The Deadlift, Part Two
by Bill Starr
In my first installment on the deadlift, I presented some of the reasons why the deadlift is a useful exercise for anyone interested in improving overall strength, and I discussed some technique tips. This article will is aimed at people who are already doing deadlifts as part of their routine, lifters who would like to move their numbers up or include more variety in their back programs.
Let’s start with some variations of the conventional deadlift. Not everyone can do all of them, but it’s helpful to know about them, and you can use them selectively to help improve a weak area. One common spot is the adductors, those powerful groups on the insides of your thighs. Strength athletes often overlook their adductors or take them for granted, but they’re extremely important. They help stabilize the legs and hips and are critical to protecting the knees from injury. If your adductors become too weak in relation to the neighboring groups, one of two things will happen: Your progress will come to a halt on any lift that involves the adductors, and there are lots of them, or you’ll sustain an injury. Strained or torn adductors are murder to rehab and take a very long time to heal.
Since the adductors are so vital to pulling a heavy weight off the floor, a weakness will reveal itself quite clearly. If your knees start turning in excessively during the initial part of the deadlift, you have weak adductors. You should rectify the problem right away because it will have an adverse effect on your hips and knees.
On the plus side, the adductors respond to direct exercise quickly. I’ve had athletes with severe adductor weakness correcting the problem in a couple of weeks. The best way to strengthen them is to work them on an adductor machine. 2 sets of 20 three times a week will get the job done. Unfortunately, many gyms don’t have an adductor machine. Two other exercises work well – wide-stance squats and sumo-style deadlifts. Sumo-style deadlifts hit the various muscles and attachments in the legs, hips and back in a slightly different manner. In many instances athletes learn that they’re much stronger when they use sumo style than when they’re doing conventional deadlifts. That’s the reason so many powerlifters prefer to use the sumo style in competition.
While sumo deadlifts aren’t done in a conventional style, some form points are the same. For example, always start with the bar close to your body and make sure it stays close all the way up. The stance is wide, very wide; some people place their feet all the way out to the plates. The grip can be narrower than usual or the same as for a regular deadlift. You should take an overhand grip, so either use a hook grip or take advantage of straps.
By far the most important part of the sumo deadlift is the start. If the bar comes off the floor in the correct line, the middle and the finish are much easier. Some athletes benefit from setting their hips high at the start of a regular deadlift, but that doesn’t work for the sumo style. You need to set your hips low so they can propel the bar off the floor. Your front delts still need to be in front of the bar, but just a little bit – not too much. Once you’ve set your feet and have your grip, lock all the muscles in your back tightly. The best way to do that is by pulling your shoulder blades together and keeping them there throughout the lift. Look forward or slightly upward, not down. That will help you keep the bar from slipping forward, which it always tends to do.
Here are some other useful points for the sumo deadlift. Plant your feet firmly and put more pressure on the outsides. With a conventional deadlift the pressure starts at the toes, but with the sumo it’s better to push down on the outside. That helps you lock your legs and keep them in place during the movement. Also, push outward with your knees. Sometimes lifters’ knees turn inward during a deadlift simply because they’re not paying attention to them. If your knees persist in turning inward excessively, lower the poundage you’re using until you correct the adductor weakness.
Don’t rebound the plates off the floor. That’s important for any lift, but it’s even more critical for a sumo deadlift. When you rebound, you bypass the muscles and attachments that are responsible for breaking the bar off the floor. That’s a self-defeating habit if you’re seeking to raise your numbers. Remember, you cannot rebound a max single, so just don’t do it.
It’s useful to involve your traps during the sumo deadlift, right after the bar passes your knees. Most lifters wait till the bar is higher, but you can contract your traps at any stage. If you activate your traps and elevate the bar through the middle range, the finish is a done deal. All you have to do is bring your hips forward to complete the lift.
