Hello everyone!
In an effort to keep the subreddit and its wiki filled with good and useful information, we are compiling guides for the main lifts (deadlift, squat, bench, potentially others). These guides will be added to the wiki and posted as posts as they are completed. The goal of these guides is to provide basic lift information, descriptions of some common variations, equipment considerations, related and complimentary exercises, additional resources for further reading, and to showcase incredible women (and non-binary folks) performing these lifts.
If you have suggestions regarding things that should be added to these guides, or other subjects you'd like to see in the wiki, please
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The Deadlift
At its core, the deadlift is a hip hinge exercise. This means the main movement in the lift is bringing the hip joint from a flexed position into an extended position. There is some nature of squatting down involved in deadlifting in its various forms, but the quadriceps (the front/anterior thigh) muscles are not the sole or even main target in this lift. This lift primarily targets the
posterior chain muscles, which include the calves/gastrocnemius, hamstrings, gluteus maximus, erector spinae along the spine, and the latissimus dorsi (“lats”) muscles that comprise the majority of the superficial layer of muscle on the back. Your abdominal and oblique muscles also play a huge role in this lift – properly bracing your core, including your lower back muscles, is crucial to safely and successfully deadlifting.
Deadlift Forms and Variations
Stronger By Science and
StrongLifts have excellent, extensive “how to deadlift” guides. Generally, this post is written referring to deadlifting with a barbell, but many of these deadlift variations can be performed with body weight, dumbbells, kettlebells, etc.
The two main deadlift forms are
conventional and
sumo, though I have compiled a non-exhausted list of additional variations below.
This article, based on a 2019 article titled “Anthropometrical determinants of deadlift variant performance” by Cholewa et al from the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine, is great to help a lifter figure out which stance may be optimal for themselves based on anatomical proportions. Regardless, there is benefit to deadlifting in both positions because they both highlight and recruit slightly different muscles through the lift.
Tl;dr: short arms/long torso, probably mechanically advantageous to pull sumo. Long arms/short torso, probably mechanically advantageous to pull conventional.
Regardless of the type of deadlift you are performing, the barbell (or other weight) should be directly over your midfoot, where the ankle turns into your foot, through the entire movement. This ensures a straight bar path and keeps you in control of the weight through the lift by keeping it close to your center of gravity. Any forward or backward shift in the weight away from the midfoot line can lead to instability and injury.
This megsquats post illustrates one version of an ideal starting position for a conventional deadlift. Shoulders are slightly in front of the barbell, shins mostly perpendicular, knees bent but not as much as the hip, back straight, and a neutral neck – she is not looking up or straight ahead, but at a fixed point on the ground a few feet in front of her. Keeping a neutral neck/spine is going to help with stability but also prevent you from tweaking your neck during the lift! Less visually obvious but equally important is that the scapulas (shoulderblades) are retracted and tight in order to engage the latissimus dorsi muscles and help the lifter maintain control over the weight being moved. One commonly cited cue to help with this particular part of bracing for a deadlift is to “squeeze oranges in your armpits”. Another cue for properly engaging the upper and mid back symmetrically and consistently is to try and "break" the bar in half as you pull from the ground.
- Conventional deadlift: The base form of the deadlift. Feet are placed approximately hip width apart facing straight ahead, arms grasp the barbell straight down from the shoulders on the outside of the knees, shins not quite vertical, and the bar is lifted off the ground with the lifter in fully upright position. This deadlift is more efficient at recruiting the hamstring muscles than the sumo deadlift. The butt should be low enough to create an acute angle rather than having the back parallel to the floor, but not so low that this becomes a squat instead of a hip hinge. The hips will be flexed more than the knees will be in this variation.
- Sumo: Only controversial because of bro-science trying to claim this is an “easier” deadlift due to a “shorter bar path”. The feet are wide apart, further than shoulder width, typically with toes angled outward from center. Hands grasp barbell straight down from shoulders, between the knees. Your hips and knees will both be bent to approximately the same degree in the starting position, and your shins will be roughly vertical. This form typically allows the lifter to stay more upright than the conventional deadlift and can be a preferred alternative for people who have trouble with too much lower back involvement in conventional deadlift. Your lower back will be less involved, and your groin/hip flexor muscles will be more engaged. Editor side note re: the “easier” deadlift: I’m sorry, you’re still using your entire body to lift x number of lbs or kilos off the ground, it’s a feat of strength either way. Do whichever form is safest and best for you.
