it’s not done properly.

To help you nail it and stay safe in the gym, follow this guide to getting the best deadlift form:

1. Prep a bar with lifting weights. You’ll find these in the Olympic or powerlifting section at your gym. They should be reasonably light, yet big enough to hold the bar off the floor at around mid-shin
2. Stand with your feet about hip-width apart and with the bar covering the top of your shoe laces
3. Bend over and grip the bar about shoulder-width apart so your arms are on the outside of your knees
4. Gently tug on the bar to feel the tension through your arms
5. With a firm grip on the bar, raise your chest up high, flatten your back and bend your knees until your shins touch the bar. Your shoulders should be over the front of the bar at this point
6. Your first pull involves pushing hard with your legs to pull the bar up to your knee. Keep the bar as close to your body as possible throughout the movement and your back strong and flat. The angle of your back shouldn’t change at this point
7. The second pull is pushing your hips through to fully stand up with the weight. Your hips and knees should be locked out, but not over extended
8. To return the bar to the floor safely, reverse the two pulls, keeping your back strong throughout

Follow these steps and you’ve got everything you need to achieve the best deadlift form in the gym.

Common deadlift mistakes

The fastest way to achieve those big lifts is to perfect your form first, so don’t feel like you need to throw the weights on there straight away.

Take your time, get the best deadlift form you can, and build your strength in a safe, controlled way. A good way to do this is to avoid these common mistakes:

• Don’t jerk the bar – If you jerk the bar off the floor, you’re in serious danger of arching your back or rupturing a muscle. Make your lift a smooth, powerful motion
• Don’t bend your arms – A lot of people seem to think that if you bend your arms, the bar will get to the top faster. Instead you’re just putting your body under more unnecessary strain and risk pulling a muscle. Keep them loose and relaxed
• Don’t swing the bar out – Keep the bar as close to your body as possible. This is the most efficient way to lift the bar. It won’t expend any extra energy or put you at risk of falling over as you lift
• Don’t arch your back – We know, we’re repeating ourselves. You’re at risk of pulling a muscle and damaging your lower back if you lift heavy with an arch. Work hard on your form from day one to strengthen up your back
• Don’t use a thumb-less grip – Grip is essential in this lift, wrap your hand and your thumb around the bar in a hook grip so you don’t drop the bar

How to sumo deadlift

Once you’ve got the deadlift nailed, the next step is hitting the variations. These are also compound movements that will put the emphasis on your body in different ways. That means they’ll work your body for a whole new world of muscle building potential.

Where the conventional deadlift works your back, glutes and hamstrings, the sumo deadlift will do all this, but with more of a focus on those hammies. Perfect if you’re trying to get that perfect leg physique.

Follow this guide on how to sumo deadlift and show your prowess in the weight lifting area:

1. Prepare a loaded bar on the floor
2. Stand with your feet under the bar so you can’t see the top of your shoelaces. Then step outwards so you have a very wide stance under the bar. Test out different widths to see what works for you, but it should feel wide
3. Bend at the hips to take a close grip on the bar. Your arms should be inside your knees
4. Gently tug on the bar to feel the tension
5. Bend your knees so your shins touch the bar, lift your chest and straighten your back. Your hips will be slightly lower here compared to the deadlift.
6. Push up through the heels and straighten your legs to lift the bar past your knees
7. When the bar is past the knees, push your hips through and squeeze your upper back together to completely lock out
8. Return the bar to the floor by reversing the movement, keeping your back strong throughout

What muscles do deadlifts work

The conventional deadlift is pretty much a full body workout. As a compound movement it’s about as good as you can get. You add this to your workout and you’ll be making gains just about all you’re your body. Bonus right?

Drill this queen of lifts and you’ll work the following muscle groups:

• The back – Upper and lower back, including your lats
• The legs – Quads, calf muscles and hamstrings
• The butt – Glutes and surrounding hip muscles
• The arms – Forearms and biceps
• The shoulders – Traps
• The core – Lower back and abdominals

We’re all about it, girl. The well-rounded strength builder will give just about your whole body a burner of a workout. Whether you’re looking to increase mass or to boost strength, adding this to your lifting routine will put you on the fast track to gains.

What’s more, because it’s a compound movement, all of those muscle groups will be working together in perfect harmony. That improves your muscle communication, so your body becomes stronger in a functional way.

The final word

Once you’ve got the best deadlift form down, you’ll be ready to add weight to the lift and transform your physique. Make this movement the anchor of your back or hamstring workout and you’ll benefit from a huge range of gains.

Now the deadlift is your new fave lift, add to your big three lifts and perfect your squat and bench press too:

• Squats – Everything a Girl Needs to Know
• Bench Press for Women – Everything a Girl Needs to Know

At SpotMeGirl we’re big fans of throwing on a pair of Chuck’s, getting under a heavy bar and squatting like there’s no tomorrow.

