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Barbell Deadlift Video

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Steve Freides

Steve Freides

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I have been experimenting with my deadlift form. I used to start with my hips higher and could never understand why some people started with their hips lower than the point where the bar breaks off the ground - but now I do. The idea is get as much initial push as possible and keep the weight as far back as possible. It does turn the deadlift start into something of a squat, but I am enjoying how this feels - my start feels much stronger than it used to.

I do question whether or not this is actually better for me physically or just makes me feel better, but here you go. Daily Dose Deadlift, lifting day #35, 320 lbs. Current bodyweight is 152, will lift in a meet on November 12 as M61-65, 148 lbs., raw. My preferred competition grip is right hand over, left hand under. Most of my training has been double overhand. Today, I did the first two singles with the opposite grip, then the last two with my favored grip. Warmups were my kettlebell presses for the day, then double overhand singles at 275 and 300.



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I prefer a low hip start position. I puts less sheer stress on the low back, and gives me more leg drive and speed off the floor.

Try a few Lift Offs, to reinforce pull the knees back or push floor away if you are an internal cue or external cue person. Paused Lift Offs help reinforce positional strength. Lift Off plus Deadlift is a great technique combo for warmup sets.

A Lift Off is pushing the bar above knees without changing back angle.
 
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I've recently made this change too. Craig Marker has an article on Breaking Muscle that breaks down the differences between the deadlift and clean. After reading that article I made the change. I definitely feel faster at the start of the lift.
 
@Wesker11, please post a link to the article you mention, and thanks very much.

My form change came after I watched an Ed Coan instructional video on the deadlift. I am, as I said above, not sure I need to do everything I'm doing differently, but I will live with it this way for a while and then experiment again to see if I can keep the good parts and return to a higher hip position - not sure, but we'll save those experiments for _after_ my upcoming meet.

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It depends on your lever lengths, and level of flexibility which start position is more advantageous for you.

@Wesker11 A deadlift is locking out heavy weight efficiently, and a Clean Pull is a positional pull where you are trying to get the bar lifter system in the best position to add maximum projection and elevation to bar, and still be able to pull yourself under the bar into the receiving position
 
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@Geoff Chafe, I will plays Devil's Advocate and say that I'm not so sure it's about lever lengths and flexibility. The idea of leaning back more at the start, of using the bar as a counterweight, is a sound one, but the goal is to keep the weight back, and I think one can learn to keep the weight back when starting with the hips at the place where the bar breaks off the ground.

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@Steve Freides With a high hip start more energy is required to pull the bar back into yourself to keep the bar within your base of support robbing energy from the pull. Also, in a low hip start the energy I empart straightening the knees off the floor gets stored in the hamstrings for hip extension. There is little wasted energy. I think of it as loading the spring. I am speaking from my experience as a Weightlifter, I do not look at the deadlift as a Powerlifter would.
 
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One thing I noticed is that you have enough weight on the bar to get a slight bar bend. While your hips start below the level at which they are when the bar leaves the ground, I see two phases in your lift before the bar leaves the ground (this is clearer in slow motion, at quarter speed). The first one is where you start pulling and the bar starts bending. During that phase, your hips go up a little as your hands go up while the bar bends. We cannot see tension in your body, but my guess is that you increase tension in your muscles during that phase. Then, the bar stops moving, and your hips go up while the bar stays as it is. At some point, the bar leaves the ground. I have no idea if this is a good thing or not, but some guy named Ed who pulled really heavy weights started his lifts with low hips. You can see a bunch of guys using a similar technique in this video: . I didn't have time to look at this video yet in details, but some impressive weights are moved with a low hip start.
 
I use standard Rip set up, i can See a slight deep before the pull, i think you should get yourself a little more behind the bar - also i would look higher, and actually try to extend your upper back a bit as imo you are not nearly tight enough
 
Steve, like Ryan said, the results will be clear. However, you do have to train with a posture or technique change for quite a while before it can be a valid comparison with your usual style.

In the video, you offer no reference to your technique but it looks like you might not practicing your theory: your hips position lower at the start, then rise up before the bar moves off the ground. I've not trained or coached the DL in a while so take this with a grain of salt.

Maybe start with a very exaggerated (it will seem as such for you) squat-style clean pull position off the ground and then adjust from there? Training this pull might also build some specific strength into your quads so you can get a better feel for how lower hip position pulls work for you. ...just some ideas for you.
 
@taedoju, thank you for the feedback.

Sitting back at all at the start is new for me - I'm not ready to do it more than I already am, and I'm not completely convinced it's the right form for me.

I have always deadlifted with a rounded upper back which I straighten out by the lockout. If I start with any lordosis in my spine, it hurts, plain and simple. I must start with lot of pressure in my belly, a flat lower back, and a rounded upper back - I can't pull otherwise. I know it might seem odd that what I just described is what allows me to pull injury- and pain-free, but that's how it is for me. I also can't do the "superman" exercise where you lay on the floor and lift your chest and feet off the ground - that also doesn't work for my back, even with no weight added. If it's not obvious from the above already, I have had two, unrelated back injuries, one severe, and one I guess I'd call moderate. Neither has any connection to lifting, but both necessarily effect how I lift.

So I know my deadlifts don't look "by the book," and particularly not by the book you mention - I've read his book and there are a number of things there that simply don't work for me.

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@aciampa, see my reply to @taedoju - I know I am starting with my hips lower than the point the bar comes off the ground. It is an experiment and, as you correctly observe, the goal is to get more of a "push" into my start, which you could call a "squat style clean pull". I have, until this change recent change in form where I'm sitting back some at the start, started with my hips higher, but I've also started with my gaze focused just a couple of feet in front of my on the floor - that is another technique/style that has helped me get a bigger push at the start.

There are other things that no one has yet mentioned I see as problems in my form, e.g., you'll see me switch from "push" to "pull" and when I do, instead of just bringing my hips forward, my knees also come forward.

The good thing I see is that my gaze and my head position is much more neutral with the little setback so I like that.

Let's call it an on-going experiment.

The video is 320 lbs. I did 340 lbs. for 3 singles on Friday and it wasn't pretty but they all went up, and that was on only 1 day's rest from deadlifting, so I'm hopeful for a good meet six days from now.

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well :) good, @Steve Freides you are brave with those trials before competition. I don't see nothing that much wrong with the upper back or lower back, you don't have to arch that much BUT moving before pulling the bar usually puts ME into wrong position, thats why i am against it, try rolling start if you want to add some momentum . Ok i see that knee forward issue, i would advise RDL as assessor lift as you are letting the slack go of the hamstrings, you should be able to push your hips through with knees stationary, also correct me as i might be wrong, there is not enough lat tension or is it me and i can't see it through a video ?
Another exercise correction would be deadlift with pause just off the floor.


Also in regards to the push, i would push AND THEN pull so push the bar to the knees, pull (like in the swing)
 
The idea of push then pull is new to me, but it's what I've been doing all along, anyway - I just need to work out when that switch in thinking happens.

The lift is so easy for me to finish, e.g., I can do rack pulls with over 400 lbs. easily. So, a work in progress.

Regarding lats, again there's a history - I used to pull more straight up and not drag the bar on my shins, and if you're pulling up against your shins, the lat activation is different, so I'm still working through that one, too. If I were to pick my biggest flaw in my current form, it would be lack of lat engagement.

All these details matter and a lot of this is trial and error. The happy thing is that a 2x bodyweight deadlift isn't difficult for me, and that I have the back strength to make some form errors and not get hurt. Having a strong back is priority #1 for me, given my history. Right now, my back is much stronger than my legs, so the next horizon is improving leg strength.

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