How do you bend over and why?

[GrayHare]

Thats funny. I bend from the waist to help stretch out my lower back, particularly before beginning athletic endeavors.

Stretching is probably fine, but the OP talked about for lifting.

 

[Boho]

I may be over thinking it, but I've had my back go out and the worst time was about 5 weeks ago. IMO, if you can't touch your toes and you're not warmed up, I'd say don't push yourself to the limit to reach the ground with straight legs whether you're lifting something or not. If it's not a challenging stretch for you and you're just picking up something the weight of a newspaper and your back is good, then it's OK to keep your legs straight. If there's even the slightest pain in your back or you did something that's hard on your back within the last 24 hours (or 48 if it was particularly hard), then bend your knees.

I still feel a slight pain in my back when I've been laying in bed for a while and try to schooch over. I'm extra careful about bending for now even with no pain.

 

[Winemaker]

During my coal mining days, there were rare times when I had to walk bent over, crawl, or worse for hours. While at 6' 5", it was problematic at times, I do get back spasms occasionally. While I can pick up a penny off the floor, I never could put my palms to the floor, ever. My last back xray, the doc was extremely surprised, knowing my w*rk history, that all my disc spacing is great, and my back looks 30 years younger than my age.

 

[karen1972]

After back issues, none of the above, I was told to only use golfers stance (ie how many people pick up golf balls using their club).

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

When I do trash pickup for an hour+ at a time, I keep my back straight and do a "lunge", stepping forward with one foot and making a right angle with that knee, then letting the trailing leg go far back. This gets my hand pretty close to the ground without bending my back. If I squat every time, my quads will be all but useless in a day or two, and I'm in pretty good shape. When lifting anything substantial, I'll squat, get it as close to my body as I can, get my spine vertical, then stand up. This saved my back when carrying/lifting 500+ lb patients back in the day. Usually this one patient would require 4 people to lift, but one time another EMT didn't want to wait, and just the two of us were able to load him in the ambulance ourselves. I was young, dumb, and cocky, though, I wouldn't try that again!

 

[Telly]

I bend over like the OP's attached pic.
I was thinking... for those who can put their palms flat on the floor without bending at their knees at all, that should be easy for someone with stumpy legs or gorilla arms


I wonder if the ability is more common in females than males.

 

[Boho]

I bend over like the OP's attached pic.
I was thinking... for those who can put their palms flat on the floor without bending at their knees at all, that should be easy for someone with stumpy legs or gorilla arms


I wonder if the ability is more common in females than males.

I thought females had longer legs and that birthin' hips would get in the way but I guess not. I see old ladies bending like that all the time.

For a picture for this thread I was looking for a video that I saw a few days ago of the only person left in some village, an old lady who bent over like that, but I couldn't find it. The one I used is better because it shows 2 out of 2 people bending like that.

 

[Ronstar]

To pick something up light I'm like the picture. If something heavy I lift with my knees and bend at knees.

Same here.

+2

 

[ClayMore]

If it’s small, I pick it up with my toes when barefoot. DW says Ima gross monkey man. If it’s big, bend at the knees since 4 bottom discs are long since degenerated. If it’s heavy I get someone else to help, e.g. her Ampeg SVT head.

 

[W2R]

I bend over like the OP's attached pic.
I was thinking... for those who can put their palms flat on the floor without bending at their knees at all, that should be easy for someone with stumpy legs or gorilla arms

I have both!!

I wonder if the ability is more common in females than males.

Hmm, interesting question! Possibly females find bending at the hip to be easier than it is for guys, for anatomical or maybe hormonal reasons.

 

[tmm99]

Can someone tell me why you do not squat down? Is it because it's hard to squat down?

I've noticed recently that older people cannot or won't squat down when they play volleyball. It's kind of depressing when I see that, thinking I may turn into them in a few years.

 

[mountainsoft]

Like others here, I tend to bend over at the waist to pick up lighter items, and squat to lift heavier items. Unfortunately, over the last couple years my knees have really started to hurt when kneeling or squatting. I really rely on my arms now to help get back up from a kneeling position.

 

[Nemo2]

It's kind of depressing when I see that, thinking I may turn into them in a few years.

As James McNeill Whistler apparently said to Oscar Wilde, "You will, Oscar, you will".

 

[eytonxav]

When lifting heavy objects I bend at my hips and knees and get into a squat position. For light things, bending at the waist is not a problem. Of course everyone has their own physical constraints so YMMV.

 

[Badger]

I bend over just like the people in the picture. I can still put my hands flat on the ground with straight legs.

I used to do that until they had to fuse my lower back. Now I bend my legs.



Cheers!

 

[reneeh63]

I've noticed a lot of people bending over with their legs fairly straight compared to how I bend over. I bend my knees more. I was wondering if they find it harder to do a squat than me or if I choose a squat because I have less flexibility than most people (I can't touch my toes with my legs straight). Would you bend like these women or would you bend your knees more:

But they are bending over to get something, they aren't picking up any substantial weight. Only then does "lifting with your legs" come into play. Your back needs to be limber in general but regardless of that, lifting heavy weight is best done with the legs due to the comparative size and strength of the muscles as well as to mechanics/angles.

 

[catii]

Invest in a TRX system. Lets you work your way into doing squats, without any chance of falling or losing your balance. Lifting with legs is a sure-fire way to end up with permanent back problems!

 

[Boho]

Lifting with legs is a sure-fire way to end up with permanent back problems!

You mean lifting with back...

 

[mickeyd]

Seems like in Tai Chi class I learned that as children we learned these activities in a more natural state but as we aged we adults change the way we did things as children for a variety of reasons (old age, sore joints). Since I am currently in a relatively limber state, I would probably pick light stuff up as the picture depicts, but use my knees and back to pick up heavy items.

 

[eytonxav]

Speaking of jumping I've seen Demarcus doing box jumps in my gym. Quite impressive for a 260 lb guy in his late 30s.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1036602160635686914