5 Steps to mastering the deadlift
Many people consider the squat the “King” of all exercises. I call the deadlift the queen of all exercises. The deadlift involves picking up a weight from the ground.
A few exercises combine the full-body strength required for the deadlift, working the legs, back, traps, shoulders, arms, forearms, core and last but not least the deadlift works your butt!
If you learn to deadlift correctly, the deadlift will have a lot of positive aspects to your training, looks and overall strength.
Unfortunately, the lift is often attempted without using proper deadlift form, resulting in injury. There are five steps to remember when safely performing the proper deadlift: Your feet, your grip, your stance, the pull, and the negative.
Deadlift Step #1 – The Feet
Place your feet shoulder-width apart. Make sure your feet are flat and drive down through the whole foot, now a lot of coaches will give the queue ‘‘drive through the heels’’ but to have optimal stability you need to push through the whole foot.
Deadlift Step #2 – The Grip
The deadlift can be performed with a double overhand grip, mixed grip or hook grip among others. For the sake of this article, I’m going to focus on the conventional double overhand grip.
Grab the bar with both palms facing toward your body and your arms vertical to the floor – if your hamstrings (the back of your legs) feel tight, do bodyweight squats to open up your hips. Place your hands about shoulder-width apart, right outside your legs to minimize the angle of your hips and decrease the distance of the pull.
Deadlift Step #3 – The Stance
Bend your knees until your shins are a few inches off the bar, keeping them above the middle of your feet. You’ll need room to move both your shins and knees forward. This allows your hips to drop into place and help prevent your back from arching.
Lower your butt until your quads are parallel. Stick your chest out, this will prevent your back from arching. Pull your shoulders back at a down, positioning them over the bar, remembering to keep your head in line with the rest of your spine back.
Deadlift Step #4 – The Lift
Keep the bar as close to your body as possible, by driving your feet down into the floor, think of pushing the floor away from you, rolling the bar over your knees and thighs until your hips and knees are locked. Stand straight, do not lean back at the top.
Don’t rise too fast into a straight-legged position, it is a fluid motion. As the bar hits the knees, squeeze your glutes to lock into a straight torso position. Don’t arch your back, keep your core braced throughout the lift. As the bar passes your knees, don’t pull with your back, but push your hips forward.
Keep your head up and chest out – this will help maintain proper alignment of the back. As you pull the weight up, you want your legs to straighten out simultaneously with your hips. Your hips, knees and feet should simultaneously form a straight line.
Deadlift Step #5 – The Negative
Now it’s time to return the bar to the floor. Don’t lower the weight straight down. Instead, load both the hamstrings and glutes by getting your hips back as far as possible, until the bar goes back to the knees.
Once it reaches the knees, move the bar straight back to the floor where you can perform another rep immediately or come to a complete stop, resetting before your next rep.
Putting these five keys to use will ensure proper deadlift form without the risk of injury and build an all-around powerful, muscular, shredded physique while strengthening all the major muscle groups.