This is Part 2 of a three part series on how to increase your strength in the "big three": the barbell squat, the deadlift, and the barbell bench press. In this story, you'll discover three techniques for eliminating your weak spot—known as sticking points—in the deadlift. (Read part 1 here: The Secret to a Massive Squat.)
The deadlift is perhaps the most “functional” exercise in existence. What carries over more truly to real life than a lift that trains you to safely pick heavy things up off the ground? What’s more, it rocks all the muscles on your backside, the ones that produce the raw power you need to sprint, jump, and tackle.
And besides helping you improve at nearly all tasks you face in sports and everyday life, the exercise is a hardcore muscle builder. It builds up those backside muscles—your hamstrings, glutes, low and upper back, and shoulders—and absolutely cooks your core and arms.
Plus, what’s more badass than taking hundreds of pounds from ground to lockout? There’s just something about this fundamental exercise that makes you feel like a comic book hero.
But it doesn’t matter if you’re a newbie or a DL-aficionado, you’re going to hit sticking points that stall the growth of your numbers (and muscles).
“The deadlift is a lift where you can absolutely have three points where you can miss,” says Mike Robertson, C.S.C.S., a former powerlifting coach for Team USA, and co-owner of IFAST in Indianapolis. Here’s how to fix all three:
1. You have trouble getting the bar off the floor
Building strength in the area directly at, above, and below your sticking point is a go-to way to bust out of a rut. But if your problem is getting the bar off the ground, how can you train a range of motion below the floor? Answer: deficit deadlifts.
“Because the bar is lower than your feet, this variation—where you stand on plates or blocks and deadlift from that position—allows you to achieve a greater range of motion in the lift,” says Robertson. “Extending the range of motion overloads your hip and thigh muscles, teaching you to use your legs to drive out of the bottom.”
The caveat is that deficit deadlifts require you to be pretty mobile. So if you can’t do the lift with a flat back, you’re only going to set yourself up for injury.
In that case, do deadlifts to your knees. “Simply pulling to your knee, pausing, then lowering the bar back down grooves a great starting position, and teaches you to stay tight.”
Deficit Deadlift
Stand on 25-pound plates, your feet shoulder-width apart. Bend at your hips and knees and grab the bar overhand, your hands about shoulder-width apart.
Keeping your back straight, pull your torso back and up, thrust your hips forward, and stand up with the bar. Then lower it, keeping it close to your body.
Deadlift to Knee
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Bend at your hips and knees and grab the bar overhand, your hands about shoulder-width apart.
Keeping your back straight, pull your torso back and up, thrust your hips forward, and bring the bar to knee height. Then lower it, keeping it close to your body.
2. You get stuck at the mid-point of the lift
Hey, gangles, your knees are in the way. “Oftentimes people who get stuck here want to pull the bar ‘up,’” says Robertson. “That can cause your knees to get in the path of the bar, so you have to move the bar out in front of you, which can cause your back to cave.”
Solving this problem all comes down to fine-tuning your technique. “I cue people to push their knees back as they lift the bar, and to think about pulling the bar ‘back,’ not ‘up,’” says Robertson. Those tricks “work” because they cause you to shift your weight towards your heels, which naturally pulls your knees out of the way.
Practice that coaching cue while doing deadlifts to just above your knees.
Deadlift to Above Knee
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Bend at your hips and knees and grab the bar overhand, your hands about shoulder-width apart.
Keeping your back straight, pull your torso back and up, thrust your hips forward, and bring the bar a few inches above your knees. Lower it, keeping it close to your body.
3. You can’t “lock out” the weight
Here, practicing the problematic phase makes perfect.
“Get specific,” says Robertson. “Rack pulls improve your position and strength from the mid-point of the lift up."
"The other nice thing is that you can use a relatively heavy weight," he adds. That helps you build more strength, and makes you fearless of having a significant load in your hands, he says.
Rack Pulls
Put “pins” in a squat cage and lay the bar across them, so that the bar sits at about knee height. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Bend at your hips and knees and grab the bar overhand, your hands about shoulder-width apart.
