The deadlift is considered to be the best "total body" lift there is. It hits almost all the muscles — legs, glutes, back, shoulders, etc. — and is at the top of the charts for developing overall strength.
It's also one of the easiest to do incorrectly. Many lifters in the gym don't get close enough to the bar, and when they reach down to grip it, their back is out of alignment. First check point (repeated below) is to look down and see that the bar crosses over the balls of your feet.
Here's what you need to do:
Get someone who knows what to look for to observe your deadlift. I don't mean one of your rat-pack buddies who's in the gym grunting and groaning, but rather someone who is a trainer and, more importantly, an established trainer who knows the elements of technique.
Have your setup down solid. There will always be minor variations because of torso length, arm and leg length, etc. But you can take several things to the bank:
- The bar should be over or close to midfoot. Anything farther away, and you end up trying to bring the bar back during the first few inches of the lift.
- Take a good breath just before you lower down to the bar.
- Get to the bar; "take the tension out of the bar" by grasping it one hand at a time and pulling up, but not so much that the weight moves — this sets the arm and shoulder and gives you a strong connect to your upper back; then lift. Do not spend any time in the down position or your body will start to relax the tension that is needed in the liftoff, and your mind starts to play games.
The first move off the floor should be explosive, even though your body may be moving slowly if you are in a heavy lift.
Rack or block lifts. In these, you set the weighted bar two to six inches off the ground. You are working on that very important explosive liftoff. You can also work these closer to your one-rep max. The bar is actually starting somewhere just below your knees.
Speed lifts. These are not max-reps-in-60 seconds or simply trying to do 50 reps at once. It's important to always focus on technique — the "speed" comes in the first half of the lift when you're trying to explode the bar off the floor. Work at a weight anywhere between 50 percent and 80 percent of your one-rep max. The key is to increase reps as you go down in weight, but keep it at around six to eight reps for 50 percent at, say, four to five sets. Go for six to seven one-rep sets if you're working at 80 percent.
