Konstanze Klosterhalfen is impressively strong, she lifts heavier than I can

The standard hex trap bar weighs 30 pounds, they do make 45 pound versions but I don't think this is one of them. We can't see how much the plates are, but I'm guessing they're 25 pound plates. So she's lifting at least 130 pounds, maybe a little more. Good strength but I wouldn't say I'm impressed, I would expect an elite runner to easily lift more than their body weight with their legs. Now if she was benching 115 I'd be impressed.

If that's 130 lbs., then she weighs 87 lbs.

Google says her weight is 106 lbs., which would mean that she's lifting ~160 lbs. there.

I admit that 1.5x body weight doesn't sound that impressive, but have you seen pictures of her? She looks like a skeleton, so when I see her lift anything it makes me do a double take.

Hexbar deadlifts are MUCH easier than normal deadlifts, and she doesn't even start lifting dead for her reps (not putting the weight fully down to the ground, she put some plates to start each rep elevated).

What would be more representative are real, full-motion deadlifts and squats (even half-squats are fine).

Keep in mind this is an elite athlete that failed the rather easy German college sports exam twice and in two different sports (shot put and rhythmic gymnastics).

Also she has a lot of motivation/incentive to show her lifting something half-decent - lots of people call her severely underweight and anorexic, so she wants to show that she can lift decent weights and that she is strong and not weak.

But the opposite is true - until she shows full lifts, or passes the German college sports exam in ALL categories (so she finally gets to be able to study) we have to assume she is extremely slow-twitch and weak.

LateRunnerPhil wrote:

Also she has a lot of motivation/incentive to show her lifting something half-decent - lots of people call her severely underweight and anorexic, so she wants to show that she can lift decent weights and that she is strong and not weak.

This is similar to Hasay saying she eats 5,000 calories a day (because people have the opportunity that these super skinny distance runners eat too little and underfuel). This is just how females react to criticism, I don't think Hasay eats anything close to 5,000 calories and I also don't think that Koko impresses other people with her squats and bench presses in a gym.

These aren't even deadlifts at this point and I have no idea why she is even bothering.

A hexbar makes the lift much more like squat, it's not even really a deadlift. But to make matter worse she starts elevated on plates and even then she doesn't go all the way down to the plates.

A hexbar is fine for people prone to low back injuries etc., but if you are already going to compromise your deadlift by using the hexbar, just use a weight you can actually lift. This was ridiculous.

why bother with this wrote:

These aren't even deadlifts at this point and I have no idea why she is even bothering.

A hexbar makes the lift much more like squat, it's not even really a deadlift. But to make matter worse she starts elevated on plates and even then she doesn't go all the way down to the plates.

A hexbar is fine for people prone to low back injuries etc., but if you are already going to compromise your deadlift by using the hexbar, just use a weight you can actually lift. This was ridiculous.

Elite runners only ‘lift’ to become better runners. They don’t care about the technical definition/form/range of motion of a specific lift. In distance running, when do ever get as ‘far down’ as you would in a traditional deadlift or squat? In addition, studies have shown 1/4 squats correlate better with speed- providing evidence lifting should be event specific for performance effects. (Full squats and deadlifts still have a place though).

This is more impressive

https://nypost.com/video/woman-nails-internets-viral-squat-your-dog-challenge-with-her-pig/

c7runner7 wrote:

[quote]why bother with this wrote:

These aren't even deadlifts at this point and I have no idea why she is even bothering.

A hexbar makes the lift much more like squat, it's not even really a deadlift. But to make matter worse she starts elevated on plates and even then she doesn't go all the way down to the plates.

A hexbar is fine for people prone to low back injuries etc., but if you are already going to compromise your deadlift by using the hexbar, just use a weight you can actually lift. This was ridiculous.

Elite runners only ‘lift’ to become better runners. They don’t care about the technical definition/form/range of motion of a specific lift. In distance running, when do ever get as ‘far down’ as you would in a traditional deadlift or squat? In addition, studies have shown 1/4 squats correlate better with speed- providing evidence lifting should be event specific for performance effects. (Full squats and deadlifts still have a place though).

There's nothing wrong with a hex bar deadlift. There's nothing wrong with a hex bar deadlift using the handles. There's nothing wrong with a hex bar deadlift using handles elevated on plates.

It's all about the purpose and the progression.

Hex bar deadlift variations are actually perfect for runners as it is less fatigue on the erectors.

To say a hex bar is like a squat is incorrect as it is still a pull and the hips still start higher than knees from a dead start position. Its more similar to a semi-sumo or squat-stance deadlift (look up some of Ed Coan's deadlifts).

Alan

This is only impressive to skinny-fat "runners" on this board.

Runningart2004 wrote:

There's nothing wrong with a hex bar deadlift. There's nothing wrong with a hex bar deadlift using the handles. There's nothing wrong with a hex bar deadlift using handles elevated on plates.

It's all about the purpose and the progression.

Hex bar deadlift variations are actually perfect for runners as it is less fatigue on the erectors.

To say a hex bar is like a squat is incorrect as it is still a pull and the hips still start higher than knees from a dead start position. Its more similar to a semi-sumo or squat-stance deadlift (look up some of Ed Coan's deadlifts).

Alan

You didn't get the point of the other poster. The lifts Koko are doing are great and specific - that's fine work. But doing 1.5x bodyweight with a hex bar, from elevated position, without full stop AND framing it as "impressive strength" like OP did, is simply wrong since 1.5x bodyweight doing regular, full-motion deadlifts is something completely different.