But away from the gym we like to live the lean life by putting on a sexy dress, sliding on our favorite high heels and letting our hair down.

Life is all about balance right?

We’ve seen the latest trend of squatting in high heels begin to take off. And to be honest, it’s pretty concerning.

If you want to know why you should ditch the stiletto squat and use alternative leg building exercises, read on and find out more…

Where’s the high heel squat craze even come from?

The growth of the internet has been phenomenal.

From socializing with friends online line or internet shopping, to instant access to unlimited information (the best being this page obviously), it really has changed the way we perceive the world.

Unfortunately it’s also given a voice to idiots.

Whether it’s the dab dance, words such as lol, rofl and lmfao (best one ever by the way), or the hundreds of crazy glute exercises that pop up on a daily basis, we have the internet to blame for a lot of crazy ideas.

And there’s no more crazy than the stiletto squat.

What is a high heel squat?

It’s as simple as it sounds really. Performing your squat workout wearing stilettos has become increasingly popular in the US as a way of supposedly tightening up your butt and legs – simply because of the way in which the height of your heels changes muscle activation.

Those that advocate squatting in stilettos tell you that the bigger the heel, the more benefit you’ll get.

And this has led to numerous women strutting up to the squat racks like a model hitting the runway in an attempt to build a booty like Sommer Ray and thighs like Michelle Lewin.

It’s even led to some gyms scrapping the more traditional legs, bums and tums classes, and opting for the more uber-cool ‘Stiletto Strength’ workouts.

And as you can guess, this has led to celebrity after celebrity coming out of the wood work to endorse it out of the goodness of their own hearts (and not the $ of course).

High heels actually do make you more attractive

Men are simple creatures. Give them a good ass and a great set of legs to look at and they’re putty in your hands.

Research from journals such as the Archives of Sexual Behavior (which is as hilarious, as it is empowering to read by the way) shows that when women wear heels, men find them more attractive.

But that doesn’t mean you should work out in them.

Are squats in high heels safe?

The fitness industry has seen some pretty dumb things in its time.

From tummy toning belts to shrink wrap fat loss gimmicks, we’ve suffered hundreds of false hope fads aimed at women who’re clinging to the hope that whatever new device is hot this month will solve their problems.

Bottom line is that as sexy as we look and feel in our favorite pair of stilettos, they’re likely to do us damage in the long-term:

• Excessive pressure on your lumbar discs
• Reduces balance and increases risk of falls, ligament damage and fractures
• General joint pain
• Bunions, ingrown toenails and skin issues
• Shortened Achilles tendon and calf muscles

Here’s why you should avoid high heel squats

Elevating your feet doesn’t tone your butt

High heel squats are sold as a cure for your booty. But raising your heels increases how much your thighs work, not your glutes.

Now here’s the thing:

Women already have overly-developed thighs.

And weak ‘posterior chain’ muscles.

Because of our unique biomechanics, women tend to have strong quadriceps muscles and weak hamstrings and glutes. This is one of the reasons why we get knee, hip and lower back pain more often than men.

Any good strength coach knows that women need to train hamstrings and glutes much, much more frequently than their front thighs.

So while these celebrities and so called expert coaches think you’ll develop a strong booty from stiletto squats, you really won’t .

And will probably just make your thighs bigger too.

Heels give you sore feet just from walking. Imagine what squatting in them feels like!

You know the drill. It’s been a late night on the dance floor and as you crawl into bed you just know what’s waiting for you the following morning… sore feet.

Your heels will be in pain, your ankles will be swollen and your joints just won’t feel healthy. Even your big toes feel like they’ve been jammed through a mincer.

Doctors and podiatrists have been screaming about the damage that high heels can do to your feet for years. And that’s just from walking in them. What do you think these professionals will say about squatting in them?

Okay, some pretty personal trainer might tell you it’s cool to squat in heels. But let’s listen to actual experts too.

It’s dangerous as hell to squat in stilettos

It’s hard enough squatting in a pair of Chuck’s or weightlifting shoes, let alone high heels. Think about it – all of your body weight and all of the bar weight are amplified right through that small, heeled surface area.

It’s not going to take much for you to lose your balance or the heel to straight blow up under the weight.

And you’ll not be looking your best with a bruised head, smashed teeth or your leg in a cast from an accident like that.

When it comes to sensible, progressive exercises to build you legs and tone your butt, there are far better (and safer) training methods out there.

We’ve been here before unfortunately

A few years ago it was all the rage to wear sneakers that had a ‘unique sole designed to increase muscle activation’.

They were basically shoes with a high bow-wedge in the middle of the shoe. It made walking harder. And as such, allowed the companies selling them to make huge claims about helping to tone lower body muscles, improve posture, blah, blah.

