The deadlift is very much the exercise of the moment probably in that it ticks a lot of boxes:
- Builds all over body strength and fitness.
- Builds strong legs, hips and grip, essential for daily life.
- Great in developing bone mass to combat osteoporosis.
- Very effective in building a strong and robust spine.
- Can see improvements very quickly in strength gains.
- Relatively simple exercises to do well, but equally easy to make mistakes with.
So if you are wanting to start deadlifting for fitness or low back pain rehab here are our top technique tips.
Deadlift technique tip number 1 : The set up
- Stance width : as a rule of thumb your feet should be where you would take a standing jump from.
- Toes should angle slightly outwards
- Bar should be over the middle of the foot or top of shoe laces.
- Bend knees slightly.
Deadlift technique 2: Bracing your abdominals and protecting your arm pits.
By stiffening your core you will be give yourself the best platform to lift from and protect your spine at the same time. It will also maximise the benefits for strengthening the low back with this exercise.
So the 2 points to look at here are:
Brace the abdominals, this is a low level flaring of the oblique muscles that are at the side of your trunk.
Squeeze your lats, the big muscles that start at your shoulders and blend into the thoraco-lumbar fascia. This is often referred to as part of the stabilising posterior sling. The best way to squeeze your lats is to think of this is imagine you are protecting your arm pits from being tickled.
Deadlift technique 3: Hip hinge to meet the bar.
- To get into the start position you need to hip hinge first to get your arms as close as possible to the bar. If you do this right you will feel the hamstrings get tight.
- Squat the last few cm to grip the bar.
- Grip the bar and pull it into your shins.
The key to being able to deadlift effectively is being able to hip hinge. Which essentially means, you are able to keep a straight spine and move from your hips. I tend to think of it as more of a horizontal movement rather than a vertical movement.
Here is a video showing the key elements of hip hinging plus drills we use to teach and strengthen the movement pattern.
Deadlift technique tip number 4: “push the world away”
I love this cue Its really simple and very effective cue and keeps the movement simple and highly effective.
There are two important and distinct aspects to this tip.
- take a deep breath and pinch shoulder blades together
- Think about “pushing the world away” with your feet to drive the bar up off the floor.
The deadlift is really a combination of pulling and pushing the bar , but if you focus on pushing the world away both will occur.
Deadlift technique tip 4: make the exercise fit you
The most demanding aspect of the deadlift is picking the bar up from the lowest position, and the most technical aspect is the portion where the bar is below your knees. However, it is not necessary to perform a deadlift through its full range of motion, to reap significant rewards from the exercise.
So, to begin, the squat rack can be a great place to start. Set the safety bars to the height of your knees or higher, then place the bar on top. As your confidence grows, picking the bar up from a lower position can be a great progression.
Going forwards, placing some weight plates on the floor and setting the bar on top of those plates, can be another great way to perform the exercise without going to full depth.
[embed vid here}Deadlift technique tip 5: Alternative exercises and exercises to assist the deadlift.
As much as we like the deadlift there are alternatives that will give you as much benefit.
If you are fortunate enough to have a hex bar these are fantastic alternatives. They are a great halfway house between squats and deadlifts, have a smaller compressive factor than traditional deadlifts and as such form a staple of our back strengthening program. The technique points are exactly the same except for pulling the bar to the shins , hopefully for obvious reasons.
There’s our breakdown of the deadlift with the help of Juggernaut training systems. If you want to know more about incorporating this lift into your training or rehab for low back please feel free to contact us or book in to see us here
Cheers
Dave
