Should seniors (55+) deadlift?
Imagine this: you're in your late 50s or beyond, standing in the gym with your hands wrapped around a barbell, heart pounding as you prepare to lift. You've heard it all before—warnings from well-meaning doctors, chiropractors, and internet gurus.
"Deadlifts are dangerous at your age," they say, "especially for your back."
These experts often point to models of fragile, jelly-like discs, illustrating how the weight of a deadlift could supposedly crush your spine, leaving you with chronic pain or worse. The fear they instill is real, especially when your health and independence are at stake.
But is there more to this story? Could it be that the deadlift, often painted as the villain for those over 55, is actually one of the most powerful tools to maintain a strong, resilient spine as you age?
In this blog, we’ll dive deep into the science, challenge the myths, and reveal whether deadlifts are truly a danger for seniors—or if they’re the key to staying strong and active well into your golden years.
Deadlifts and Spine force
The first question to address is this: do deadlifts put compressive and shear forces on the spine?
Yes.
Deadlifts do place compressive and shear forces on the lumbar spine. 1.
When discussing deadlifts, it's essential to recognize the role of stress in physical training. If you apply more stress than your body can withstand, you can get injured. However, without enough stress, your body weakens over time, leading to issues like sarcopenia—a condition characterized by muscle loss and frailty as you age. This loss of muscle can contribute to metabolic problems, including diabesity, a combination of diabetes and obesity, which further weakens the body and increases the risk of chronic conditions.
On the other hand, too much stress, especially from excessive or improper training, can result in injury, chronic fatigue, and burnout. Overtraining places undue pressure on the body, leading to persistent muscle soreness, joint pain, and a weakened immune system. But, when managed correctly, stress through strength training, like deadlifting, is not just beneficial—it's essential. Properly performed deadlifts can help build a stronger spine, enhance muscle mass, and improve metabolic health, especially for aging adults.
The key lies in finding the right balance: applying enough stress to stimulate growth and resilience without overloading your body. Deadlifts, when done with proper form and appropriate weight, can strengthen the paraspinal muscles, reduce the risk of lower back pain, and counteract the effects of aging, making them an invaluable exercise for maintaining a strong, healthy body.
“All things are poisons, for there is nothing without poisonous qualities. It is only the dose which makes a thing poison.” -Paracelsus
Deadlifts strengthen the back
In the gym today, the deadlift is often neglected.
This is likely due to the persistent myth that it’s "bad for your back."
Sure, lifting hundreds of pounds off the ground sounds like it could wreck your spine, especially if you’re lifting with bad form.
Maybe you had that one uncle who “messed up their back deadlifting,” but we also know many seriously strong seniors who swear by it.
So, is the deadlift really bad for your back when done properly?
To answer, let’s discuss a few common deadlift myths and see what research has to say about them.
Myth #1 : Deadlifts Cause Abnormal Spinal Motion
A study conducted by the University of Waterloo aimed to determine the extent of low-back flexion during deadlifting and the associated strain on the vertebrae and lumbar ligaments. Previous claims suggested that deadlifting places significant strain on these areas, potentially leading to injury.
To investigate this, researchers used real-time x-ray imaging (fluoroscopy) to observe the spines of elite powerlifters both during full spine flexion without weights and while deadlifting over 400 pounds. Except for one trial involving a single participant, all the men completed their deadlifts within the normal range of motion observed during full flexion. The lengths of the ligaments remained unaffected, indicating that these ligaments do not support the load but rather limit the range of motion.
Myth #2 : Low back muscle strength doesn’t matter for back pain
One of the hallmarks of low back pain is weakness in the paraspinal muscles.
One study highlighted that significant loss of muscle mass in the deeper parts of the multifidus at the lower lumbar spine is often seen in patients suffering from LBP. This atrophy is often accompanied by fatty infiltration within the muscle tissue, which can be visualized using MRI. The degree of muscle atrophy is correlated with the severity and duration of back pain, as well as with disability and radiculopathy (pain radiating down the leg) in some cases (PLOS Journals) and this.
Myth 3: The Deadlift Doesn’t Strengthen The Right Muscles
If we want to avoid back pain, we need to be doing movements that strengthen the paraspinals.
Scientific studies, like one from the University of Valencia, offer some solid insights into the best exercises for paraspinal muscle strength.
Researchers had 25 individuals without low-back pain perform a variety of back exercises, including:
Lumbar extensions
Forward flexions
Single-leg deadlifts
Bridges
Lunges (using 70% of their one-rep max)
Deadlifts (using 70% of their one-rep max)
Muscle activity was measured using electromyography, which records the electrical activity produced by muscles during contraction. This technique helps determine how hard a muscle is working by comparing its activity to its Maximum Voluntary Contraction (MVC). Essentially, the more intensely a muscle contracts, the closer it gets to its MVC, indicating the level of effort it’s putting in during the exercise.
The result?
When it comes to parapsinal muscle activation, the deadlift is king.
And the contest wasn’t even close.
The deadlift’s average electromyographic muscle activity was 88% of MVC and peaked at 113%.
In contrast:
back extension produced an average activity of 55% and peak of 58%
the lunge, an average of 46% and peak of 61%
the rest of the exercises’ average activities rang in between 29–42%
the supine bridge on a BOSU ball was the least effective, in case you were wondering
Thus, researchers concluded, the deadlift is an incredibly effective way to strengthen the paraspinal muscles.
Myth 4: But Deadlifts Haven’t Been Shown To Be Helpful For Back Pain!
In fact, Deadlifts are often used as a treatment for those suffering from lower back pain. In a study by Welch et al 30 people with low back pain did a 16-week deadlift program. They experienced significant reductions in pain and disability, improved quality of life, better back endurance, and less fat around their spine muscles.
