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I don’t claim to be an expert on many things. I’m a mediocre (at best) cook, and my wife is convinced that I’m incapable of folding laundry correctly. I speak quickly, and often catch myself mumbling. When I was single, I didn’t exactly have what you might call “game” with the ladies.
However, I was, for some reason, blessed with the ability to pick heavy things up off the floor. My best deadlift is 660 pounds at a body weight of about 185 pounds, and I pulled 628 in my last meet as a 165-pounder.
As I’ve worked to build that deadlift up, I’ve learned a lot along the way – so I thought I’d introduce my top five deadlift mistakes I see in the people I train.
1. Squatting the weight – The deadlift is a hip (not quad) dominant movement. If you’re thinking “hips up and down” and not “hips forward and back,” you’re in trouble. Your hips should be above your knees in the bottom position. And, you should initiate the lowering phase of the movement by pushing the hips back and then bending the knees only once the bar has passed them. If you bend the knees too soon, the bar will scrape them – and you’ll be forced to round your back to get the bar around the knees.
2. Not pushing through the heels - In order to get the most out of your glutes and hamstrings, you need to keep your weight back on the heels. I always tell people to think of pushing their heels through the floor. This is also another reason why you’re better off barefoot or in “minimalist” footwear with little to no heel lift. The worse deadlifts are the ones performed in a pair of regular ol’ cross-trainers.
3. Setting up too far away from the bar – Think of the deadlift as a see-saw. The further the weight (person at the other end) gets away from the axis of rotation (center of the see-saw), which is the hips, the harder the movement will be. You’re making more work for you by moving the resistance away from you, so keep the bar close to your shins in the starting position.
4. Not using the glutes at lockout – It sounds like a silly cue, but as you lock a deadlift out, think of “humping the bar.” You should squeeze your buttcheeks together, as doing so will complete hip extension and posteriorly tilt your pelvis to a neutral position. If you don’t do this, you’ll be more likely to hyperextend backward and tweak your lower back.
5. Breaking the floor too quickly – Normally, if you can lift a weight fast, you’re more likely to make the lift. However, when it comes to beginners learning to deadlift, breaking the bar from the floor too quickly can actually be a problem. In this scenario, the hips shoot up too quickly and the only way to get “upright” is to extend the lower back to neutral from the rounded position that’s created. As we discussed in Mistake #3, the bar is too far from the axis of rotation.Eric Cressey
However, I was, for some reason, blessed with the ability to pick heavy things up off the floor. My best deadlift is 660 pounds at a body weight of about 185 pounds, and I pulled 628 in my last meet as a 165-pounder.
1. Squatting the weight – The deadlift is a hip (not quad) dominant movement. If you’re thinking “hips up and down” and not “hips forward and back,” you’re in trouble. Your hips should be above your knees in the bottom position. And, you should initiate the lowering phase of the movement by pushing the hips back and then bending the knees only once the bar has passed them. If you bend the knees too soon, the bar will scrape them – and you’ll be forced to round your back to get the bar around the knees.
2. Not pushing through the heels - In order to get the most out of your glutes and hamstrings, you need to keep your weight back on the heels. I always tell people to think of pushing their heels through the floor. This is also another reason why you’re better off barefoot or in “minimalist” footwear with little to no heel lift. The worse deadlifts are the ones performed in a pair of regular ol’ cross-trainers.
3. Setting up too far away from the bar – Think of the deadlift as a see-saw. The further the weight (person at the other end) gets away from the axis of rotation (center of the see-saw), which is the hips, the harder the movement will be. You’re making more work for you by moving the resistance away from you, so keep the bar close to your shins in the starting position.
4. Not using the glutes at lockout – It sounds like a silly cue, but as you lock a deadlift out, think of “humping the bar.” You should squeeze your buttcheeks together, as doing so will complete hip extension and posteriorly tilt your pelvis to a neutral position. If you don’t do this, you’ll be more likely to hyperextend backward and tweak your lower back.
5. Breaking the floor too quickly – Normally, if you can lift a weight fast, you’re more likely to make the lift. However, when it comes to beginners learning to deadlift, breaking the bar from the floor too quickly can actually be a problem. In this scenario, the hips shoot up too quickly and the only way to get “upright” is to extend the lower back to neutral from the rounded position that’s created. As we discussed in Mistake #3, the bar is too far from the axis of rotation.Eric Cressey