deadlift form check!

[enwar3]

So my deadlifts are pretty horrible. I've never been able to get someone to help me out on these, but I figured I'd ask at before I go and injure myself on heavier weights. Any feedback appreciated!

Light: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtTaHioba1E
Workset: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Lx1QdZqVDA

 

[RagingBITCH]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqxim0YXr90

Great video from Mark.

On yours, from what I can tell you're straightening out your legs too early and using your lower back to bring the weight up to a full position. You're going on the up position, legs straighten out, then using almost all lower back to lift the weight up. (Someone can correct me if I'm not looking at this right) Your up motion - you should finish straightening out your back at the same time your legs finish straightening out, if that makes sense.

 

[BeauJangles]

I wouldn't say your deadlift is horrible or even bad by any means. You maintain a strong lumbar arch throughout the movement and you have the basic ideas in place.

The first thing you should notice is on your return -- do you see how your knees are in the way of the bar? That happens because you're trying to lower the bar down with your knees first. When you lower the bar it should be the opposite of when you raise it. On the way up that means knees, hips, upper body. On the way down that means upper body, hips, knees. Shoot your ass back behind you to begin lowering the bar and once it has dropped you can start bending the knees.

The other thing you should work on is your starting position. You have the right idea, but your shoulders need to be in front of the bar. It's hard for me to explain, but look at this picture and compare it to your deadlift: http://stronglifts.com/wp-cont...dlift-hip-position.jpg You'll find the lift much easier when the weight sits further back.

Also, check out this video: http://vimeo.com/1073939?pg=embed&sec=1073939

 

[HN]

Originally posted by: enwar3
Workset: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Lx1QdZqVDA

LOL at guy doing pullups in background

 

[KoolDrew]

Stop shrugging the weight.

 

[enwar3]

Originally posted by: KoolDrew
Stop shrugging the weight.

Do you mean at the top or during set-up?

Originally posted by: RagingBITCH
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqxim0YXr90

Great video from Mark.

On yours, from what I can tell you're straightening out your legs too early and using your lower back to bring the weight up to a full position. You're going on the up position, legs straighten out, then using almost all lower back to lift the weight up. (Someone can correct me if I'm not looking at this right) Your up motion - you should finish straightening out your back at the same time your legs finish straightening out, if that makes sense.

I was under the impression that the knee angle was supposed to open up before my leg-torso angle opened up. Maybe I'm leaning my butt back and straightening out my legs? Do you mean to say that after the bar passes my knees everything below the knees should stay perpendicular to the ground?

Originally posted by: BeauJangles
I wouldn't say your deadlift is horrible or even bad by any means. You maintain a strong lumbar arch throughout the movement and you have the basic ideas in place.

The first thing you should notice is on your return -- do you see how your knees are in the way of the bar? That happens because you're trying to lower the bar down with your knees first. When you lower the bar it should be the opposite of when you raise it. On the way up that means knees, hips, upper body. On the way down that means upper body, hips, knees. Shoot your ass back behind you to begin lowering the bar and once it has dropped you can start bending the knees.

The other thing you should work on is your starting position. You have the right idea, but your shoulders need to be in front of the bar. It's hard for me to explain, but look at this picture and compare it to your deadlift: http://stronglifts.com/wp-cont...dlift-hip-position.jpg You'll find the lift much easier when the weight sits further back.

Also, check out this video: http://vimeo.com/1073939?pg=embed&sec=1073939

I did watch the video and it was really informative. I'll definitely try keeping my shoulder in front of the bar to start.

As for coming back down, I do try to stick my butt out first and keep my everything below the knees static until the bar reaches the knees but I guess I'm not working that well enough. When you say I'm lowering with my knees you mean I'm keeping my upper body static and bending at the knees to lower the weight?

Thanks for all your help so far guys. The comments are helpful, and it definitely helps to see yourself on video too.