It's true that half-squats are much better for slow-twitch athletes than full-squats, since they don't have the injury risk (knees) and are much saver and still enough to get some benefits for running/injury prevention. Deadlifts and lunges are better for running than squats (more specific), and the hex bar allows the runner to do it safely

I've injured my lower back or gotten it so sore that my running was severely effected for several days many time doing regular deadlifts (with improper form too). With hexbar deadlifts, it's much harder to get hurt like that (same with half squat vs full squat).

Jan Frodeno, best triathlete in the world only builds his (half!)-squats to 1.5x body weight, and he needs way more strength/power than a runner since he needs to bike 180k. There is no point to lift super heavy as endurance athlete, the risk/effort/benefit ratio just isn't there.

Lol, I can see how my response was ironic. I'll clarify by saying the neither Koko nor the OP claimed this was a 'deadlift'. My point was that Koko is 'bothering' because the lift (whatever you want to call it) could be helpful for running. She doesn't care about setting official 'deadlift' records. She cares about winning races. So why would someone 'bother' to start discussing the technical difference between the deadlift and squat. Koko could care less. She's not in a lifting competition and didn't claim to be. Her post said "1.5 times me-not sure if that means anything". So the textbook definitions of each lift are completely irrelevant here.

Furthermore, implying that you shouldn't 'bother' doing lifts that don't fit textbook definitions implies you don't know a whole lot about transferring improvements in the weight room to improvements in the actual sport you're training for. (I don't know the 'why bother' poster, so maybe he/she is actually knowledgeable... but just made a silly post).

I pretty much agree with all this. The 'other poster' Alan was replying to seemed to imply that Koko's lift WASN'T 'great and specific' and that she 'shouldn't bother'. So that was likely the reason for Alan's reply. I don't think Alan ever made the argument that the lift was 'impressive'. The OP never stated the lift was a full ROM traditional deadlift either.

LateRunnerPhil wrote:

Jan Frodeno, best triathlete in the world only builds his (half!)-squats to 1.5x body weight, and he needs way more strength/power than a runner since he needs to bike 180k. There is no point to lift super heavy as endurance athlete, the risk/effort/benefit ratio just isn't there.

You don't need to be able to squat a certain amount of weight to be a great cyclist, especially not one that does mostly steady state for over 4 hours. The amount of muscular force needed even to put out 400 watts is minimal.

Crowd Sorcerer wrote:

LateRunnerPhil wrote:

Jan Frodeno, best triathlete in the world only builds his (half!)-squats to 1.5x body weight, and he needs way more strength/power than a runner since he needs to bike 180k. There is no point to lift super heavy as endurance athlete, the risk/effort/benefit ratio just isn't there.

You don't need to be able to squat a certain amount of weight to be a great cyclist, especially not one that does mostly steady state for over 4 hours. The amount of muscular force needed even to put out 400 watts is minimal.

That's a good point, and probably right. But don't forget that cycling involves the quads and glutes way more than running does, event at easy/moderate speeds. When Frodeno was an Olympic triathlete, his strength training was on a very low level (half squats with less than body weight), and he was still crazy fast on the bike. Also some females who don't have much strength in their legs can bike hard and long for hours (triathletes/climbing specialists).

Road races are a different beast tho, if you want to win sprints then the squats become very important (think about Sagan). But yea you are right, here it doesn't apply.

You're talking to a former national level road cyclist that never lifted weights while competing.

5 second power = 19.4 w/kg

30 second power = 14.1 w/kg

1 minute power = 11.2 w/kg

5 minute power = 6.9 w/kg

20 minute power = 6.1 w/kg

No joke, when I was in this shape if I did 10 squats with a 45lb bar my hamstrings would get absolutely blown out and I couldn't even bend over to tie my shoe the next day. Absolute power in the gym doesn't cross over. I do think it's probably a good idea for bone strength, but not direct performance.

Crowd Sorcerer wrote:

You're talking to a former national level road cyclist that never lifted weights while competing.

5 second power = 19.4 w/kg

30 second power = 14.1 w/kg

1 minute power = 11.2 w/kg

5 minute power = 6.9 w/kg

20 minute power = 6.1 w/kg

No joke, when I was in this shape if I did 10 squats with a 45lb bar my hamstrings would get absolutely blown out and I couldn't even bend over to tie my shoe the next day. Absolute power in the gym doesn't cross over. I do think it's probably a good idea for bone strength, but not direct performance.

Yea but what you need to realize is that muscle mass declines with age. You might not have benefited the years you were an elite-cyclist, but doing constant strength training and squats could have helped you maintain your muscle mass well into the higher ages. You will notice that once you get older. While lifting might not have made you get more w/kg in your prime, it could have ensured that you will still be able to ride 20-30 years later.

When I was a cyclist, I was naturally strong but lacked aerobic power. I spent too much time in the gym thinking it would make me powerful and increase my average pace but what happened is that I often was so sore that I was biking too often with very low power. It would have been better to have more days where I'm really fresh and then get some nice cycling-specific training in.

Even pros only lift heavy for very short periods in the winter, and then go to maintenance mode with very light lifting, or even scrap it completely since all the races are extremely good specific work anyway.

to all the hex bar deadlift haters out there:

hex bars are great. it naturally centers the weight throughout the motion, unlike a straight bar deadlift.

the whole point is to see if you can lift "x" lbs off the ground. for any given lifter, id venture to say they can lift 5-10% more weight with a hex than a normal olympic bar. more opportunity to introduce more central nervous system stimulation. grip it n rip it.