I dont have an 'aesthetic' physique. I have narrow shoulders, and large waist (blocky) But I have great leverages which gave me good balanced strength. At under 200 I had a RAW paused competition bench of 420, a 635 dead and 550 squat. None of those are 'great' but I have good overall balanced strength.

I also agree that test is not a huge player in 'natural' gains. My 'proof' of this is not only my own experience, but also for those that have been around here for a while, there was a time when testboosters were sold here that actually worked quite well. Most were herbal based AI's which would jack test levels up 1100-1200. Tons of people posting up blood work, etc. Yet no real gainz ever appeared.

I have seen some other study showing that test is not really the main player for natural gains. It is important to have functional levels, but beyond that more is not necessarily better (within the natural range). Now jacking to 5000 levels, sure things happen, but we are discussing natural training of which I have almost 20 years experience before I went on externally controlled hormones. Be happy to share my thoughts on that anytime but not looking to derail thread.

The biggest thing in the end is always genes. Just the pain truth. I never knew it. I was the runt of my family. I picked up weights and I started ripping giant zipper stretch marks all over my body. Gained almost 30 lbs my first year of training. Wont happen that way for everyone. I worked out with guys who did the same workouts and never saw the same progress. Just the reality of life.

I will never be an NBA player, but I was blessed with good training response. Before lifting I was a college hockey player at a high level until a broken collarbone ended my hockey pursuits and I started lifting.
Sure you can row 405
This was 3 years ago. Boy wish I could still train heavyI got rear ended and fractured my spine and was left with 3 disk injuries. Have never returned to training 'heavy', but still hit if 4 days a week!




Current shape, 2 months till I turn 50. Pic taken last week

Good post ^ , mirin strength

And agree, genetics are king. Its one of life’s most brutal red pills.

ITT OP has a chitty DL so he's found some cope reason to exclude them from his routine.

Watch this video



PLENTY of ****gits deadlifting 500 lbs+ and they don't look like they lift at all.

Impressive physique but deadlift don't build your back. Sorry brah.

Esp last skinny dude deadlifting 550lb. He can probably lift close to 600lb+ judging by how easy he lifted that. Deadlift is ALL leverage.

You can't use athletes who are competing in weight classes as your litmus test for how big an exercise makes them.

No exercise will make a person big if they are in a calorie deficit or at maintenance level.

Your same argument would be applicable to the squat and deadlift too if you went by the 132 and 148 pound powerlifters on stage.

Protein builds muscle. Deadlift, squat, and bench press (among a thousand other exercises) can create the disruption required in order to get that machinery working to build that muscle.

Something I've noticed is that people who say you can't build your back with deadlifts are usually the same people who don't deadlift because they are afraid to deadlift out of fear of hurting their back. So... They literally don't even know because they don't do them.

lol @ doing any exercises that involve bending over your back

not trying to end up in a wheelchair

db rows grow mine a lot.

I only do shoulders, legs and core with minimal work elsewhere on rotation.

Don't see the value in deadlift

Never seen a good deadlifter with a small back...

This explains a lot about you twink.

Refer to the video above.

It's true. This is coming from someone who did it religiously. I used to do high reps as well.

My back grew so much....so fast...as soon as I stopped deadlifting. I did things like cheat bb rows, 1 arm single db high intensity sets, shrugs and heavy af farmer carries, and pulldowns/pullups.

The best part? My back/erectors weren't always destroyed or hold me back from doing exercises that focus more on my back.

This is what happens when you consume plastic.

Interesting thread. Some of the bigger guys on the forum claim you CAN build your back deadlifting. Yet the people without avis say it's a waste of time... Not saying you need to deadlift to grow your back. But results don't lie.

ill post my physique and you can post yours?

deal?

Of course you can build muscle deadlifting.

Is it ideal though? And the general consensus nowadays is no. The risk vs reward for deadlift isn’t good. Stiff legs or RDLs are a much better hinge movement.

Deadlifts can build your back. But a lot of your development will depend on genetics/form/luck. Furthermore the time/energy spent deadlifting can better be used doing other lifts for the back. Don't get me wrong. Great compound movement. But the risk to reward ratio just isn't worth it. Especially when you factor in energy expenditure.


I bought the whole compound lifts hurr durr thing for years too. Barbell/DB rows, Deadlifts. Pullups. Etc. Switched to using only machines/cables for back and saw FAR more gains. The Iso-Lat row machine changed my freaking life. The ability to be locked in with a chest support and completely isolate the back just made a huge difference for me. The ability to progressively overload targeted areas of my back also made a massive difference.


You can see skinny or dudes that don't really look like they lift dead-lifting 500-600lbs in commercial gyms across America. You can see dudes using jerky form on a barbell or DB row all over the place using crazy weights too. Lets see someone load 4-5 plates to a side on an isolate row and crank out 10-12 reps with a small back however. Aint gonna happen.



Consensus. Deadlifts can help build your back. Or you can deadlift 600lbs and nobody even knows you workout. Its just a flip of a coin.