 

[Packie]

What gym is that? Looks nice.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

You shouldn't really shrug the weight at any period as KoolDrew stated. You should keep your traps and surrounding muscles tight, but never shrug. Also, like everyone else has said, you use your back far too early in the motion. Your lumbar arch is pretty good, and that's where most people get their injuries.

So things to do: just hold the weight, never shrug; use power from your legs in the pull to straighten your back more. After your legs have locked, you really shouldn't have much, if any motion left in the movement. Therefore, try to make a nice, even balance between using your legs and your back. You don't want to strain anything in your back.

 

[enwar3]

Originally posted by: SociallyChallenged
You shouldn't really shrug the weight at any period as KoolDrew stated. You should keep your traps and surrounding muscles tight, but never shrug. Also, like everyone else has said, you use your back far too early in the motion. Your lumbar arch is pretty good, and that's where most people get their injuries.

So things to do: just hold the weight, never shrug; use power from your legs in the pull to straighten your back more. After your legs have locked, you really shouldn't have much, if any motion left in the movement. Therefore, try to make a nice, even balance between using your legs and your back. You don't want to strain anything in your back.

I've been watching my video over and over and I can't tell how I could possibly use my back any later. Are you saying I should

1. Lock legs, then use back to pull up weight the rest of the way
2. Start opening hip angle after the weight gets past the knees.

2 seems right to me, but then I'm using my back too early. How am I supposed to have most of the movement finished before my legs lock if I can't use my back when I'm using it now? RB says I should have my back straightened sooner, about the same time my legs straighten out, but you're saying I'm using my back too early and should wait til later to straighten it. I'm confused.

Originally posted by: Packie
What gym is that? Looks nice.

It's just the gym at my college.

 

[Special K]

I don't see what's wrong with shrugging the weight at the very top of the movement. If you've already locked out completely then you aren't cheating by shrugging the weight, and the motion is just the same as if you were to lift the barbell off the rack pins and perform a regular shrug, which is not an inherently dangerous movement. You certainly don't need to shrug to the weight at the top of a deadlift, as it isn't part of the movement, but I don't see how it does any harm.

OP I thought your deadlifts looked fine for the most part. Some on here might disagree with me, but I think the exact form of a deadlift will depend to some extent on how you are built, and in particular your leg, arm, and torso lengths. If you watch people deadlift, even competitive powerlifters, you will notice that they don't all pull exactly the same way. Obviously there are universally bad things to avoid, and you can find examples on youtube of people performing terrible deadlifts, but I think there is some room for individual style and preference when deadlifting. Many of the points mentioned in this thread are minor nitpicks or personal preferences, IMO. As an example, I think the specific time that your lower back becomes the primary mover vs. your legs will vary from person to person. Obviously you don't want to try to pull the weight off the ground using only your lower back, but I don't think you can make a general statement that says "everyone should engage their lower back at exactly this point". Again, if you look at the videos of competitive powerlifters, they don't all perform a deadlift exactly the same way.

I'm sure someone will come along shortly and rip my post apart piece by piece, but for what it's worth, I've been deadlifting heavy for 5 years now and have yet to experience any injury from it. I think my back actually feels better now than before I started.

 

[brikis98]

To be honest, it's a bit hard to judge from those videos - it's only one angle, fairly close up, etc. From what I can see, you're maintaining a nice lumbar arch and have the basic idea of the lift down. As others mentioned, don't shrug the weight, at all. As for the leg/back interaction and transition, it's worth noting that the ONLY role of your back muscles in the deadlift is keeping your spine rigid against the load. The only thing the muscles around your spine (erectors) should be doing is maintaining that nice lumbar arch - they should NOT be lifting/pulling the weight to straighten you out. You can basically break the deadlift down into two stages, although this is just a mental breakdown - during the actual lift, it should all be one smooth motion:

In the first stage, during which the bar moves from the floor to (roughly) your knees, the weight is moving because you are straightening out your legs (largely a quad movement). During this time, your back is basically maintaining a constant angle with the floor, which means all your back muscles are doing is keeping your spine rigid.

