Barbell Deadlifts

Setup, hinge and lockout

The deadlift rewards exact setup. Every detail from foot position to grip width changes the lift. Run through each step deliberately. Speed comes once the pattern is locked in.

1. Foot position

Stand with feet hip width apart, bar over mid foot roughly an inch from the shins. Toes pointed slightly out, around 10 to 15 degrees. Feet flat. If the bar is over the toes the bar path will arc forward. If the bar is against the shins on setup the knees are too far forward.

2. Grip

Hinge down and grip the bar just outside the legs. Double overhand grip for warm ups. Mixed grip or hook grip for top sets. Squeeze the bar hard. The shoulders should sit slightly in front of the bar when the start position is locked in.

3. The wedge

Pull the slack out of the bar by hinging the hips down until the legs press the bar tight against the plates. Chest up, lats engaged as if squeezing oranges in the armpits, neutral spine from sacrum to skull. Take a breath into the belly and brace hard against a tight belt position.

4. The pull

Push the floor away with the legs. The bar travels in a straight vertical line up the shins, over the knees and up the thighs. Hips and shoulders rise at the same rate from the floor. If the hips shoot up first the lift becomes a stiff legged deadlift halfway through and the lower back takes over.

5. The lockout and descent

Lock out by driving the hips through. Stand tall, shoulders back over the hips, glutes squeezed. Do not lean back. Reverse the hinge to lower the bar by pushing the hips back first then bending the knees once the bar passes them.

What the deadlift trains

The deadlift is the most complete posterior chain lift. It loads hip extension, knee extension and spinal rigidity simultaneously. Loaded heavy enough it is also a serious upper back exercise.

Hip extensors

Gluteus maximus and the hamstrings (biceps femoris, semitendinosus, semimembranosus) drive the hips from flexion to extension. The glutes do most of the work at the lockout. The hamstrings do most of the work from the floor to knee height.

Spinal erectors

The erector spinae works isometrically to resist spinal flexion under load. This is one of the few exercises that loads the erectors heavily enough to drive measurable hypertrophy. Visible thickness through the spinal column is largely deadlift built.

Lats and upper back

The lats work to keep the bar close to the body throughout the pull. The upper traps, rhomboids and rear delts work isometrically to hold a flat upper back position. At heavy loads these muscles are doing real work even though no movement is visible.

Quadriceps and grip

The quads handle the initial knee extension from the floor. Grip is the most commonly limiting factor on heavy sets. The forearm flexors and the deep flexor muscles of the digits do the work of holding hundreds of kilograms in your hands.

Five errors that turn deadlifts into back injuries

The deadlift has one of the higher injury rates of major barbell lifts when programmed badly. Almost every deadlift injury traces to one of the following errors. Learn to spot them on your own video.

Rounded lower back

Lumbar flexion under load is the classic deadlift injury mechanism. Film every set from the side. If the lower back rounds at any point during the pull, drop load and rebuild the brace. McGill and others have repeatedly shown that flexed-spine loading is the highest risk position.

Hips shooting up first

If the hips rise faster than the shoulders, the pull becomes a stiff legged deadlift with the bar far from the body. This crushes the lower back. The fix is glute pre-tension and pushing the floor away rather than pulling with the back.

Bar drift away from the body

A bar that travels even an inch forward of mid foot multiplies the moment arm on the spine. Keep the bar dragging up the legs. Cued correctly the bar should leave a chalk line up the shins and thighs.

Hyperextending at the top

Leaning back at lockout to "feel" the contraction loads the lumbar spine in extension instead of finishing hip extension. Lock out tall, glutes squeezed, ribs stacked over hips. The lift is over when you are standing straight.

Pulling from the back not the legs

The deadlift starts with the legs pushing the floor away. Lifters who pull with the back first set the hips too high and the back too horizontal. Get the chest up, set the back tight then drive with the legs.

Sets, reps and recovery for the deadlift

The deadlift produces more central nervous system fatigue per session than almost any other lift. Frequency and total volume need to be lower than for other exercises. Build the lift on quality of reps, not session count.

Strength: 1 to 5 reps

The primary use case for heavy deadlifts. 3 to 5 sets of 1 to 5 reps at 80 to 92 percent of one rep max. Three to five minutes rest. Stay 1 to 2 reps in reserve on top sets. Singles should be planned, not freelanced.

Hypertrophy: 6 to 8 reps

Higher rep deadlifts produce significant hypertrophy of the posterior chain but technique degrades within sets. 3 to 4 sets of 6 to 8 reps at 65 to 75 percent. Each rep reset from the floor with no touch and go. If reps 6, 7 and 8 round the back, the set is over.

Endurance and conditioning

High rep deadlifts (above 10 reps) are aggressive on the lower back when grip is also limiting. Use sparingly. A 10 to 15 rep top set once every few weeks can be productive. Daily high rep deadlifts are a bad idea for almost everyone.

Frequency

One heavy deadlift session per week is enough for most lifters. Two sessions per week is possible if one is much lighter or focuses on rack pulls or deficit work. Recovery between heavy sessions takes 5 to 7 days for most people. ACSM recommends at least 48 hours between sessions for the same muscle group at intensity.

Progression

Linear progression on deadlifts ends earlier than on most lifts. Move to wave loading or undulating periodisation once 5 by 5 stalls. Add reps before load. When you make all reps at a given load with one rep in reserve, add 2.5 to 5 kg the following week.

More on back training

For deadlift variants the Conventional deadlifts guide covers cueing in greater depth. Sumo deadlifts are worth reading if your hip mobility favours a wider stance. And Rack pulls are the standard accessory for lifters who want to load the top half of the deadlift heavier than they can pull from the floor.