Why deadlifts?

After I got back from crossfit last night, when Wonder asked me how it went I said something along the lines of, "Really good. A bit frustrated because I can't get the deadlift form down, so I stayed and jumped rope til I wasn't mad about it anymore. I'll just have to practice a bit."  To which he replied, "Why deadlifts? Why do you have to do deadlifts?"  Tired and hungry and trying to figure out a quick answer so I could go make food, I realized I couldn't. Why deadlifts means a lot. Why are you focusing on weights instead of cardio? Why deadlifts instead of other weights? Why are they important? Why'd you choose it? I couldn't do a quick answer, replied, "I think this is a longer question and I need to get some food inside me" and disappeared into the kitchen. But I need an answer for it.

So, I'm trying to pull up the two years of reading I did about fitness and nutrition.  Aerobic v anarobic exercise. Aerobic is activity that pulls energy mostly from oxygen stores -- running, swimming, etc -- and tends to be longer, steady-state activity. Great for improving cardiovascular performance and for helping to decrease bodyfat simply through some extra calorie burning.

Problems? You need a LOT of it to contribute to any significant fat loss and can do a lot more for yourself simply not taking in the calories in the first place than by trying to burn them off. And not only does aerobic exercise not do much for muscle building (which is key if you're trying to get your metabolism going), if you do loads of it without the proper nutrition you're much more likely to actually eat into your muscle reserves, thereby actually lowering your fitness and lowering your metabolism.  Think of marathon runners and their relatively wasted bodies.  Granted, I'm not likely to get anywhere close to muscle wasting through aerobic activity like running any time soon without some serious training -- but I ain't going to try to, as being a wasted marathon runner isn't my goal, dropping fat, putting on muscle, and increasing my strength and speed is.

Anaerobic activity, including most team sports (football, basketball, etc) and also full body weight lifting (deadlifts, squats, etc) uses fast-twitch muscles for high intensity output.  Good stuff because you also burn the calories (shite is intense), with elevated metabolism for an extended time after the activity ends, but you also build muscle at the same time. So we get calorie loss, metabolism boost, and muscle building (also a metabolism boost). Get stronger and leaner at the same time.

So if we like anaerobic activity, why deadlifts? You hit the whole back and surrounding muscles, for one -- much better than isolation weight exercises that are likely to lead to imbalances or places of weakness, a sure kicker for injury. Plus the core (lower back, abdominals, glutes). It works more muscles simultaneously than any other lift. It's really safe. It helps with grip. And, they're exhausting and give you an aerobic workout.  Highly effective anaerobic workout focused on a key strength area that helps ward off injury (and makes your ass look great) while giving you an aerobic workout so you can skip the running?

Fucking A.  Got my answer.

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lower back and lats, glutes, pretty much rock ALL the leg muscles, forearms, shoulders, traps.