How to Barbell Deadlift With Proper Form

The deadlift is one of the most obvious demonstrations of strength. The exercise is just as easy as anything else you could perform at a gym : You lift a big weight off the ground and return it to its original position (or, if you’re working on a single rep and in that kind of training setting, drop it with a loud crash). If you are just doing the activity for your workout and not competing, there isn’t a huge list of standards to meet in order to gauge success. Either you raise the weight to the lockout point or you don’t.

This classic workout is beneficial for more than just powerlifters trying to set world records and PRs by packing on as many plates to their barbells. Whichever tool you choose—a barbell, dumbbells, kettlebells, or trap bar—the deadlift is a tried-and-true complex exercise for packing on serious muscle. It’s an excellent posterior chain development exercise. The deadlift involves your largest muscles, with your lower body—hamstrings, quadriceps, and glutes—doing the most of the work. However, finishing reps also requires using your upper body muscles, including as the erector spinae, traps, and even your forearms (since holding the heavy loaded bar requires a vise-like grip).

Even while the deadlift appears straightforward to the uninitiated eye, it requires more technical execution than simply walking up to a platform, grabbing the bar, and going for it. It’s crucial to adhere to a few form cues, particularly when using larger weights. There are surprisingly many details that distinguish an effective and successful rep from an ineffective and potentially deadly one, just like with many other physical accomplishments. The deadlift involves more than just sheer strength. You’ll also need to master the technique if you want to reap the benefits of all your hard work.

How to Do Barbell Deadlifts

To understand how to perform the barbell deadlift correctly, pay attention to these form signals. Allow us to assist you in navigating the nuances of the workout, sparing you from the negative habits that are preventing you from reaching your full fitness potential. After reading the detailed instructions, continue reading for some advanced advice from Samuel to further explore the practice.

Ascend to the loaded barbell by placing your feet beneath the bar and starting approximately shoulder-width apart (your exact distance may vary depending on your anatomy and personal choice).If not contacting the bar, your shins should be in contact with it.
To reach the bar on either side of your legs, push your butt back and bend at the waist. Using both hands, take an overhand grip on it.
Verify the alignment of your hips and shoulders. Set your lats by squeezing your shoulder blades together, then contract your core. Don’t glance up; maintain a neutral neck posture.
Maintaining the bar close to your torso, drive the weight higher while pressing your feet through the floor. It’s acceptable if you find that the bar scrapes your shins. Put on pants or buy long socks. At the top of the list, flex your glutes without reclining.

Important Deadlift Tips

In order to deadlift correctly (and hence, safely), there are a few things you need know before you approach the barbell (or dumbbells, or hex bar) and go to work.

Leave the Gear at Home

Fitbulk advises starting out by leaving the accessories at home. Perhaps you’ve seen lifters with more expertise gearing up with belts and wrist straps before they start hauling big weights. When your aim is to stack as many plates as you can on the bar, equipment such as this can be useful; but, if you’re just starting out, you should have alternate objectives. that is, determining the appropriate form.

Tighten Your Lats

Fitbulk states that although the load is hanging from your arms, this exercise mostly works your lower body but also substantially engages your shoulders. In other words, you want your back to be actively engaged in this movement. If it isn’t, your upper back will round forward, which can cause problems with your shoulders and upper back. Tighten your rhomboids as well as your lats to prevent it. Squeeze your shoulder blades as if you’re attempting to pop a walnut in your mid-back once you’ve grasped the bar. Next, attempt to extend your lats by bending your arms so that your elbows are facing straight behind you. At last, remove the loose ends from the bar. Is it accurate to say that the distance between the plates and the bar is one millimeter? The bar should press straight up against the plate tops.

Brace Your Core

Fitbulk states: While many men wear belts during deadlifting, the best belt you possess is the one that nature bestowed upon you: Together, the muscles in your lower back, obliques, abs, and deeper abdomen work to maintain a straight, natural spine. This becomes increasingly important when you deadlift larger and heavier weights. On the deadlift, you’re trying to hinge from your hips (more on that in a moment), but if your torso isn’t stiff throughout the lift, you’ll probably wind up moving from your spine. (It’s bad for your back.)

Before every deadlift, take a deep inhale, fully filling your abdomen with air, and tense your entire core. Try to visualize your lower back as rigid as possible.

Hips Lower Than Shoulders

According to Fitbulk, your hamstrings and glutes should be the main muscles involved in this lift, not your lower back. To achieve that, you must ensure that your lower back is not the primary point of leverage. Therefore, maintain your hips lower than your shoulders during each and every rep. This should cause you to take a seat and recline slightly, perhaps bending your knees further and tightening your hamstrings.

Think of Every Rep as Its Own Rep

Fitbulk advises against rushing the deadlift, especially once you begin moving substantial weight. Take your time, even if you’re performing a set of six or eight reps. After every rep, don’t be scared to complete every item on your checklist. Your objective need to be to do each rep with fluidity and cleanliness.

Common Deadlift Mistakes

You Mix the Grip

Fitbulk advises: When deadlifting, adopt an overhand grip whenever possible rather than the common mixed grip. The mixed grip, which prevents the bar from slipping when you’re deadlifting really heavy, involves using one hand overhand and one underhand to grab the bar.

This doesn’t appear to be a problem in the near future. However, with repeated use, the mixed grip uses your mid-back and lats in somewhat different ways on each side of your body. Additionally, it gives the deadlift an anti-rotation character, which is undesirable in this situation. Consider this: In order to increase the difficulty of the pullup and make it a core-taxing anti-rotation exercise, we deliberately pick a varied grip. However, our core has other tasks to complete, therefore we don’t want it exerting itself further during a deadlift.

