Barbell Deadlift
This article will be about how to do the conventional deadlift. The deadlift is a compound, full-body lift that mainly will work your posterior chain. The main muscles used are,
Stance
A good place to start is to perform a vertical jump and see what stance width you naturally go with and use this stance to deadlift with. For most people, this will be around hip width. From here you can experiment and try out narrower and wider stances. Have your turned out feet out slightly.
The bar should be over the middle of your whole foot, which normally around an inch from your shins.
Grip
You grip the bar just outside of your legs. As close as you can without pushing your knees in.
There are four ways to grips the bar.
-Double overhand grip
-Mixed grip
-Hook grip
-Straps
Double overhand grip
I don't recommend this and it isn't used by anyone who isn't a beginner as your grip will be the limiting factor in how much weight you can lift. You won't be able to hold enough weight to work the hamstrings, back, glutes etc.
Mixed grips
The mixed grip is where you have one hand over the bar, and one hand under the bar (one forearm supinated, and one pronated). This is a strong grip and will allow you to lift heavy weights. The negatives are that it can cause muscle imbalances. This can be solved by alternating which hands are over/under the bar. Another potential negative is it increases the chance of a nice tear with the arm that is supinated. If using this grip you need to ensure that you don't lift with your arms, that your arms are straight and your upper arm is relaxed.
Hook grip
A hook grip is another strong grip. With the hook grip, you grab the bar with a double overhand grip, and then you wrap your fingers around your thumb, pinning it between your fingers and the bar The positives it has over the mixed grip is that you don't have to have an arm supinated and so there isn't a risk of tearing a bicep. The negatives are that if you don't have long enough fingers you might struggle to do it. It also hurts. Eventually, you'll deaden the nerves in your thumb, but it will hurt in the time before this happens.
Straps
With straps, you can use a double overhand grip which prevents all the potential problems with mixed grips. The negatives are you won't be working your grip as much. A lot of people are against using straps. I think this is silly, you can always do grip work after which doesn't take much time. If you're a powerlifter I wouldn't wear straps as you aren't allowed to use them in competition.
The Setup
Step 1: Set your feet with the bar about an inch from the bar. The bar should be over the middle of the foot.
Step 2: To grab the bar, bend over by pushing your hips back with your knees unlocked. You should feel a stretch and tension in your hamstrings.
Step 3: Move your shins to the bar. Your hips will lower to the correct position.
Step 4: Lift your chest up and straighten your arms without lowering your hips. Pull the slack out of the bar as you lift your chest up and keep that tension on the bar. Squeeze the bar as hard as you can.
Step 5: Take your deep, diaphragmatic breath, tense your abs like you're about to take a punch to the stomach, and turn your elbows so they are pointing behind you. Push your hips further back, down, and pull your chest high. your hamstrings would feel loaded and ready to pull.
Step 6: Pull the bar off the floor by pushing with your legs. Think about pushing the floor away instead of picking up the bar for the start of the lift. Drag the bar up your body.
Step 7: Once the bar is moving off the floor you want to push your hips through to lock out. Think shoulders back and hips forward. Don't hyperextend at the top of the lift. All you need to do to complete the lift is to lock out your hips and knees. Don't go beyond this.
There are other ways to set up for the deadlift, but this is a good way to start. Once you've been deadlifting for a while you can experiment with other ways to find what's the best way for you.
Touch and go vs Resetting between reps
People have become big and strong using both methods. Some people argue that it’s better to reset between every rep because when you're doing a one rep max you're starting dead start so you should practice that with every rep. If you're a powerlifter, I would reset between every set so you can practice it.
There's nothing wrong with touch and go. Touch and go is a way of overloading the muscles as you'll be able to do more reps with the same weight. I've personally made my best progress doing touch d go deadlifts. Touch and go forces you to do the eccentric part of the exercise which is useful for building muscle. The main problem with touch and go is that most people will do it wrong. They will cheat and bounce the weight up. I wouldn't recommend touch and go to someone who hasn't been deadlifting for a long time.
Some benefits touch deadlifts are it will build you grip strength better as you'll be holding the bar for the whole rep. You'll have more time under tension which is good for building muscle
I like to get my clients to control the eccentric part of the deadlift and briefly pause at the bottom before doing another rep. By controlling the eccentric part of the lift you'll return the bar to the correct starting position every time which will limit the time spent between reps.
Head position and where to look.
Try and keep your neck in line with your spine. I tend to look slightly down. I don't recommend looking up high.
Should I wear chalk?
Yes if you're not wearing straps. Chalk will help prevent the bar from slipping out of your hands and improve your grip on the bar.