Keeping your back straight, pull your torso back and up, thrust your hips forward, and lock out the bar. Then lower it, keeping it close to your body.
The deadlift is perhaps the most “functional” exercise in existence. What carries over more truly to real life than a lift that trains you to safely pick heavy things up off the ground? What’s more, it rocks all the muscles on your backside, the ones that produce the raw power you need to sprint, jump, and tackle.
And besides helping you improve at nearly all tasks you face in sports and everyday life, the exercise is a hardcore muscle builder. It builds up those backside muscles—your hamstrings, glutes, low and upper back, and shoulders—and absolutely cooks your core and arms.
But it doesn’t matter if you’re a newbie or a DL-aficionado, you’re going to hit sticking points that stall the growth of your numbers (and muscles).
“The deadlift is a lift where you can absolutely have three points where you can miss,” says Mike Robertson, C.S.C.S., a former powerlifting coach for Team USA, and co-owner of IFAST in Indianapolis. Here’s how to fix all three:
1. You have trouble getting the bar off the floor
Building strength in the area directly at, above, and below your sticking point is a go-to way to bust out of a rut. But if your problem is getting the bar off the ground, how can you train a range of motion below the floor? Answer: deficit deadlifts.
“Because the bar is lower than your feet, this variation—where you stand on plates or blocks and deadlift from that position—allows you to achieve a greater range of motion in the lift,” says Robertson. “Extending the range of motion overloads your hip and thigh muscles, teaching you to use your legs to drive out of the bottom.”
The caveat is that deficit deadlifts require you to be pretty mobile. So if you can’t do the lift with a flat back, you’re only going to set yourself up for injury.
In that case, do deadlifts to your knees. “Simply pulling to your knee, pausing, then lowering the bar back down grooves a great starting position, and teaches you to stay tight.”
Deficit Deadlift
Stand on 25-pound plates, your feet shoulder-width apart. Bend at your hips and knees and grab the bar overhand, your hands about shoulder-width apart.
Keeping your back straight, pull your torso back and up, thrust your hips forward, and stand up with the bar. Then lower it, keeping it close to your body.
Deadlift to Knee
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Bend at your hips and knees and grab the bar overhand, your hands about shoulder-width apart.
Keeping your back straight, pull your torso back and up, thrust your hips forward, and bring the bar to knee height. Then lower it, keeping it close to your body.
2. You get stuck at the mid-point of the lift
Hey, gangles, your knees are in the way. “Oftentimes people who get stuck here want to pull the bar ‘up,’” says Robertson. “That can cause your knees to get in the path of the bar, so you have to move the bar out in front of you, which can cause your back to cave.”
Solving this problem all comes down to fine-tuning your technique. “I cue people to push their knees back as they lift the bar, and to think about pulling the bar ‘back,’ not ‘up,’” says Robertson. Those tricks “work” because they cause you to shift your weight towards your heels, which naturally pulls your knees out of the way.
Practice that coaching cue while doing deadlifts to just above your knees.
Deadlift to Above Knee
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Bend at your hips and knees and grab the bar overhand, your hands about shoulder-width apart.
Keeping your back straight, pull your torso back and up, thrust your hips forward, and bring the bar a few inches above your knees. Lower it, keeping it close to your body.
3. You can’t “lock out” the weight
Here, practicing the problematic phase makes perfect.
“Get specific,” says Robertson. “Rack pulls improve your position and strength from the mid-point of the lift up."
"The other nice thing is that you can use a relatively heavy weight," he adds. That helps you build more strength, and makes you fearless of having a significant load in your hands, he says.
Rack Pulls
Put “pins” in a squat cage and lay the bar across them, so that the bar sits at about knee height. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Bend at your hips and knees and grab the bar overhand, your hands about shoulder-width apart.
Keeping your back straight, pull your torso back and up, thrust your hips forward, and lock out the bar. Then lower it, keeping it close to your body.
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