Another common deadlift weak spot occurs when lifters have trouble locking their hips in place at the start. it signifies a relative weakness in the hips and lower-back area. A good way to correct the problem is to do deadlifts from a lower-than-normal starting position. It’s easier than you might think. I simply use 25-pound metal plates, which place the bar quite a bit lower than it is when you use 45-pounders or bumpers.
The form is the same as you use for regular deadlifts except you set your hips very low. That helps strengthen the groups that break the bar off the floor. In addition, placing your hips low forces you to think about your start more and makes you drive your feet down through the floor rather than merely lifting the bar with your arms and back.
Again, don’t rebound the plates, for that defeats the purpose of doing the exercise. Reset before each rep, concentrate on maintaining a perfect body position, then push with your feet and squeeze the bar off the floor. Obviously, you need to keep it very close to your body. Since the value of these is the start, you don’t have to complete the lift. They’re effective if you only bring the bar to midthigh.
While low deadlifts do enhance strength in the muscle groups you use for breaking the bar off the floor, they also have a huge psychological effect. After a couple of workouts with the lower version, when you go back to the regular deadlifts with the 45-pound plates, the bar will jump off the floor.
If I see lifters struggling through the middle range of a deadlift, I give them a dose of rounded-back partials. Not everyone can do them. Some people must maintain perfectly flat backs when pulling a heavy weight. So if you try rounded-back partials and are more dinged than sore the following day, drop them and find something else; for example, bent-over rows or some positions in the power rack, which I’ll discuss below.
Rounded-back partials are effective, but they’re also brutal. You only pull the bar to midthigh, so you don’t get the same opportunity to rest between reps. It may feel strange to deliberately round your back, but it activates many muscles differently. Some people doubt me until they try these for the first time. Because it’s a short-range movement involving the most powerful groups in the body, you can use a great deal of weight right away The doubters come back for the next workout as true believers. Most are sore to the touch.
You do rounded-back partials like conventional deadlifts except it’s permissible to set your hips higher than normal at the start. With a rounded back you tug the bar up to midthigh, lower it to the floor, reset and do the next rep. You have to pay attention to the bar, keeping it close to your legs, because the higher hips and rounded back tend to cause the bar to slip forward.
These are more taxing than conventional deadlifts. The first time you try them, be conservative with the weights. You want to make sure they’re not irritating some group. Don’t worry about the poundage. You can do lots of sets, and that should get you sore. Sore is good because it tells you exactly what muscles the exercise worked.
I’m not including stiff-legged deadlifts in this discussion because I think they’re more specific for the lower back and hamstrings. They are, of course, useful for improving any pulling exercise, but they’re not in the same category as the three I mentioned.
When using the deadlift variations, start with the basic 5 sets of 5 reps formula, That’s the best formula, since it allows you to handle respectable weights and helps you hone your technique. After you have been doing any of the exercises for any length of time, change the sets-and-reps sequence on a regular basis. At one workout do the basic 5x5. At the next do 5x8, and follow that with 3x5 and 3x3.
The slight changes keep your workouts fresh and jar the body and each stresses the system in a different way. The 8’s are tough, but they establish a broader strength base and push the 5’s up a notch. The 5’s influence the triples, and the triples, because they attack the attachments more readily than the higher reps, bring the 8’s to another level.
I’ve saved the most effective way to improve the deadlift for last. It’s power rack work, using either a pure isometric hold or, better yet, a combination isotonic-isometric hold. The problem most people have with pure isometric work is that they really don’t know for certain if they’re pulling as hard as they can. So if you put weight on the bar and move it a short distance, and then hold it up against the top pins, there isn’t any doubt. The bar either stays locked against the pins or it doesn’t.
You can incorporate the rack into your program in a number of ways. You can use it exclusively for a workout, hitting the three basic positions, locking the bar against the top pins for a 10-second hold.
