Understanding the Reeves Deadlift: Purpose and Misinterpretations

The Reeves deadlift, intended to broaden shoulders, is often misinterpreted as a traditional deadlift.

### Understanding the Reeves Deadlift: Misconceptions and Original Intent
* 🏋 The Reeves deadlift, created by Steve Reeves to **enhance his v-taper and broaden his shoulders**, is often misinterpreted in modern fitness discussions.
* 🔍 Many platforms incorrectly label it as a standard deadlift, with misleading headlines like "**Build Monster Traps**" or "**Crush Your Upper Lats**," which distort its **true purpose**.
* 📏 Reeves emphasized that the movement was not intended to be a deadlift; instead, it was a **shrug performed with a wide grip** to target the **side deltoids**, not the traps.
* 📜 In an interview, Reeves clarified, "I created an exercise called the Reeves deadlift... with this wide of the grip, **all of the work went to the side delts** and **none on the traps**."
* 💪 The goal of the Reeves deadlift was to achieve **broader shoulders** and **increased thickness in the side deltoids**, contributing to his **iconic physique**.
* 📸 Limited images show Reeves executing the movement correctly, highlighting its nature as a **shrug-like motion** focusing on **scapular movement** rather than traditional deadlifting.
* 📚 For those interested in learning more about Reeves’ techniques, a new book titled "**How I Developed Broad Shoulders by Steve Reeves**" is available, detailing exercises and methods for **shoulder development**.
* 👍 The video concludes by encouraging viewers to **support the creator's work** and **explore further resources on classic training methods** available on their website.

[Music] become a patron at wwlp.com forward slash golden era brooklyn fool hard to find books scans of rare photos and articles on the golden era of bodybuilding everybody golden era book. I'm here today. I'd like to talk about the Reeves deadlift and its complete misinterpretation and use nowadays. Steve Reeves, aesthetic icon of the silver era, was always looking at new training ideas to enhance his v-taper, understanding that this was one of the keys to an aesthetic physique. And he came up with revolutionary training ideas such as the Reeves deadlift, with the purpose of broadening his shoulders. And I can't emphasize this enough and have repeated again. The Reeves deadlift, the purpose of it was to broaden his shoulders. He has stated this even in several interviews, in his books, and he has been written about countless times in magazines. Yet on the internet, you will find these ridiculous misinterpretations due to a lack of understanding or knowledge on this particular matter. So

today, I'd like to enlighten you on the topic and explain the original method and purpose of the Reeves deadlift as Steve Reeves himself originally intended it to be used. I'd like to state first and foremost that the Reeves deadlift, its performance, is not to be used as a deadlift in itself. The problem is that you have platforms such as T Nation, which I highly respect. They've got a lot of good articles, but in this particular manner, they're wrong, and they emphasize that it is actually supposed to be used as a deadlift. Then you see other internet platforms which have headlines such as Build Monster Traps with the Reeves Deadlift or Crush Your Upper Lats and Back with the Reeves Deadlift or The Reeves Deadlift is a Forearm Destroyer and all these other titles. I mean, that's absolutely ridiculous. And further, I mean, this is where it gets absolutely ludicrous. They modify it to use the performance of the Reeves deadlift. They actually modify the performance to suit the

movement pattern of a deadlift, and they start doing trap bar versions or even trap bar single-leg variations as shown here, and they've completely, at the end, bastardized the movement to basically convert it into a deadlift, which it is not. It is not a deadlift. Now, if Steve Reeves was alive today, may he rest in peace, though the great icon of the silver era, he probably grabbed a 45-pounder, walked around the gym, and started slapping everybody across the face thinking that it was a deadlift. No, he would probably tell him it's a shrug, and I used it to broaden my shoulders. And I mean, who can argue? Here he is outside of Steve Klein's gym in an overcoat. Look at the size of his shoulders, and of course, he's not wearing any shoulder pads under that. He was just wired as a damn door. The guy was wide because he basically focused on broadening his shoulders in any extreme way possible. He thought of many different ideas, including the Reeves deadlift, which I, which I'm now

going to explain in a little bit a little bit more detail for you now. I'd like to emphasize that it is a shrug. It is a shrug and not a bodybuilding shrug as in for the hypertrophy of the trapezius muscle, not at all. Let me share with you this excerpt from an interview, an interview by the way that was given to Steve Reeves over the phone, and here it is quote: Something else I did, I created an exercise called the Reeves deadlift. This was a deadlift using a very wide grip. I actually grabbed the outside of the plate on a 7-foot Olympic bar. I would deadlift the weight this way and then do shrugs. Now, this is what I believe is one of the biggest misconceptions about the Reeves deadlift. People think that he actually just grabbed the bar really wide and began their lifting and then dropping the weight and continued deadlifting. Wrong, wrong, wrong. You did not deadlift the setup in that way. You do not

you simply deadlift the bar up, grabbing it from the outside of the plate, and you shrug it, but you don't shrug it violently to build your traps, no. As he puts it, with this wide of the grip, all of the work went to the side delts and none on the traps, none on the traps. So, it's not necessarily a bodybuilding shrug; it is a shrugging motion and work them in such a way that could not be affected by any other exercise. So, he actually does mention that it, that's the Reeves deadlift performed as a shrug, did not affect his traps at all, but it affected his side delts, which gave him more width in these shoulders. Furthermore, he already says after this, My already naturally wide clavicles became wider, and my side delts grew amazingly well as well. So, there you have it. He not only used this Reeves deadlift to widen the shoulders and cause hypertrophy on his side deltoids, but according to Reeves, this particular movement actually stimulated his clavicles to grow even

wider. I know it's an amazing claim, but this is the purpose, at least in Reese's mind, of the Reeves deadlift: to make him broader, to broaden the skeletal frame, and also add further thickness to the side delts. This was his own opinion and the purpose, according to Reeves, of the Reeves deadlift. Now, there are very limited images of Reeves performing the Reeves deadlift, and I actually like to call it the Reeves shrug, but there are a couple online which I was able to find. In the photo on the left, you can see that Reeves has actually just picked up the weight using his fingertips, but in the photo on the right, you can actually see that he's raised his shoulders up, and hence he's performing this shrug. And you can see at the bottom of another excerpt from an interview, it actually says he raised his doing the Reeves deadlift, okay, and an exercise he invented, which he says broadened his shoulders and also added much thickness to his side delts. So there you have it.

