rackpulls vs deads

hi guys,
 
is there much difference between doing rack pulls and deadlifts for muscle gain wise? or are they both equally as good?

Rack pulls take away the bottom portion of the lift, so the work done by your hamstrings and glutes is significantly limited (or removed entirely, depending on the height of the rack). Therefore rack pulls will target your back muscles more, your traps and erector spinae, etc. You can also lift more weight with them due to the reduced ROM. So in that regard some people might argue that rack pulls would be better purely for back hypertrophy.

Personally I don't think you can beat good old deadlifts though.

If growth is your aim then i'd prefer standard deadlifts out of the two.
 
Rack pulls are very good for breaking down the lift and strengthening a part of it, but i would'nt choose them for the long term.

Prefer rack pulls- can concentrate on the movement and work your back.
Deads are a great exercise, but I do prefer racks. Nothing beats the feeling of a 280kg rack and the DOMs the next day

Chrisla


Prefer rack pulls- can concentrate on the movement and work your back.
Deads are a great exercise, but I do prefer racks. Nothing beats the feeling of a 280kg rack and the DOMs the next day

Any time I've tried heavy rack pulls the DOMS in my traps the next day was INSANE! Never had that kind of direct soreness in my traps from anything else other than rack pulls.

A lot is dependent on were you pull from and your set up.

Rack pulls if done around knee height or above will focus work on the quads. In general terms there will be less glute and ham involvment. Also less lower back work.

As others have said ef noname deadlifts are a better lift for all round development of the glutes, hams and back than a high block/rack pulls.

It's still a good lift to do on occassion or as an assistance movement if your weak locking out on the deadlift.

I love rack pulls. One of the main reasons is that it is easier to maintain good form.  Easier not to round the back

Do deads mate. Rack pulls are a cop out IMO, unless, as others have stated, you are using rack pulls to improve on your weak part of the deadlift.

Skullcrusher


Do deads mate. Rack pulls are a cop out IMO, unless, as others have stated, you are using rack pulls to improve on your weak part of the deadlift.

But if you do squats and rack pulls what are you missing out on? I don't disagree with you because I don't know, I just don't understand why you need to do deadlifts

... because rack pulls do not train the glutes, hams and back as effectivly as a full deadlift.
 
If your rounding you back in an uncontrolled fashion in the deadlift then you def need to be doing deadlifts and other fuller range variations such as SLDL and RDL's as your lower back is compartivly weak.

Agree with IainK here, great advice.

Only reason I do racks is because my training split wouldn't allow recovery of the hamstrings if I did full deadlifts as well.

Deadlifts are a top exercise though, never see a strong deadlifter with a small back!