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The regular deadlift is possibly the least understood exercise
in all of weight training. No matter what type of weight work
you specialize in (Olympic lifting, powerlifting or bodybuilding)
a strong, heavily muscled lower back is a must. Even so, that’s
only part of the benefit derived from this throwback exercise.
I call it a “throwback” because it’s the
oldest method of lifting a ponderous weight off the ground
known to man. This ancient pick-it-up-and-stand-with-it technique
has been in constant use since man first stood on his hind
legs millions of years ago.
Although at first glance the deadlift appears to be a simple
movement, nothing could be further from the truth. Many view
it solely as an example of brute strength and a strong back,
and one reason for this is that you have to move through the
deadlift very slowly. While it does require quite a bit of
raw strength, however, it becomes an extremely technical lift
when performed by someone who understands its dynamics.
Deadlift Styles
Two styles of this movement are prevalent today, the regular
deadlift, in which your hands are placed outside your legs,
and the sumo-style deadlift, in which your hands are inside
your legs and you use a wider stance. To choose the best method
for you, you must first examine your reasons for incorporating
the exercise into your training.
Are you a bodybuilder or a lifter? Do you want to develop
thick spinal erectors and strengthen your back for other movements
like squats and overhead presses, or are you, like a powerlifter,
looking for how much you can hoist in a single rep? Deadlifts
are of primary importance to both bodybuilders and power-lifters.
Olympic lifters, on the other hand, use it only as an assistance
exercise, to strengthen their lower backs for other movements
and to improve the start and the beginning pull of their two
competitive lifts, the clean and jerk and the snatch. For
that reason and because Olympic lifters should almost never
use the sumo-style variation, I will concentrate on the regular
deadlift and its primary role in bodybuilding and powerlifting.
There are a number of reasons why bodybuilders should also
stick with the regular deadlift. Most important is the fact
that when you perform it properly, the weight travels farther
than it does during a sumo-style deadlift.
That point brings up the reason that the sumo-style variation
was created. Because of the very wide foot spacing you can
lower your body and hands and at the same time become more
erect. There are two advantages to this: Your lower back is
involved far less in the movement, and you don’t have
to lay your head back on your traps as forcibly as you do
with the regular style, because the weight comes in closer
to your center of gravity. This is due to the fact that your
toes must turn out to facilitate the very wide stance, which
leaves more room for the bar to move in before it touches
the inside of your lower leg, as opposed to the front, or
shin, which is what it touches in the regular style.
In my opinion, however, there’s a very negative aspect
to the sumostyle deadlift. It involves the extreme downward
pressure put on the inside, or medial aspect, of the knees,
which have already been made vulnerable by the very wide stance.
An injury to this area could well end your lifting days forever.
How to Perform the Regular Deadlift
Bodybuilders shouldn’t look for shortcuts. By the very
nature of the activity you want the most muscular involvement,
not the least. For that reason, and because it’s much
safer to perform, the regular dead-lift is the wise choice.
Let’s discuss the dynamics of the deadlift. “Dynamics”
is the way in which outside forces influence the movement
of bodies. In performing the deadlift, you do just that. You,
the outside force, influence the movement of bodies, specifically
those heavy barbells lying on the floor, more powerfully than
you ever thought possible. When you do that, you’ll
have learned proper technique.
If you stand erect, with your arms at your sides, and attach
a plumb line to hang from your shoulder to the floor, the
line won’t hang in front of your leg but to the side,
roughly through the middle of the side view. That’s
your center of gravity, your natural strength groove. Of course,
you can’t pull a heavy barbell through the middle of
your legs. Instead, you must apply the correct dynamics to
facilitate the movement.
When the bar is on the floor before you start the lift, it’s
some six inches in front of your center of gravity. To overcome
this, you have to adjust the position of the bar as you move
through the rep. The key to this dynamic is the correct use
of your spinal erectors.
Although the lower-back muscles are highly activated during
a regular deadlift, their main role is to stabilize your upper
body during the part of the lift in which you’re most
likely to fail, as the bar approaches and moves past your
knees. At this point the bar should be in very tight, literally
scraping against your shins. Your head must be forcibly laid
back against your traps, and you must be looking up at the
ceiling at a 45 degree or greater angle.
If your head or eyes are down or if the bar is out from your
legs, your lower back will become involved in supporting the
weight. As a result, it won’t be able to do its job
of stabilizing, and you won’t be able to bring the bar
back into a physically advantageous position to execute the
combination of pull-through strength from the trapezius and
push-through power from the legs the movement calls for.
Let’s review a perfectly performed deadlift using a
heavy weight.
Walk up to the bar and position yourself so your shins are
touching it. Your stance should be the same width as you use
for squats, with your toes pointing straight ahead. Without
letting the bar roll away from you, bend over and grasp it
just outside your legs. The next step is to lower your butt
while simultaneously pulling your head up. Your arms should
be forcibly pulled straight; they should never bend during
the lift.
With your head lying back on your traps so you’re looking
at the ceiling at a 45 degree angle, run through a last-second
checklist before you complete the lift: Are your eyes looking
at the ceiling? Is your head laid back so hard that you feel
a strain in your arms? Is the bar pulled into your shins so
tightly, it’s uncomfortable? Now you’re ready.
Drive your feet against the platform as hard as you can while
at the same time pulling your head back as far as you can.
As the bar approaches the sticking point (the knees) continue
to drive hard with your legs while increasing the head pull.
As your legs are completing their drive, which was responsible
for most of the starting movement away from the platform,
your traps begin to take over the movement to complete the
lift. The bar move up and into your thighs.
