Barbell This guy's deadlift technique

[LewisF]

Hi everyone.

I wanted to get your thoughts on this guy's deadlift technique.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrR1gkZGbsU

Sorry, I don't know how to embed the video.

In my opinion:

• his legs are too wide
• his a#@ is too low - it's like a squat, not a deadlift
• on the way down the bar does not move in a straight line. It moves forward in front of his knees as it passes them. I'd be curious to see how he handles it with a bigger load.
• there is no discernible "two parts" to his motion (part 1 would be before the knees, and part 2 would be after the knees).
  "don't put your weight over the bar". Well, don't put it behind the bar either. Otherwise you'll be pulling the bar directly into your shins. Not pleasant.

What do you think?

 

[Steve Freides]

@LewisF, welcome to the StrongFirst forum.

I find nothing noteworthy here. He seems lacking in hip and/or hamstring mobility and, as a result, his knees come pretty far forward and that, in turn, makes his DL look squat-like. It sounds like he's talking to himself in terms of the form cues he gives. The programming is neither original nor complete.

If I may ask, why do you want our thoughts on this one video out of the many that are out there? Just curious.

Thank you.

-S-

 

[LewisF]

@Steve Freides

Thanks for the welcome.

I just stumbled across this video and found it curious as it violates my somewhat naive idea of what good form is. I wanted to know what more experienced people thought of it. It is interesting to hear your thoughts that he may have some hamstring/hip mobility.

Cheers for your answer,
Big L.

 

[Anna C]

I wanted to get your thoughts on this guy's deadlift technique.

He lacks a lot of the essentials of getting in a good position and using tension for the lift. As I've learned from StrongFirst, Strength is Tension. Tension is Strength.

That said, he's not dealifting for strength. He's deadlifting for "big legs." So essentially, he's using weight on the barbell for a bodybuilding exercise. As he states in the programming guidance, he's trying to fatigue muscle fibers to generate that specific response. For that purpose, his technique matters a lot less, because he's farther from 1RM and basically just trying to get reps in. The adaptation sought is not an increase in ability to move more weight (strength), but the increase in size and definition of specific muscles (hypertrophy). That's not what most people use deadlifts for, but it could work, basically like a leg press. That helps explain why his leg position resembles a leg press more than what most people would call a proper deadlift set-up. So I still don't like it much, but I don't see harm occurring with what he's doing, and I can see some logic and possible effectiveness in his approach for his stated objective.

If you want to deadlift for strength, I'd look elsewhere for technique guidance.

 

[Steve W.]

He lacks a lot of the essentials of getting in a good position and using tension for the lift. As I've learned from StrongFirst, Strength is Tension. Tension is Strength.

That said, he's not dealifting for strength. He's deadlifting for "big legs." So essentially, he's using weight on the barbell for a bodybuilding exercise. As he states in the programming guidance, he's trying to fatigue muscle fibers to generate that specific response. For that purpose, his technique matters a lot less, because he's farther from 1RM and basically just trying to get reps in. The adaptation sought is not an increase in ability to move more weight (strength), but the increase in size and definition of specific muscles (hypertrophy). That's not what most people use deadlifts for, but it could work, basically like a leg press. That helps explain why his leg position resembles a leg press more than what most people would call a proper deadlift set-up. So I still don't like it much, but I don't see harm occurring with what he's doing, and I can see some logic and possible effectiveness in his approach for his stated objective.

If you want to deadlift for strength, I'd look elsewhere for technique guidance.

Yup, context matters. But it still doesn't seem like the best tool for the job. For this purpose, I'd go with a trap bar or barbell hack squat before a conventional DL (or just a leg press or hack squat machine). Zercher would work okay too, but maybe not as conducive to doing a high volume.

 

[LewisF]

This is really helpful to get people's insight and a wider perspective. I'm glad I asked.