I have been recently feeling more comfortable with deadlifting than I have in the past. My one issue is how hard I should be pulling the bar into my shins throughout the lift. I know that the lats need to contract and the bar needs to be close to your body. I do not want to scrape or bruise my shins too much. I am feeling as I keep getting stronger I am going to pull in more. My shins are pretty bony, and I do not think that dragging the weight into my shins is going to help. I am considering getting a pair of shin guards. How hard should I contract my lats? Should I not think about pulling the bar into me when I go up?
The bar should be in contact with your legs during the entirety of the pull, but the pressure shouldn’t be too great. The stance width should also be narrow enough that the smooth part of the barbell is touching your shins so the knurling can’t act like a cheese grater on your legs. Long socks can help and I would definitely recommend “pulling the bar” into your legs using your lats.
I am sorry to ask another specific question about the deadlift. How should the bar glide against the knees? When I am doing the deadlift, I feel like I am hitting under my knees a little too much as I am trying to keep the bar contacting my legs the whole way. Should the bar just glide over the knees or be attached hard?​
Sounds like the bar is swinging away from your legs to start and then coming back and smacking you in the knees. If the weight is very light, you could also have your hips too low, knees too flexed/bent, and then the bar will come up and hit the patella. Either way, sounds like the hips are too low and knees too flexed. I can’t say for sure without seeing a video, but yes, the bar should be in light contact with the legs the entirety of the rep. The knees will be rather straight as the barbell crosses over the joint.