In the second stage, once the bar clears your knees, you need to straighten your body out. Although your back will now change its angle with respect to the floor, the main mover will NOT be your back muscles - they are still just doing their main job of keeping your spine rigid. The actual motion should come from you pushing your hips forward with a very hard contraction of your glutes. You should actually feel your butt muscles tightening up a lot to drive your hips forward. Not only does tightening your glutes this way keep your back safe, it also lets you incorporate your hamstrings and generate a lot of power.

So, to recap: during the entire lift, your back muscles are *only* working to keep your spine rigid (which is hard enough), while your legs/glutes/hips/hamstrings (in succession) are doing the actual moving of the weight and your body. Just be sure to keep the bar in contact with your legs the entire time, as it's a *much* more efficient (and safer) motion if you literally drag the bar up your shins, over your knees and up the thighs. No, it's not particularly pleasant, but if you don't have scrapes and bruises up the entire length of your leg after a deadlift session, you're not doing it right.

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: Special K
Some on here might disagree with me, but I think the exact form of a deadlift will depend to some extent on how you are built, and in particular your leg, arm, and torso lengths. If you watch people deadlift, even competitive powerlifters, you will notice that they don't all pull exactly the same way.

I definitely agree that different genetics will have a big factor in how the deadlift - and for that matter, the squat - should look. However, I wanted to point out that using competitive powerlifters as a model for how to deadlift may be a bad idea. Not only are the competitive lifters likely to be genetically gifted with strong tendons, ligaments, backs, etc but they've also spent YEARS developing their back strength. As a result, many of these guys use techniques that would be VERY unsafe for someone new to lifting. For example, check out Konstantinov Deadlifting - he puts up some amazing lifts, but I would never recommend a newbie to try to deadlift with that kind of curve/bend in the back.

If you have a few years of deadlifting experience under your belt, feel free to experiment, use your back more or less, whatever. But as a newbie, it's probably a much better idea to start with a very conservative form that keeps the back safe.

Originally posted by: Special K
I'm sure someone will come along shortly and rip my post apart piece by piece, but for what it's worth, I've been deadlifting heavy for 5 years now and have yet to experience any injury from it. I think my back actually feels better now than before I started.

If done properly, the deadlift is one of the best ways to strengthen the back. If done wrong... it's one of the quickest ways to injure it quite badly.

 

[gramboh]

Great post brikis. OP, overall you are pretty good, as everyone is saying nice lumbar arch which is the most important thing. Really focus on driving forward with your hips (hump the bar) after it passes your knees. After the bar passes your knees you should really feel your hamstrings and glutes (squeeze them) pulling the bar up versus your lower back doing the work. It took me a long time to understand and get that part of the lift. I can tell I'm doing it right now because I feel it in my hamstrings/glutes whereas before I would feel it in my back and experience some lower back pain after sets. As for the shrug thing, I had a problem with active arms as well. I'd be bending my elbows or shrugging etc. Just thing of the arms as loose ropes attached to the weight. Start the motion by extending your knees (using your quads) to "squeeze" the weight up off the floor, arms do nothing other than remain locked and grip is as tight as possible.

 

[BeauJangles]

Originally posted by: enwar3

As for coming back down, I do try to stick my butt out first and keep my everything below the knees static until the bar reaches the knees but I guess I'm not working that well enough. When you say I'm lowering with my knees you mean I'm keeping my upper body static and bending at the knees to lower the weight?

Thanks for all your help so far guys. The comments are helpful, and it definitely helps to see yourself on video too.

There needs to be two distinct motions when you go to lower the weight. First, you need to shoot your ass backwards which will get the bar either right to or below your knees. Only at the end of that motion do you lower the weight to the ground by bending your knees. It takes a bit of practice to get it down.