You Start Too Far Away

When lifting weight with a barbell, you should keep the device as near to your body as you can. This entails placing your feet beneath the bar at the beginning and pulling straight up, even if it means your shins will get scraped by the bar. Pulling the bar from too far in front of you will put your lower back at risk because you will be starting from a compromised position. If this is an issue for you, get some long socks or put on some pants.

Your Hips Are Higher Than Your Shoulders

This is essentially the last point reversed, but it bears repeating. You’re compromising the position of your lower back and increasing your risk of pain and injury if you can’t start your pull with your hips lower than your shoulders. A dumbbell or trap bar deadlift would be a better alternative for you if you can get into the right position for it.

You Overextend at the Top

Yes, tightening your glutes to highlight hip extension at the peak of the exercise is crucial to completing a deadlift rep, but far too many people overextend, causing their spines to fold backward. Avoid doing this.There is no need to risk injury by continuing past lockout since you have already completed the lift.

Top Benefits of Deadlifts

Compound Movement

As a compound movement, or multi-joint exercise, deadlifts require the cooperation of multiple muscle groups for optimal performance. These are some of the best workouts for developing muscle and strength throughout the entire body. More precisely you’ll strengthen your posterior chain, back, and legs—particularly your hamstrings and glutes—while also severely taxing your central nervous system. For this reason, you can refer to the deadlift as a leg-day or back-building exercise.

Train the Posterior Chain

One of the best exercises for developing your posterior chain—the muscles on the back of the body that are crucial for everyday movement, athletic performance, and spinal health—is the deadlift. For the deadlift, the erector spinae, glutes, hamstrings, lats, and traps are important members of that group. You’ll notice improvements in your posture (upper back/traps) and your ability to perform strong, athletic movements (glutes and hamstrings) as a result of strengthening them.

Everyday Function

In real life, you might not be picking up a barbell, but you’ll probably find yourself reaching down to get heavy objects off the ground. When you take anything, such groceries, luggage, or even just picking up your small children and pets from the floor, you repeat this motion. In addition to teaching you how to do this properly, the deadlift helps you develop a foundation of strength that will allow you move anyway you choose when you’re not in the gym.

Heavy Weights

For most people, the exercise in their strength training arsenal that allows them to load up the greatest weight is the deadlift. It’s not only your pride that matters in this. Building strength and, to a lesser extent, muscle requires working with increasingly bigger loads.

Grip Strength

If you perform the deadlift using the conventional, pronated (overhand) method, it’s a great way to strengthen your grip. It will be difficult for you to maintain your grip on the hefty bar the entire time. You might switch to a mixed (or alternating) grip and reach for wraps or straps to help you hang on once you start training for pure strength and poundage (and you’re not in a strict competition situation). If that’s not the case, though, try to utilize the conventional orientation for as long as you can.

Muscles Trained By the Deadlift

Once more, the deadlift will target the posterior chain muscles. These are primarily your erector spinae, glutes, hamstrings, and the muscles in your upper and mid-back (the lats and traps). But other muscles are also used in the process of holding the weight. Your forearms play a crucial role in grip, particularly when you employ the pronated position. If you brace to stabilize your spine and lift the weight, you’ll also work your front core muscles, which include your obliques and abdominals.

Why Proper Deadlift Form Is Important

Maintaining proper form is crucial for both increasing the amount of weight you can lift and, more significantly, protecting your back and spine. When it comes to deadlift technique, there aren’t as many differing opinions as there are with other lifts because the same thing matters whether you learn from a powerlifter, bodybuilder, or performance coach. Although there are many different kinds of stances, techniques, and signals, you’ll discover that they all originate from the same fundamental movement framework that is intended to build strength through hip extension.

However, some people even completely shun deadlifts because they believe the exercise is too risky to incorporate into their routines. When done correctly, deadlifts can be a safe and effective way to gain strength and size for almost everyone. Avoidance of that kind is more a matter of personal taste based on individual anatomy than a rigid rule for everyone.

Additionally, there are several possibilities for the implement that you may use, so individuals with various anatomical needs can choose a version that suits them. However, you should definitely know how to perform deadlifting correctly even if you’re not worried about safety.

How to Add the Deadlift to Your Workouts

Samuel advises newcomers to the form to start with three to four sets of six to eight repetitions while using modest weights. As you advance, you can start training with lower rep schemes and increasing the load to develop strength. Since the deadlift is a challenging compound lift, you should usually perform it as your first exercise in your lower body, back, or whole body focused workouts. This will ensure that you get the most out of the exercise and avoid fatigue.

Common Deadlift Variations

The deadlift comes in a lot of forms because it is such a fundamental exercise. For a somewhat different experience, try switching up the tool (dumbbell, kettlebell, or trap bar deadlifts), your stance (sumo, single-leg, or sumo deadlifts), or even your range of motion (Romanian, stiff-leg, or single-leg deadlifts). Each of these choices has a specific role in a strength training regimen.

Arun Bhagat

As a seasoned content writer specialized in the fitness and health niche, Arun Bhagat has always wanted to promote wellness. After gaining proper certification as a gym trainer with in-depth knowledge of virtually all the information related to it, he exercised his flair for writing interesting, informative content to advise readers on their healthier lifestyle. His topics range from workout routines, nutrition, and mental health to strategies on how to be more fit in general. His writing is informative but inspiring for people to achieve their wellness goals as well. Arun is committed to equipping those he reaches with the insights and knowledge gained through fitness.