there's actually photographic evidence of reefs performing the reefs deadlift has a shrug. Now, one point to really emphasize is that I've read also in his books and in other articles that he performed this slowly. The movement was very, very small. It was a very little shrug and basically, you could almost call it a scapula movement. He actually used this particular movement, the reefs deadlift. Again, I like to call the reef shrug to actually move his scapula up and down because when you are in such a wide grip, you can't really use the traps too much. I mean, you will use them a little bit, but what you will find is if you flare your arms out, tense the matters. If you're grabbing the bar in the reves deadlift start performance, you'll find that most of the motion is actually in the scapula, and that's actually what he did. He would actually retract his scapula and then bring that, you know, he would basically be moving his scapula in a shrug like a

motion he'd be retracting and protracting, retracting and protracting the scapula, and in this form, stretching out the ligaments and tendons around the area to broaden his shoulders. This is exactly the purpose of the Reeves deadlift. It is not necessarily a hypertrophy motion for the upper back, for the lats, or for the forearms. Of course, as I mentioned, if you perform it as a deadlift, yes, it would actually serve this purpose, but the original purpose of the Reeves deadlift or Reeves shrug is to actually broaden the structure of the shoulder frame and to also build thickness in the side delts. And you can see his side delts are bursting as he performs this motion. So, it has this dual effect. The whole effect in the end is broader shoulders, both in muscle and in the skeletal frame. Now, if you're interested in finding out more about how Steve Reeves developed his broad shoulders, well, I've just written a book on how I

developed broad shoulders by Steve Reese. Based on his many interviews and articles that he gave over the years, it's available on my website wwlp.com. And he actually believes, in his own opinion, that you can both widen these shoulders using hypertrophy and skeletal manipulation techniques. Oh, I won't give the whole book away, of course, but it can bility believes that you can actually add up to six inches, four inches, using muscular hypertrophy techniques, of course, bodybuilding, and of course, the specialized exercises such as rib cage expansion and even the reeves deadlift, which is shown in this particular booklet. And more important is to how to incorporate these little manipulation exercises in your program. All of this is found in this awesome little booklet that I've come out with, How I Develop Broad Shoulders by Steve Reeves, again available on my website. So, I hope you've enjoyed this video on the Reeves deadlift, and I hope that it's clarified the misinterpretation of how.

it is used. It is actually a shrug-like motion for broadening the shoulders. If you've enjoyed the video, please give it a thumbs up. Subscribe if you haven't to the golden arrow book room. Thank you for watching, and leave me a comment. If you'd like to support my work, please donate via PayPal. You can become a patron, or as I mentioned earlier, you can find out more about old school training methods through my books and courses available on my website www.videoculinary.com. Bye for now. [Music] I really just want to recommend this phenomenal book, Vince's Secret Locker Volume Number Two by Carl Coyne. I've been looking at this for about four weeks, and I can't put it down. You get a chance to check it out. He also has a part one that I highly recommend. Also, this was the training of the stars and had an amazing interesting gym that today they're still on equipment like it around. It was all made out of wood. I he'll be on our radio.

show coming up probably in the next couple of weeks or so. Have a great day and again highly recommend this book.

HOW TO GET BROADER SHOULDERS WITH THE REEVES DEADLIFT! IT'S NOT A DEADLIFT!!

Golden Era Bookworm

The Misinterpretation of the Reeves Deadlift

The Reeves deadlift, created by Steve Reeves to broaden his shoulders, is often misinterpreted and used as a traditional deadlift in modern training.

Many online platforms promote the exercise for building traps and lats, completely distorting its original purpose.

Reeves' intention was to enhance his v-taper and shoulder width, not to perform a deadlift, yet the movement has been modified and misused in various ways.

The Misconception of the Reeves Deadlift and Its Impact

The Reeves deadlift involves a wide grip on the Olympic bar, with the lifter grabbing the outside of the plate.

The exercise's unique shrugging motion targets the side delts instead of the traps, leading to increased shoulder width and side deltoid growth.

Steve Reeves claims that this movement also stimulated the growth of his clavicles, contributing to his overall shoulder width.

Reeves Deadlift: Broader Shoulders and Thicker Delts

The Reeves deadlift, invented by Reeves, aims to broaden the skeletal frame and add thickness to the side delts.

Limited images of Reeves performing the deadlift, or "Reeves shrug," show him using a wide grip and raising his shoulders.

The movement is characterized by a slow, small shrug and scapula movement, with the majority of the motion coming from the scapula rather than the traps.

The Reeves deadlift focuses on retracting and protracting the scapula to broaden the shoulder frame and build thickness in the side delts.

It has a dual effect of creating broader shoulders through both muscle growth and skeletal manipulation.

The author's book, "How I Develop Broad Shoulders by Steve Reeves," offers more insights and techniques for achieving wider shoulders.

The video encourages viewers to give a thumbs up, subscribe, and leave comments.

Donations via PayPal and becoming a patron are suggested for those who want to support the creator's work.

The video also recommends Carl Coyne's book, "Vince's Secret Locker Volume Number Two," and mentions an upcoming radio show with the author.