- Kettlebell/Dumbbell: Essentially a barbell deadlift with different equipment. Depending on if you are using a single or double hand weights, this can involve your upper back and arm muscles differently. Since these types of weights are typically shorter than a barbell with bumper plates on it, the range of motion is typically increased compared to a barbell deadlift. This can be beneficial for engaging your hamstrings and gluteus maximus more.
- Deficit: Very similar to a conventional deadlift in terms of form and set up. The main difference is you will be standing on a platform of some kind (plate, box, step etc) rather than the floor. This increases the range of motion the bar will travel and further isolates hamstrings.
- Stiff leg: Your legs will not be fully straight, but you will have a “soft” knee with a slight bend, and less of a squatting motion. Your back will be more horizontal at the bottom of this position than in the conventional deadlift. This also serves to further involve the hamstrings and gluteus maximus.
- Romanian: Typically, this type of deadlift will begin with the weight and lifter in the upright position and not from the floor. The movement is the same for a conventional deadlift, but rather than setting the barbell on the ground between reps, you will allow it to either nearly reach the floor or barely touch the floor with each rep. This is a great way to improve grip strength, and also requires maintaining the deadlift form very tightly. You’ll need to have your lats and other back muscles constantly engaged. If you are doing these alongside typical deadlifts, you’ll want to start at a significantly lower weight. Again, these emphasize hamstring and gluteus maximus involvement and reduces quadriceps involvement.
- Trap Bar: Rather than using a straight barbell, this type of deadlift uses a hexagonal hex or trap bar. The handles are at your sides instead of in front you with a straight barbell. Hex/trap bar deadlifts are more “squatty” than a straight barbell deadlift and thus involve the quadriceps more and the lower back less than a conventional barbell deadlift. It is still more of a hip hinge than a squat movement. They are more straightforward to learn in comparison to a barbell deadlift.
- Snatch grip: Previously discussed deadlift forms have the arms reaching straight down to the bar at about shoulder width. Snatch grip deadlift utilizes a wider grip, with hands well outside the knees. The name refers to an Oylmpic type of barbell lift, the snatch where the barbell ends up overhead of a squatting lifter. A wider grip is beneficial for a snatch for stability along the movement and in the static end position. A snatch grip deadlift is a great accessory for those who do Olympic lifts, or for lifters who would like to recruit more of their upper back muscles during a deadlift. As with deficit and Romanian deadlifts, definitely start with lower weight than your preferred base deadlift.
- Single leg: A unilateral isolation deadlift that will remind you of a drinking bird toy. Start with both feet about hip width apart. Plant your weight on the working leg, keeping a soft knee with a slight bend, and hinge forward at the hips in a way that brings your non-working leg up straight behind you until your torso is approximately parallel to the ground (individual flexibility may affect this – you should feel these in your active hamstrings and gluteus maximus). Be sure not to rotate at the hip as in a hip airplane (discussed below); keep your shoulders and hips square and your back straight. To add weight, start with a dumbbell or kettlebell – personally I prefer holding the weight with both hands in front of my planted leg. You may also hold the weight in one hand – be it the active leg side or the opposite. Whichever configuration allows you to perform the movement in a controlled manner while you maintain your balance is fine.
Supplemental/Complimentary Exercises
Here are a few of many exercises that are similar or beneficial to the deadlift.
- Good Mornings – This is technically not a deadlift, but the body mechanics and movement pattern are almost identical. Instead of the bar being suspended from your hands, it is resting across your traps and shoulders a la the back squat. Like the deadlift, this exercise is a hip hinge movement generally focused on targeting the posterior chain.
- Reverse hyperextensions – Another hip extension exercise, but instead of extending your hips by standing up straighter, you are lying prone (on your tummy) and lifting your legs upward off the ground, or from a 90 degree angle below you if you have access to a reverse hyper machine. This is also an excellent lower back isolation exercise. SquatUniversity has a wonderful blog post about this exercise and lower back extensions.
- Hip airplane: This is more of a stretch, warmup, and rehabilitation movement but is very similar to the form for the single leg deadlift while also providing flexibility and mobility benefits.
Equipment, Tools, and Other Considerations
Flat shoes: Aside from the actual weight equipment, flat soled shoes like Converse All Stars, Vans skater shoes, or even barefoot if environment allows, is going to be one of the most important factors in a safe and steady deadlift. Squat University goes into
great detail on how and why to create a ‘tripod’ with your foot. Here’s another
SquatUniversity video on the foot tripod. You don’t want to try and deadlift in a squishy shoe because it interferes with the ability to really plant your foot and create stability that way.