It was all rubbish.

Once the science caught up with them and essentially ruined their lies and business model, they quickly become shoes for ‘improving your balance’ and not strengthening your ass and legs.

Because they just don’t work.

And once that science proves you wrong, you can’t legally make false claims.

High heel squats follow in the footsteps (pun intended) of these ridiculous claims. There’s just no evidence at all that they’ll improve your leg strength, or offer any benefits whatsoever.

A science-backed metabolism booster, however, may help you cut those stubborn wobbly bits…

Summary – Don’t waste your time with the stiletto squat

Squatting in high heels is the latest in a long line of crazy ideas, concocted by so called expert trainers who’s knowledge base can be scribbled down on the back of a free pass for your local gym.

Stiletto squats are unsafe and will more than likely lead to long-term joint issues. It doesn’t target your glutes and will just focus more attention on your quads.

Even then, the load will have to be so light that you might as well just ditch the heels, stick on some flats and train like a real woman should.

Never look for a shortcut. train hard, train clever. Everything else will come in time.

Is it easy? Of course not. Is it worth it? Well… 15lbs of extra muscle sounds like a no-brainer to me!

Deadlift Every Day For Massive Gains

This routine isn’t for the average weightlifter because the average weightlifter wouldn’t be able to handle these kinds of massive gains. Bodybuilders have reported gaining 15lbs of muscle in three months on this deadlift routine, and that’s unheard of.

Have I mentioned strength gains?

Some lifters have reported adding 20lbs to their bench and 50lbs to their squat in a matter of weeks. Since deadlifting is such an inclusive workout, it triggers and stimulates whole body muscle growth, you will see instantaneous results throughout your whole workout routine.

Stop Being A Follower

“But my personal trainer at Planet Fitness taught me about the dangers of overtraining…”

Let me set the record straight. It is almost impossible to overtrain.

Don’t believe me? Ask the Spartans, they would routinely train from dusk til’ dawn with no rest, no eating, and nothing but an apple a day to develop mental and physical toughness. Not to mention they would also ruthlessly beat each other on a daily basis.

Are you really ‘overtraining’? Nope, just ‘overcomplaning.’

If you want to look like a Spartan, act like one. You would be amazed at how much sleep, adequate calories, and a dedicated mind can accomplish. Forget about this overtraining BS and get to work.

Muscle isn’t given, it’s earned.

Daily Deadlifting Routine

Monday: Maximum Tension

Start the week off right with 10 sets of eight reps with 135 pounds, taking as much rest as needed between sets. Focus on maintaining a tight body throughout the entire process. Couple this lift with a three second ascent and a four second descent for maximum effectiveness.

Tuesday: Maximum Speed

Moving the weight fast and controlled is the idea here. Pick a weight that’s around 65% of your max weight and focus on performing the reps as fast as you can (without looking like a moron). Go for eight sets of two reps with a three minute rest between sets.

If you are serious about your training, treat each deadlift as if you are pulling your personal record. This will instill proper form and setup.

Wednesday: Maximum Weight

First, make sure to get those warm-up sets in. We are trying to get stronger, not end up in a wheelchair.

Perform 10 singles with 90% of your max weight, taking three to five minutes of rest between sets.

Thursdays: Maximum Drop

Today, perform one big drop-set!

Start with a weight that is 80% of your max. The key here is to do at least eight sets in this massive drop-set.

Drop your way down until your pride can’t take how little you are lifting. (Example… 225lbs- 200lbs- 175lbs- 150lbs- 125lbs- 100lbs- 75lbs- 50lbs) No breaks, no mercy, we are throwing it all in one big drop-set.

Friday: Maximum Weight

Today we’ll be performing paused deadlifts. Not sure what those are? Deadlift regularly, only pause at mid-shin level for three seconds. Perform five sets of five with about 75% of your max and pause for three seconds at your mid-shin on your ascent.

Perform five sets of five reps of paused deadlifts with about 75% of your max weight. On the way up, pause for 3 seconds at mid-shin level, then pause for another 3 seconds while the weight is slightly above knee-level, then finish.

Take as much rest as you deserve.

Saturday: Maximum Overload

Today we are going to test your mental fortitude. Pick about 85% of your max weight and perform one rep every 30 seconds. Do this for a total of 10 minutes. If this doesn’t ruin your day, nothing will.

Sunday: Maximum Dream

Spend your day off dreaming, and thinking about the gains you will soon have.

This workout program was inspired by Dean Somerset’s T Nation article. 

Congratulations, you’ve made it through week one, now get back to work it’s almost week two!

I made it 104 days.. How far can you make it?

Deadlift on ladies.

Want to boost your muscle building progress? You might benefit from a T-booster…