I really like the deadlift. 

Whereas I’ve transitioned from powerlifting to focusing extra on hypertrophy, I nonetheless deadlift heavy. Why? As a result of I prefer it. 

The deadlift is such a satisfying elevate. 

Despite the fact that I’ve been deadlifting critically for practically ten years, there are nonetheless some cues that I mentally undergo in my head as I carry out this train. 

Under, I share my 5 favourite cues that I nonetheless use right this moment. Some make use of evocative metaphors that make them straightforward to recollect and all are fairly helpful in guaranteeing you do the deadlift accurately. 

In the event you’re in search of an in-depth information to the deadlift, take a look at this complete article. 

To Set Your Again Proper: Level Your Booty Gap on the Wall Behind You; Squeeze Oranges in Your Armpits

To maintain your again robust and secure throughout a heavy deadlift, you wish to keep again extension throughout its setup and execution. While you deadlift with a rounded again, you enhance the probabilities of harm.  

Setting and sustaining your again in extension might be exhausting when bending over to seize a barbell. It’s not one thing that comes naturally. I picked up two cues from Barbell Logic proprietor Matt Reynolds which have helped me accurately set my again in extension through the years: level your booty gap on the wall behind you; squeeze oranges in your armpits. 

“Level your booty gap on the wall” jogs my memory to maintain my hips up. While you level your booty gap on the wall when you’re bent over and grabbing the barbell, it should naturally put your decrease again into extension. 

When Matt coached my then 10-year-old son Gus on learn how to deadlift, he performed to his 10-year-old boy mentality and instructed him, “Think about you’re going to have diarrhea. Level your butt in order that the diarrhea sprays everywhere in the wall behind you.”

Gross? Sure.

But it surely labored. Because of that cue, Gus is aware of learn how to get his decrease again into extension. 

“Squeeze oranges in your armpits” is a cue that jogs my memory to maintain my chest up through the setup and the elevate. I simply think about I’ve acquired an orange in every armpit, and I have to hold them there through the elevate. For some bizarre motive, that cue helps me elevate my chest, which helps keep again extension through the deadlift. “Chest up” by no means labored for me, however “squeeze oranges in your armpits” does. 

If it feels uncomfortable, you’ll know your again is ready in extension accurately. It ought to really feel tight in your decrease again. 

To Stop Knee Caving: Shove Your Knees Out to Your Elbows

In case your knees are likely to collapse through the deadlift, then as you arrange, inform your self, “Shove your knees out to your elbows.”

Apart from stopping knee-cave, shoving your knees out so that they contact your elbows will put your legs in exterior rotation, permitting you to convey your adductors into the deadlift. The deadlift simply feels higher whenever you shove your knees out. 

To Stop Jerking: Pull the Slack Out of the Bar

One of many points I’ve had through the years with the deadlift is that I’ll work rather a lot to get into an excellent setup, solely to let that setup loosen up proper earlier than I begin to pull the barbell off the bottom. 

To counter that deadlift mishap, I inform myself, “Squeeze the slack out of the bar.” 

Squeezing the slack out of the bar means pulling on the bar by extending your again and straightening your arms and wrists. While you squeeze the slack out of the bar, the plates don’t depart the bottom, however the bar ought to really feel heavy in your fingers. You would possibly even see the bar bend a bit as you squeeze the slack out of it.

Squeezing the slack out of the bar helps me keep correct setup as an alternative of letting issues loosen up proper earlier than the elevate. 

To Maintain Your Arms Straight: Use Your Arms As Towing Straps

A typical mistake I see individuals make when deadlifting is that they’ll attempt to actively pull the bar with their arms. You don’t pull the bar along with your arms, within the sense of bending your elbows and pulling such as you’re on a rowing machine or doing a pull-up. Any bend in your arms can be pulled straight as quickly as you attempt to elevate the barbell; within the course of, a few of the work of lifting the bar can be misplaced on this straightening that might have higher contributed to the elevate. Bent arms can even trigger you to alter place barely as you begin the pull.

To maintain your arms straight all through the elevate, think about that they’re towing straps. As you arrange, take many of the weight of the barbell into your fingers along with your arms straight, creating stress in opposition to the barbell. With the barbell secured to your static arm “straps,” elevate the barbell by elevating your higher physique. 

To Begin the Deadlift Proper: Push the Earth Away With Your Toes

Whereas the deadlift is taken into account a “pull” train, a helpful cue to execute the elevate correctly is to additionally consider it as a push. After I’m prepared to drag the barbell off the bottom, I feel, “Push the earth away along with your toes.” An analogous cue is “Leg press the earth along with your toes.”

Beginning the deadlift with a foot push will lengthen the knees, providing you with some assist out of your quads. Beginning your deadlift with a push motion can even be certain that your bar maintains a straight up-and-down path, making for a extra environment friendly elevate.

I at all times really feel stronger after I consider my deadlift as a push as an alternative of a pull. Give it a strive. Perhaps you’ll, too.