[tra3]

> we always avoided the deadlift due to the high risk of injury

But doing a deadlift properly is the most natural type of movement.

Like lifting your child off the ground. Or putting a sandbag in the back of the truck. I've done thousands and thousands deadlifts with no injury.

Can you provide a reference for your assertion?

[hombre_fatal]

Deadlifts are so safe that... there are hundreds of deadlift safety tutorials on Youtube, where poor form and a bad instructor can cause irreversible damage very abruptly.

Notice how this doesn't apply to jumping jacks or the plank.

That you always have to couch the benefits of deadlifts in the "when done properly" disclaimer should be a hint as to what they're talking about. Hell, even lifting with one's legs instead of one's back comes so unnaturally to some that my refrigerator's box came with "lift with legs" instructions stamped onto it complete with a series of pictograms.

[samatman]

I don't think it would make sense for the GP to provide a reference, for what is, after all, an anecdote about a class he took.

As to whether the deadlift in fact has a high risk of injury, it would seem he agrees with you (and myself, for what that's worth): not really.

[asdff]

Chances are you were lifting the toddler or sandbag with ho hum form. You aren't going to hurt yourself lifting 50 pounds like that. You try ho hum form with 400lbs on a barbell and your body is not going to be very happy with you.

[pinopinopino]

Does ho hum mean bad? Couldn't really find it, just that it means routine/dull. But if good form, then I find it unlikely that you hurt yourself with 400lbs if you progressed to that.

[matwood]

It's a common misconception about dead lifts. So common, that some 'experts' even say to avoid the dead lift. The problem, as you point out, is that lifting things from the ground is a common every day occurrence. Learning how to lift things properly and add some strength around that movement in fact lowers risk of injury.