So now you know that not only are deadlifts NOT BAD for your spine, BUT may even have a therapeutic effect on back pain.
But what are the other reasons for seniors to deadlift?
4 Reasons seniors should Deadlift
Energy
To truly appreciate the importance of strength training, particularly exercises like deadlifts, we need to delve into a bit of science—specifically, the concept of bioenergetics. Forgive me while I wax science nerd for a moment, but this is crucial to understanding why deadlifts (and strength training in general) are so vital for your health.
It Starts and Ends with ATP: Adenosine Triphosphate
ATP is the molecular unit of currency for energy in your body. Every cell in your body relies on ATP to perform its functions—whether it’s contracting a muscle, transmitting nerve signals, or synthesizing vital molecules. In essence, ATP = Energy for Life Processes. Without ATP, nothing gets done.
How ATP Powers Your Muscles
When you perform any physical activity, your muscles contract and relax thanks to the energy supplied by ATP. During a workout, especially a high-intensity one like deadlifting, your body needs a rapid supply of ATP to keep your muscles working.
Why Strength Training Improves ATP Production
Here’s where deadlifts and heavy strength training come into play. When you lift heavy weights, your body is forced to tap into its ATP Energy systems repeatedly. Over time, your body adapts to this demand by becoming more efficient at producing and replenishing ATP. This is one of the reasons why strength training can make you feel more energetic and less fatigued in daily life—it literally trains your body to be better at producing energy.
Deadlifts: The Ultimate Energy Demand
Deadlifts are one of the most effective exercises for stimulating ATP production.
Why?
Because they…
involve large muscle groups working together to…
move heavy weights…
from a dead stop.
2.) Hormones
When discussing the benefits of deadlifts and strength training, two key hormones often come up: growth hormone and testosterone. These hormones are crucial in regulating metabolism, building muscle, and maintaining overall health, especially as we age.
Growth hormone (GH) is produced by the pituitary gland and is essential for growth, cell repair, and metabolism. Its primary roles include:
Stimulating Muscle Growth: GH promotes muscle tissue growth, helping to increase lean muscle mass, which is metabolically active. A higher muscle mass leads to a higher resting metabolic rate, allowing your body to burn more calories even at rest. Research published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism supports the role of GH in muscle growth and metabolism.
Fat Metabolism: GH enhances fat breakdown (lipolysis) to provide energy, helping to reduce body fat and support energy demands during intense exercises like deadlifts. Studies, such as one published in Endocrine Reviews, show that GH plays a significant role in lipid metabolism and the reduction of body fat.
As we age, the natural production of growth hormone declines, leading to decreased muscle mass and increased body fat. This is where deadlifts come in.
Deadlifts and Growth Hormone
Heavy resistance training, particularly compound movements like deadlifts, significantly boosts growth hormone levels.
Testosterone is the primary male sex hormone, but it plays a critical role in women’s health as well.
It’s known for:
Promoting Muscle Mass: Testosterone stimulates protein synthesis, crucial for muscle growth and repair. Increased muscle mass leads to a higher metabolic rate.
Enhancing Fat Loss: Testosterone helps reduce body fat by inhibiting the formation of new fat cells and promoting the breakdown of existing fat stores.
Like growth hormone, testosterone levels decline with age, leading to slower metabolism, decreased muscle mass, and increased fat accumulation.
Deadlifts and Testosterone
Deadlifts are one of the most effective exercises for boosting testosterone levels.
Free weight exercises like squats and deadlifts are better at increase hormone levels responsible for fat burning like testosterone and growth hormone.
3. Strength and Muscle Development
Deadlifts allow you to use heavy weights which means you’ll get stronger, faster.
Strong specifically in the following ways:
Grip Strength: Because you have to hang onto the bar, deadlifts will strengthen your grip. Grip strength is a strong predictor of longevity. In fact, every 11 pound increase in grip strength decreases your chances of dying by 16%!
Lower Back Strength: we already talked about this one earlier.
Functional Strength: Unlike machine exercises like hamstring curls or quadriceps extensions, the deadlift trains a real movement — picking something heavy off the floor. Our body doesn’t understand muscles, it knows movements. Thus, training movements leads to real world strength that carries over to your life.
4. Deadlifts Are Hard
Lifting a heavy weight from the ground is hard.
There’s no trick or shortcut to lifting a heavy barbell from the ground. It’s just you, your strength, and the weight.
And that’s exactly why it’s worth doing.
In a world where everything is engineered for our comfort, where we live in climate-controlled bubbles and have endless entertainment at our fingertips, it’s easy to forget what it feels like to struggle.
Our homes are temperature controlled, our cars are temperature controlled, and our food arrives at our door without us even having to step outside. Netflix plays the next episode for us without so much as a button press, and if we want something, we can order it with a swipe and have it delivered within hours.
But here’s the catch: this ease, this endless comfort, it’s making us soft.
Our bodies and minds are built to handle challenges, to overcome obstacles, to lift heavy things—literally and metaphorically.
When we avoid hard things, we start to lose that edge. We get weaker, both physically and mentally.
This is where the deadlift comes in. It serves as a frequent reminder to our entire system that we need to stay sharp and ready for whatever life throws at us.
By intentionally choosing to do hard things, like deadlifting, you’re not just building physical strength—you’re building resilience. You’re telling your body and your mind that comfort isn’t the only goal. You’re reminding yourself that you have the power to take on challenges and come out stronger on the other side.
So now you know a bit about why you should deadlift.
BUT, the benefits listed above hinge above doing the movement correctly.
So let’s talk about how to do the deadlift right.