Finally, pull your head back as hard as you can. As the bar
locks out, your shoulders should be back, not forward, and
your back should be slightly arched. To complete the rep,
lower the bar back to the starting position.
The above describes the mechanics of a very heavy deadlift,
perhaps even a maximum effort. For bodybuilding you perform
it exactly the same way but with a weight that lets you get
out six reps. Use this movement regularly, and in just a matter
of weeks you’ll notice increased thickness not only
in your spinal erectors but also in your traps and even your
lats. What’s more, you’ll slowly lose the tendencies
to bend forward during squats and backward during standing
presses.
So the dynamics of the deadlift are the same for bodybuilders
and powerlifters. The difference is in the amount of weight
you use, not performance technique. The same principle applies
to the other powerlifts, the bench press and squat. This isn’t
too surprising, since all three powerlifting movements started
out as bodybuilding exercises. In fact, the sport of powerlifting
was created in the late 1950s, when Bill “Peanuts”
West and some other bodybuilders were looking for strength
competitions to replace what was known back then as “odd
lifts” contests. Because these fellows had no interest
in Olympic lifting, they devised a competition of the basic
bodybuilding exercises, lifts they trained on regularly. The
appeal of this idea is evident in the fact that there are
now nearly 30 times as many powerlifters as there are Olympic
lifters.
One Man’s Progress With Deadlifts
In the early ‘70s a Marine sergeant named Paul Woods
came to my gym in St. Louis. Paul was already the Junior National
powerlifting champion in the 198-Pound class with an official
500-pound bench press to his credit. His problem was his deadlift,
on which his all-time best was a relatively mediocre 630.
One of my power-lifters, a guy who’d served in the Marine
Corps with Paul, suggested he take some of the six or so months
of leave he had coming and train at my gym for a while.
Now, Paul had been working out for more than 15 years and
power-lifting for 12. This was no novice but a very committed
veteran lifter. He explained that although he warmed up, stretched
and seemingly prepared well, as soon as he took his opening
attempt, his back would tighten up so badly that he’d
have to lie down and his trainers would have to frantically
massage his back so he could continue. Not only did this greatly
inhibit him physically, but it was also psychologically devastating.
I only had to watch him make one attempt with a relatively
light 500 pounds (I had Lightweights deadlifting more) to
analyze Paul’s problem. He was a pure back lifter. Bent
forward, his head and ass at the same level, parallel to the
floor, he held the bar well out from his body as it approached
the sticking point, with his arms trying to bend, as if somehow
they could help. I was amazed he could complete the lift.
Needless to say, I completely changed Paul’s approach.
Starting from scratch, I explained that the deadlift wasn’t
meant to be a back lift but a trap lift. I described how the
legs start the weight moving, the spinal erectors take over
to gain better leverage as the bar nears the sticking point,
and the head must be back as the bar moves up into the thighs
if you want to keep the bar in the strength groove and compete
the lift.
Paul was an apt pupil and followed my coaching to the letter.
Although we started at a mere 135 pounds, that was actually
fairly heavy; I only let him lift that much weight because
we needed to use 45-pound plates to make the bar the correct
height.
We worked on deadlifts only once every eight days, but on
the fourth day of the training cycle we did very heavy leg
presses on a completely vertical machine. That movement is
exactly the same as the starting push of the deadlift but
performed upside down. On the same day we did head pulls in
a power rack, which is a partial-deadlift movement performed
as follows.
With the bar positioned at a hole around the area of your
knees, your torso bent over and your wrists strapped to the
bar, pull your head up and back at a 45 degree angle. Now
pull it back until you feel the strain in your traps. Using
head pull only, pull the bar up to lock out, rotating your
shoulders as you do. Then immediately lower the bar.
For Paul’s training we did many sets of twos and threes
in each of three positions; first from the hole just below
the knees, then from the next hole up, at the midknee, and
finally with the supports set at the hole just above the knees.
On deadlift day Paul always did the same seven sets, as follow:
1 x 8
1 x 5
1 x 4
1 x 3
2 x 2
2 x 1
I still believe that this scheme not only lets the lifter
warm up to the work, but it also allows the coach to evaluate
any change in technique immediately.
At the time I was training Paul, I was also the Missouri correspondent
for Dan De Welt’s Powerlifting News, which was at that
time the bible of the sport. De Welt knew that I was coaching
Paul, and he asked me to write a feature about the training.
Although Paul had been using the new deadlift style for less
than three months’ time, he was making rapid progress,
training for the World Championships, which were at that point
eight or nine months away. De Welt sent a photographer to
take pictures, and when I sent the completed article to De
Welt, I predicted, “If Paul Woods continues as he is,
he will deadlift 750 pounds at the World’ Championships.”
To my surprise, the cover of the issue in which the story
appeared featured me pointing a finger at Paul as he was attempting
a heavy deadlift and the headline “Turner Coaches Woods—750
D.L.?”
It turned out I was wrong. Eight months later, when Paul Woods
won the World Championships, his final deadlift was officially
754.
So, whether you’re a bodybuilder or a powerlifter, put
on your flat-bottom shoes (so there’s no heel lifting
to make you lean forward), put on your sweatpants (so you
don’t scrape your legs on the way up), and throw aside
your lifting belt (because you don’t strap your chest
when you do benches, do you?). Chalk your hands up good and
walk up to that bar until it touches your shins. Stand there
for a second and visualize the perfect deadlift. Now you’re
ready, and you’re going to pull some huge numbers.
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