Deadlift is one of the most popular weightlifting exercise. Basic concept is simple. Lift the weight off the floor. Yet, in this simplicity, there are so much detail that need to be practiced in order to done this exercise correctly and safely. Deadlift is very straight forward exercise. If you are strong enough you will be able to lift the weight. If you are weak you will not be able to or need to compensate or needing support to lift. I will start off with basic technique of deadlift then share some common fault that you may experience and exercises that may help fix those issues.
How to Deadlift
There are several variations of deadlift, however, in this article, deadlift I will be referring to is conventional barbell deadlift. The steps below are how I approach my deadlift. There are several other ways to approach so use what make sense to you.
Place your feet under the bar. Top of the shoelace should come under the bar.
Feet should be about little wider than your hip width. I like to hop a little to find where I can feel more strength.
Grab the bar at right outside of your knees. Try using the regular overhand grip as much as you can. You can use mix grip when the weight is challenging for your grip to handle.
Pull your hip back to work on straightening up your spine.
Keep your shoulder blade tight so that the bar will not drift away while lifting.
Lift up the weight as if you are just standing up with the weight. Have a image of pressing the floor away from the weights.
Get your posture straight at the top and slowly descend by pulling your hip back. Path of the bar should be as same as when you lifted it.
Place the weight on the floor to complete the deadlift.
Common Deadlift Issues
Some of the common issues that I see are
Weak hamstring - Looks like squat more than deadlift
Weak Lats - Rounding back at upper back
Weak Glutes - Knees cave in
Weak Core - Rounding back at lower back
These 4 seems to be the common issues and may need to fix before increasing the weight.
First issue is either hamstring is weak or tight that the trainee cannot grab the bar without squatting. This is pretty common and trainee may assume they are performing deadlift but they are lifting weight with squat. With proper technique, hip should be high and knees should not be traveling over the bar.
Second issue is weak lats. Weak or tight lats is due to poor posture or imbalance between chest and back muscles. If you are having difficulty grabbing the bar without rounding your upper back, most likely the lats are weak and tight.
Third issue is weak glutes. This is common when lifters have caved knee especially as they lift. This issue can be cause of both weakness in glutes and tightness in inner thighs and hip flexors.
Last issue is the core weakness. When I say core, I don't mean just abdominal muscles but also back muscles such as quadratus lumborums, erector spinae, and so on. In another words, any muscles groups that supports the spine should considered to be core muscles. If you have tendency to have rounded lower back when you deadlift or consistently have a back pain after deadlift, most likely you have weak muscles or don't know how to use it.
Prepare for Deadlift
Below are the exercises to help improve the 4 issues addressed earlier. There are other exercises that you can use other than the exercises listed below. Use below list as a sample and adjust according to your preference.
Band Lat Stretch: 30-60 seconds each side
Lateral Banded Walk or Steps: 20 yards or 30 seconds
RDL with 2 second hold: 8-10 reps
With band lat stretch it is good to stretch but also you want to move your shoulder blades to so that lat can be used rather than just a stretch.
Lateral band walk is to stimulate your glutes. Keep the knees pushed out.
RDL to warm up the hamstring and lower back. Lower the bar to slight below the knee and hold for 2 counts before return to starting position. Keep the weight light.
Challenge for Deadlift
Once you get comfortable with preparation exercises, you should be ready to perform barbell deadlift. There are several different barbells, so check before you practice with barbell. Initial phase is to be able to lift 65lb which is 45lb (roughly) bar plus 10lb plates on each side with ideal technique. Then work towards lifting your own body weight.
There are so many exercises that can help improve your deadlift. Two that I highly recommend are Nordic hamstring curl and straight arm cable lat pulldown. Nordic hamstring will help strengthen the hamstring in both lengthening and contracting phase. It is somewhat challenging exercise so if you looking for alternative then use prone hamstring curls with machine.
Straight arm cable lat pull with help you stretch and strengthen the lat. Make sure that elbows are relatively straight so that movement is initiated from lats. Have the image of opening your arm pit and closing your arm pit. For grip width, you can use grip with that is similar to your deadlift.
Using belt is optional, however, I don't allow my clients to use it unless they are start lifting closer to or above their double bodyweight. My method is if the body is too weak to lift, train it to earn the lift. When the body is ready you can lift the weight without support.
Compared with squats, deadlift is a simple form of lifting exercise and because of that, you can lift heavier relatively faster. Be mindful of the quality of your form rather than quantity of the weight you are lifting. In any exercise, quality of the technique should comes first then comes the quantity.
Kota Shimada
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