- Hamstring
- Glutes
- Erectors spinae
- Trapezius
- Grip
- Quads (to a lesser extent)
Stance
A good place to start is to perform a vertical jump and see what stance width you naturally go with and use this stance to deadlift with. For most people, this will be around hip width. From here you can experiment and try out narrower and wider stances. Have your turned out feet out slightly.
The bar should be over the middle of your whole foot, which normally around an inch from your shins.
Grip
You grip the bar just outside of your legs. As close as you can without pushing your knees in.
There are four ways to grips the bar.
-Double overhand grip
-Mixed grip
-Hook grip
-Straps
Double overhand grip
I don't recommend this and it isn't used by anyone who isn't a beginner as your grip will be the limiting factor in how much weight you can lift. You won't be able to hold enough weight to work the hamstrings, back, glutes etc.
Mixed grips
The mixed grip is where you have one hand over the bar, and one hand under the bar (one forearm supinated, and one pronated). This is a strong grip and will allow you to lift heavy weights. The negatives are that it can cause muscle imbalances. This can be solved by alternating which hands are over/under the bar. Another potential negative is it increases the chance of a nice tear with the arm that is supinated. If using this grip you need to ensure that you don't lift with your arms, that your arms are straight and your upper arm is relaxed.
Hook grip
A hook grip is another strong grip. With the hook grip, you grab the bar with a double overhand grip, and then you wrap your fingers around your thumb, pinning it between your fingers and the bar The positives it has over the mixed grip is that you don't have to have an arm supinated and so there isn't a risk of tearing a bicep. The negatives are that if you don't have long enough fingers you might struggle to do it. It also hurts. Eventually, you'll deaden the nerves in your thumb, but it will hurt in the time before this happens.
Straps
With straps, you can use a double overhand grip which prevents all the potential problems with mixed grips. The negatives are you won't be working your grip as much. A lot of people are against using straps. I think this is silly, you can always do grip work after which doesn't take much time. If you're a powerlifter I wouldn't wear straps as you aren't allowed to use them in competition.
The Setup
Step 1: Set your feet with the bar about an inch from the bar. The bar should be over the middle of the foot.
Step 2: To grab the bar, bend over by pushing your hips back with your knees unlocked. You should feel a stretch and tension in your hamstrings.
Step 3: Move your shins to the bar. Your hips will lower to the correct position.
Step 4: Lift your chest up and straighten your arms without lowering your hips. Pull the slack out of the bar as you lift your chest up and keep that tension on the bar. Squeeze the bar as hard as you can.
Step 5: Take your deep, diaphragmatic breath, tense your abs like you're about to take a punch to the stomach, and turn your elbows so they are pointing behind you. Push your hips further back, down, and pull your chest high. your hamstrings would feel loaded and ready to pull.
Step 6: Pull the bar off the floor by pushing with your legs. Think about pushing the floor away instead of picking up the bar for the start of the lift. Drag the bar up your body.
Step 7: Once the bar is moving off the floor you want to push your hips through to lock out. Think shoulders back and hips forward. Don't hyperextend at the top of the lift. All you need to do to complete the lift is to lock out your hips and knees. Don't go beyond this.
There are other ways to set up for the deadlift, but this is a good way to start. Once you've been deadlifting for a while you can experiment with other ways to find what's the best way for you.
Touch and go vs Resetting between reps
People have become big and strong using both methods. Some people argue that it’s better to reset between every rep because when you're doing a one rep max you're starting dead start so you should practice that with every rep. If you're a powerlifter, I would reset between every set so you can practice it.
There's nothing wrong with touch and go. Touch and go is a way of overloading the muscles as you'll be able to do more reps with the same weight. I've personally made my best progress doing touch d go deadlifts. Touch and go forces you to do the eccentric part of the exercise which is useful for building muscle. The main problem with touch and go is that most people will do it wrong. They will cheat and bounce the weight up. I wouldn't recommend touch and go to someone who hasn't been deadlifting for a long time.
Some benefits touch deadlifts are it will build you grip strength better as you'll be holding the bar for the whole rep. You'll have more time under tension which is good for building muscle
I like to get my clients to control the eccentric part of the deadlift and briefly pause at the bottom before doing another rep. By controlling the eccentric part of the lift you'll return the bar to the correct starting position every time which will limit the time spent between reps.
Head position and where to look.
Try and keep your neck in line with your spine. I tend to look slightly down. I don't recommend looking up high.
Should I wear chalk?
Yes if you're not wearing straps. Chalk will help prevent the bar from slipping out of your hands and improve your grip on the bar.