Most people prefer to do some rack work in conjunction with their normal routines. You can follow your pulling exercise for the day with one position in the power rack. That isn’t overly demanding, since it’s only one set for a 10-second hold, but it works wonderfully. You want to select a position in the rack that doesn’t overlap what you’ve done with the barbell on the floor. In other words, if you did ultra-low deadlifts as your pulling exercise, you wouldn’t want to do the low position in the power rack. It would be better to stick with the middle or the top.
The low position in the rack is extremely effective. It’s also very grueling. You’ll want to position the top pins as low as possible. Some racks don’t have holes very low, and it that’s the case, stand on blocks. You want the starting position to be about the top or your socks. When you lock onto the bar, you have to set your hips low, the way you do on the low deadlifts off the floor. And when you lift the bar up against the top pins and hold it for the required count, your hips cannot climb up at all. If they do, use less weight.
With any position in the power rack that you use for isotonic-isometric holds, the time during which you control the bar is more important than the weight on the bar. The weight’s purpose is to give you feedback that you’re pulling with a full effort. If the weight forces you out of the correct position, take some off.
The low position is the most difficult. If you handle 600 lbs. on the deadlift, you can usually manage 315, but that’s plenty. The middle position is a strong one. Usually, I set the pins at midthigh, but the main consideration should be your weakest point. If it’s just above your knees, do that area. If it’s higher, work that.
The top end of the deadlift is the strongest and the most fun to work for that very reason. Some coaches don’t believe that moving huge amounts of weight for a short distance at the very top is at all beneficial, but I do. Whenever someone handles 700 or 800 lbs., he calls on some strong attachments to help him support and control the weight. The next time he pulls a 550 deadlift, he has lots of confidence at the top – partly because he has strengthened his tendons and ligaments with the heavy supports and partly because he knows that in the past he’s handled much more than what’s on the bar.
You can do isotonic-isometric at the conclusion of every pulling session, three times a week. It’s a good idea to do the set in the rack directly after the free-weight exercise because all the working muscles are warmed up. Only do one set. This is concentrated work. Whenever people get into the “some is good, more must be better” mode, they invariably overtrain.
To reiterate a point I made in the first installment of this discussion – be sure to do at least one exercise for your lower back and your midsection before doing any form of deadlifting. Hyperextensions or reverse hypers are excellent for your lower back, one set of 50. Conventional crunches or situps and leg raises will flush blood into your abs.
If you enjoy having a strong back or like the feel of moving big weights off the floor, then the deadlift belongs in your program.
by Bill Starr
In my first installment on the deadlift, I presented some of the reasons why the deadlift is a useful exercise for anyone interested in improving overall strength, and I discussed some technique tips. This article will is aimed at people who are already doing deadlifts as part of their routine, lifters who would like to move their numbers up or include more variety in their back programs.
Let’s start with some variations of the conventional deadlift. Not everyone can do all of them, but it’s helpful to know about them, and you can use them selectively to help improve a weak area. One common spot is the adductors, those powerful groups on the insides of your thighs. Strength athletes often overlook their adductors or take them for granted, but they’re extremely important. They help stabilize the legs and hips and are critical to protecting the knees from injury. If your adductors become too weak in relation to the neighboring groups, one of two things will happen: Your progress will come to a halt on any lift that involves the adductors, and there are lots of them, or you’ll sustain an injury. Strained or torn adductors are murder to rehab and take a very long time to heal.
Since the adductors are so vital to pulling a heavy weight off the floor, a weakness will reveal itself quite clearly. If your knees start turning in excessively during the initial part of the deadlift, you have weak adductors. You should rectify the problem right away because it will have an adverse effect on your hips and knees.
On the plus side, the adductors respond to direct exercise quickly. I’ve had athletes with severe adductor weakness correcting the problem in a couple of weeks. The best way to strengthen them is to work them on an adductor machine. 2 sets of 20 three times a week will get the job done. Unfortunately, many gyms don’t have an adductor machine. Two other exercises work well – wide-stance squats and sumo-style deadlifts. Sumo-style deadlifts hit the various muscles and attachments in the legs, hips and back in a slightly different manner. In many instances athletes learn that they’re much stronger when they use sumo style than when they’re doing conventional deadlifts. That’s the reason so many powerlifters prefer to use the sumo style in competition.