Breathing: Breathing while lifting is different than breathing as you go about your day. How you hold your breath during a lift is going to be crucial to creating and maintaining bodily stability and ensuring you can perform the lift safely and effectively. Many lifters utilize a breath hold technique called the
Valsalva maneuver to increase intra-abdominal pressure during a lift. This increases rigidity and stability in the torso to provide support to the vertebral column and maintain a tight, stable core during the lift. This page has a
neat diagram illustrating essentially a cross section of the body during a Valsalva maneuver in a lift.
Belts –The basic premise behind using a lifting belt is to help the lifter brace their abdominal muscles more or “better” (thus increasing intra-abdominal pressure) during a lift by providing an additional physical barrier to brace against. A weightlifting belt can be beneficial to some lifters, but is not going to fix or help lifts if you are unable to properly engage your core to begin with. The
Stronger By Science Belt Bible is an extensive guide to how and when to use a belt for lifting.
In an experiment with an (admittedly small) sample size of 10 experienced lifters, researchers found that “The use of a properly aligned and fitted weight-lifting belt did not yield a significant difference in muscle activation between the belted and nonbelted trials for the tested muscle groups while performing the conventional DL. Thus, a weight-lifting belt may augment the lifter’s perception, but it does not enhance or detract from motor unit activation.” (Pellechia et al 2018).
Straps are tools one can use when lifting, typically to aid in gripping a barbell if the lifter’s grip strength is not cutting it either out of fatigue or general relative weakness. They can also protect hands with torn calluses or if the knurling (rough textured areas) on a bar are too rough. Using straps may help someone maintain dual overhand grip for longer than without using straps. Generally speaking as long as you don’t rely on straps all the time, your grip strength nor lifts will not suffer for using them. TNation has a
decent pros vs cons and when to use straps page.
Lifting chalk is powder or liquid form of magnesium carbonate applied directly to the hands to keep them dry and increase friction between skin and bar, thus improving grip when lifting heavy weights, doing pull-ups, or gymnastics for instance.
Grip types
Dual overhand grip: Dual overhand grip is exactly how it sounds – both of your hands are wrapped around the front of the barbell in a pronated position – your palms face your body. Improving the maximum weight you can pull with dual overhand grip is going to seriously benefit your overall grip strength. In an ideal world you will be dual overhand for as heavy as possible while still remaining in control of the bar.
Hook grip: Hook grip is a very secure but notoriously painful grip configuration. To decrease the rotation of the bar within your hands, your thumb is wrapped between the bar and your fingers rather than around the barbell.
This article goes into way more depth about the mechanics, how-to, and supposed benefits of hook grip compared to other grip configurations.
Mixed grip: Mixed grip refers to having one hand “overhand” (pronated) and the other hand “underhand” (supinated) along the barbell. This hand configuration can provide improved stability and security on the barbell through the lift, but there are legitimate concerns regarding this grip. The primary concern is imbalance, not only in terms of strength differences but how it can change the mechanics of the lift. If one side of your upper extremities is pronated and the other is supinated, you are using different stabilization and accessory muscles on each side along the whole extremity. This can lead to strength imbalances and potentially injury if technique is suboptimal. Additionally, this can lead to the bar moving unevenly – one side may come up or go down faster than the other due to the orientation of the arm and hand, and it may also introduce some unnecessary rotation into the lift. A way to compensate for these challenges is to alternate which hand is over and which is under, so that each arm is in each position for an equal number of reps.
A second concern involving underhand gripping the bar in any way (as dual underhand is also a potential but ill-advised grip configuration for deadlifting) is the risk of biceps tear in your upper arms. This can occur if the lifter has an element of “curling” the bar along the bar path, especially as weight increases. This can be avoided by keeping your arms extended through the elbow and using them only as a hook and pulley system by which to hold the bar through the deadlift motion.
Conclusion: “A mixed grip may be beneficial in reducing the overall perceived technical difficulty when performing a maximal DL. Athletes aiming to maximize muscle activation and potentially develop their grip strength should utilize a dual overhand grip or hook grip.” And “The use of a particular grip is largely down to individual preferences, with no scientific evidence suggesting the superiority of one grip over another.” (Pratt et al 2020).
Badass Women Deadlifting Obscene Numbers
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