what causes shakey legs during a deadlift?

[mike]

I was going heavy today and my legs get shakey while pulling.. what causes this?

[tgriff]

Not sure of your form but make sure your toes aren't pointed inward. That will cause your knees to want to bend inward, and start to collapse.

[Sarge]

I would think it's due to weak legs. Used to happen to me.

If your dead is significantly heavier poundage than your squat your legs won't be used to holding big weight.

big dumbbell farmer walks may help with it along with getting a bigger squat.

[IliekFude]

just happens to some people.
chuck V does it at times.
also could be a sign that not everything is firing optimally.
ive only seen it happen in conventional pulls and not sumo that i can think of.

[Polski Byk]

Instability, Hopefully this only happens on your higher end pulls.

[mike]

Instability, Hopefully this only happens on your higher end pulls.
yeah, heavier pulls only. mostly just max effort attempts.

[gorillaboy55]

from what ive noticed it happens for a number of reasons. your body has a "natural groove" where all your leverages are lined up optimaly. people pull mostly where comfortable, however your optimal leverage position may be an inch or two away from there. you have to find "your groove" to fully maximize your pulls. it could also be weakness, and not all the fibers firing at the same time. usualy if this is the case though on a max attempt an injury will occur. i wouldnt sweat it too much realy just dont stop pulling when you shake. but if something starts to feel out of place or wierd drop the bar! before you injure yourself.

[gorillaboy55]

also if it is a weakness or instability issue.....work the rack on rack pulls. start at the bottom and work your way to the top all in the same work out WITH A DOUBLE OVERHAND GRIP AND STRAPS to protect the biceps. youll overload weak spots throughout the pull. but dont do anything alse that day except maybe abs because after that your cns will be tweaked!!!!

[mike]

thanks gb55

[Lumberjack5.0]

I'm guessing the root cause is your CNS basically maxing out your rate-coding; it's at its limit trying to fire those motor units as forcefully and frequently as it can.

But that's just a guess. I shake like mad too on max pulls.

[mnk]

I'm guessing the root cause is your CNS basically maxing out your rate-coding; it's at its limit trying to fire those motor units as forcefully and frequently as it can.

But that's just a guess. I shake like mad too on max pulls.



Tend to agree that if it only occurs at your max left its probably a result of your CNS!

[wags8]

Earthquakes. Happens to me all the time.

[way2skinny]

Happens to me too, but oddly only when lifting light.

I usually start with a warm up set of 20 at about 60% of what I lift later. For dead lifts, squats, leg extensions my legs shake like crazy. Then raise the weight for a set of 3-6 reps and no more shaking. Weird.

I also shake my hand while holding a drinking glass. Maybe I'm getting Parkinson's disease or something.

[Blut Wump]

If you feel really wobbly after a session then you probably frazzled your CNS. After over-loading it, you get spurious nerve firings causing spasms or you try to use muscles which have become unresponsive to normal-intensity nerve signals in the same way that your ears become unresponsive to normal-level noises after blasting them with a rocking ABBA song.

If it's simply happening during the lift then I'd suspect that you have a weakness that needs to be corrected as support muscles repeatedly keep trying to take the load and can't.

Form could be an issue, as already suggested, or you might simply need a lot more accessory work or need more time to build up to using the weight. Either one could serve to bring everything in line, depending on your level of development.

[silver_shadow]

i would tend to think it's some kind of weakness in one or more muscles involved... how does your squat compare to your deadlift - too far behind? i would imagine it would if you get shaky on deads.

[IliekFude]

Happens to me too, but oddly only when lifting light.

I usually start with a warm up set of 20 at about 60% of what I lift later. For dead lifts, squats, leg extensions my legs shake like crazy. Then raise the weight for a set of 3-6 reps and no more shaking. Weird.

I also shake my hand while holding a drinking glass. Maybe I'm getting Parkinson's disease or something.

like i touched on above, and in a way synonymous with what was mentioned about it ocurring on max sets.
its a firing deficiency most likely. before yr warmed up dynamically, yr fibers are not all on the same page.
likewise on a max set, if you are relatively "untrained" or one group overpowers the other or even if yr a pro and yr attempting a weight youve never done before then your nervous pathways that activate those muscle fibers arent going to be working in complete unison and can cause this phenomenon.
its like learning your route to a new job. the more you do it the better and more efficient you get at it.


as far as yr hand shaking when drinking water from a glass, theres anecdotal evidence that heavy resistance training slowly diminishes our capability for fine motor control such as drawing an intricate diagram or soldering electronics effectively for instance.

[Hidngod]

My left leg was shaking like a madman the other day while doing OHPs. It's happened with BB curls, too. At the same time, the effort was tremendous & I was clenching so hard my glutes were like pins & needles.

[gorillaboy55]

like i touched on above, and in a way synonymous with what was mentioned about it ocurring on max sets.
its a firing deficiency most likely. before yr warmed up dynamically, yr fibers are not all on the same page.
likewise on a max set, if you are relatively "untrained" or one group overpowers the other or even if yr a pro and yr attempting a weight youve never done before then your nervous pathways that activate those muscle fibers arent going to be working in complete unison and can cause this phenomenon.
its like learning your route to a new job. the more you do it the better and more efficient you get at it.


as far as yr hand shaking when drinking water from a glass, theres anecdotal evidence that heavy resistance training slowly diminishes our capability for fine motor control such as drawing an intricate diagram or soldering electronics effectively for instance.


you know its funny you say that because at times i used to have to ask my girlfriend to pull on my socks because i couldnt close my hands all the way.