While sumo deadlifts aren’t done in a conventional style, some form points are the same. For example, always start with the bar close to your body and make sure it stays close all the way up. The stance is wide, very wide; some people place their feet all the way out to the plates. The grip can be narrower than usual or the same as for a regular deadlift. You should take an overhand grip, so either use a hook grip or take advantage of straps.
Here are some other useful points for the sumo deadlift. Plant your feet firmly and put more pressure on the outsides. With a conventional deadlift the pressure starts at the toes, but with the sumo it’s better to push down on the outside. That helps you lock your legs and keep them in place during the movement. Also, push outward with your knees. Sometimes lifters’ knees turn inward during a deadlift simply because they’re not paying attention to them. If your knees persist in turning inward excessively, lower the poundage you’re using until you correct the adductor weakness.
Don’t rebound the plates off the floor. That’s important for any lift, but it’s even more critical for a sumo deadlift. When you rebound, you bypass the muscles and attachments that are responsible for breaking the bar off the floor. That’s a self-defeating habit if you’re seeking to raise your numbers. Remember, you cannot rebound a max single, so just don’t do it.
It’s useful to involve your traps during the sumo deadlift, right after the bar passes your knees. Most lifters wait till the bar is higher, but you can contract your traps at any stage. If you activate your traps and elevate the bar through the middle range, the finish is a done deal. All you have to do is bring your hips forward to complete the lift.
Another common deadlift weak spot occurs when lifters have trouble locking their hips in place at the start. it signifies a relative weakness in the hips and lower-back area. A good way to correct the problem is to do deadlifts from a lower-than-normal starting position. It’s easier than you might think. I simply use 25-pound metal plates, which place the bar quite a bit lower than it is when you use 45-pounders or bumpers.
The form is the same as you use for regular deadlifts except you set your hips very low. That helps strengthen the groups that break the bar off the floor. In addition, placing your hips low forces you to think about your start more and makes you drive your feet down through the floor rather than merely lifting the bar with your arms and back.
Again, don’t rebound the plates, for that defeats the purpose of doing the exercise. Reset before each rep, concentrate on maintaining a perfect body position, then push with your feet and squeeze the bar off the floor. Obviously, you need to keep it very close to your body. Since the value of these is the start, you don’t have to complete the lift. They’re effective if you only bring the bar to midthigh.
While low deadlifts do enhance strength in the muscle groups you use for breaking the bar off the floor, they also have a huge psychological effect. After a couple of workouts with the lower version, when you go back to the regular deadlifts with the 45-pound plates, the bar will jump off the floor.
If I see lifters struggling through the middle range of a deadlift, I give them a dose of rounded-back partials. Not everyone can do them. Some people must maintain perfectly flat backs when pulling a heavy weight. So if you try rounded-back partials and are more dinged than sore the following day, drop them and find something else; for example, bent-over rows or some positions in the power rack, which I’ll discuss below.
Rounded-back partials are effective, but they’re also brutal. You only pull the bar to midthigh, so you don’t get the same opportunity to rest between reps. It may feel strange to deliberately round your back, but it activates many muscles differently. Some people doubt me until they try these for the first time. Because it’s a short-range movement involving the most powerful groups in the body, you can use a great deal of weight right away The doubters come back for the next workout as true believers. Most are sore to the touch.
You do rounded-back partials like conventional deadlifts except it’s permissible to set your hips higher than normal at the start. With a rounded back you tug the bar up to midthigh, lower it to the floor, reset and do the next rep. You have to pay attention to the bar, keeping it close to your legs, because the higher hips and rounded back tend to cause the bar to slip forward.
