Deadlift question

[Hazerboy]

I'll post a vid of this soon, but my training partner deadlifts a lot like this guy:

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another member on the board posted this so I hope he doens't mind me reposting this.

Anyways, he has a lot of explosion off the floor, except for right when he comes off the floor his back rounds IMMEDIATELY. Like if he was pulling, his back would round heavily at around 16 or 17 seconds in this vid (which makes this video kind of a bad example, because this lifters back is very straight!) I think this is why he's had a lot of problems locking out, but he cannot handle as much weight without rounding.

I'm a conventional deadlifter so I don't have much experience with this. Is his weakness really his lower back, or is it his core/midsection? what would you suggest to fix this over the coming weeks?

[Fuzzy]

It's not a 'problem' so to speak. Sure it's a bit risky, and a weakness he can always work on, but if he is trying to keep the back tight and chest proud then a little rounding at heavy weights wont seem so bad.

If he's simply rounding over from the very start and not even trying, then that is a problem.

[Sean S]

If he's rounding immediately off the floor and only does it with heavier weights, it's likely a weakness of the lower back and/or the entire mid-section. It could also be a technical issue if he's not consciously trying to keep his arch. In my opinion it's more important to hold a tight arch with a sumo DL than a conventional DL. You are also likely right in that rounding is what is causing his lockout issues.
I would have him do plenty of low back work (I like weighted back raises and GM's in this case) and certainly make sure he is doing some weighted ab and oblique work. He also probably needs to concentrate on arching harder and getting more air before he pulls. For his pulls, have him work with mostly moderate weights to get the correct technique dialed in. If you add weight and he starts rounding over, drop the weight back to where he can do it correctly.

[MarcusWild]

Sean nailed it. I think conventional SLDL work great too for this.

[Hazerboy]

Aight these sound like good suggestions. I'll see if I can post a vid sometime later.