These are more taxing than conventional deadlifts. The first time you try them, be conservative with the weights. You want to make sure they’re not irritating some group. Don’t worry about the poundage. You can do lots of sets, and that should get you sore. Sore is good because it tells you exactly what muscles the exercise worked.
I’m not including stiff-legged deadlifts in this discussion because I think they’re more specific for the lower back and hamstrings. They are, of course, useful for improving any pulling exercise, but they’re not in the same category as the three I mentioned.
When using the deadlift variations, start with the basic 5 sets of 5 reps formula, That’s the best formula, since it allows you to handle respectable weights and helps you hone your technique. After you have been doing any of the exercises for any length of time, change the sets-and-reps sequence on a regular basis. At one workout do the basic 5x5. At the next do 5x8, and follow that with 3x5 and 3x3.
The slight changes keep your workouts fresh and jar the body and each stresses the system in a different way. The 8’s are tough, but they establish a broader strength base and push the 5’s up a notch. The 5’s influence the triples, and the triples, because they attack the attachments more readily than the higher reps, bring the 8’s to another level.
I’ve saved the most effective way to improve the deadlift for last. It’s power rack work, using either a pure isometric hold or, better yet, a combination isotonic-isometric hold. The problem most people have with pure isometric work is that they really don’t know for certain if they’re pulling as hard as they can. So if you put weight on the bar and move it a short distance, and then hold it up against the top pins, there isn’t any doubt. The bar either stays locked against the pins or it doesn’t.
You can incorporate the rack into your program in a number of ways. You can use it exclusively for a workout, hitting the three basic positions, locking the bar against the top pins for a 10-second hold.
Most people prefer to do some rack work in conjunction with their normal routines. You can follow your pulling exercise for the day with one position in the power rack. That isn’t overly demanding, since it’s only one set for a 10-second hold, but it works wonderfully. You want to select a position in the rack that doesn’t overlap what you’ve done with the barbell on the floor. In other words, if you did ultra-low deadlifts as your pulling exercise, you wouldn’t want to do the low position in the power rack. It would be better to stick with the middle or the top.
The low position in the rack is extremely effective. It’s also very grueling. You’ll want to position the top pins as low as possible. Some racks don’t have holes very low, and it that’s the case, stand on blocks. You want the starting position to be about the top or your socks. When you lock onto the bar, you have to set your hips low, the way you do on the low deadlifts off the floor. And when you lift the bar up against the top pins and hold it for the required count, your hips cannot climb up at all. If they do, use less weight.
With any position in the power rack that you use for isotonic-isometric holds, the time during which you control the bar is more important than the weight on the bar. The weight’s purpose is to give you feedback that you’re pulling with a full effort. If the weight forces you out of the correct position, take some off.
The top end of the deadlift is the strongest and the most fun to work for that very reason. Some coaches don’t believe that moving huge amounts of weight for a short distance at the very top is at all beneficial, but I do. Whenever someone handles 700 or 800 lbs., he calls on some strong attachments to help him support and control the weight. The next time he pulls a 550 deadlift, he has lots of confidence at the top – partly because he has strengthened his tendons and ligaments with the heavy supports and partly because he knows that in the past he’s handled much more than what’s on the bar.
You can do isotonic-isometric at the conclusion of every pulling session, three times a week. It’s a good idea to do the set in the rack directly after the free-weight exercise because all the working muscles are warmed up. Only do one set. This is concentrated work. Whenever people get into the “some is good, more must be better” mode, they invariably overtrain.
To reiterate a point I made in the first installment of this discussion – be sure to do at least one exercise for your lower back and your midsection before doing any form of deadlifting. Hyperextensions or reverse hypers are excellent for your lower back, one set of 50. Conventional crunches or situps and leg raises will flush blood into your abs.
If you enjoy having a strong back or like the feel of moving big weights off the floor, then the deadlift belongs in your program.
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