Exercise library
Deadlift
A repeatable deadlift setup, how to brace before the bar moves, the four faults that round your back, and how sumo differs from conventional.
How to do the deadlift
- 01Set the bar over mid-foot — roughly an inch from your shins, not touching them yet.
- 02Take a shoulder-width stance, hinge and grip just outside your legs without moving the bar.
- 03Pull your shins forward to the bar until it touches, which drops your hips into position rather than you guessing at a hip height.
- 04Breathe into your belly, brace hard, then pull up on the bar until the slack clicks out and your lats engage.
- 05Push the floor away and stand. The bar stays against your legs; hips and shoulders rise together.
Coaching cues
- Pull the slack out before you pull the bar. A loose start is where backs round.
- Push the floor away rather than lifting the bar up.
- Squeeze oranges in your armpits — that is the lat cue that keeps the bar close.
Common mistakes
FaultHips shooting up first
FixYour hips started lower than your leverages want. Let the shin-to-bar contact set the height, and think about pushing the floor rather than lifting your chest.
FaultRounding the lower back
FixUsually a soft brace or too much weight. Breathe into the belly, brace before the pull, and drop the load until you can hold a neutral spine.
FaultBar drifting away from the shins
FixEngage the lats before you pull. Any horizontal gap between bar and hips is leverage your spine has to fight.
FaultHyperextending at lockout
FixFinish standing tall with glutes squeezed and ribs down. Leaning back at the top adds spinal load, not credit.
The deadlift is simple in that you pick the bar up, and unforgiving in that almost all of the work happens before it leaves the floor.
Set up from the bar, not from your body
The single most useful change to most people’s deadlift is the order of the setup.
Place the bar over mid-foot. Hinge and take your grip without moving the bar. Then pull your shins forward until they touch it. Doing it in that order puts your hips at whatever height your limb lengths require, rather than at a height you copied from a photograph of somebody with different proportions.
People with long femurs end up with higher hips. People with short femurs and long torsos end up lower. Both are correct, because both were derived rather than chosen.
Pull the slack out
Between the plates, the collars and the bar’s own flex there is a small amount of give before the weight actually moves. Yank into that slack and the bar accelerates before your body is tight — the first thing to give is your lower back.
So: breathe in, brace, then pull up on the bar until you feel it click and your whole body is loaded against it. Only then push the floor away. A good rep looks like it starts slowly and speeds up, not the reverse.
Bracing is a breath, not a squeeze
“Tighten your core” produces a hollowed stomach, which is the opposite of what you want.
Take a breath down into your belly so your midsection expands outward, then tighten everything around that pressurised cylinder. That intra-abdominal pressure is what supports the spine. Hold it for the whole rep and breathe at the top, not at the bottom.
Keep the bar against you
The bar should drag up your shins and thighs.
Any horizontal distance between the bar and your hips is a lever your spinal erectors have to fight, and it grows quickly with load. The cue that fixes it is engaging the lats — imagine squeezing something under your armpits — which pulls the bar back toward you as you pull it up.
How heavy, how often
The deadlift produces more systemic fatigue per set than anything else in a normal programme, which is why once or twice a week suits most people.
If you want more hamstring and glute work, add Romanian deadlifts rather than more deadlifts. The stimulus is similar and the recovery cost is a fraction.
Common questions
Where should the bar start in a deadlift?
Over the middle of your foot, which for most people is about an inch from the shins before you set up. Mid-foot is the balance point of the system, so starting there means the bar travels straight up rather than swinging toward you as it breaks the floor.
How do I stop my back rounding on deadlifts?
Brace before you pull, not during. Take a big breath into your belly, tighten all the way around, pull the slack out of the bar until you hear it click, then push the floor away. If it still rounds, the weight is heavier than your current bracing can support.
Should my hips be high or low in a deadlift?
Neither, and you should not choose. Set the bar over mid-foot, grip without moving it, then pull your shins to the bar — your hips end up where your limb lengths put them. Deliberately squatting the hips down or raising them both cost you leverage.
Is sumo or conventional better?
Whichever suits your hips and torso. Sumo shortens the range and keeps the torso more upright, favouring long torsos or limited hip hinge. Conventional demands more from the back and hamstrings. Neither is cheating and neither is universally better.
How often should I deadlift?
Once or twice a week is plenty for most people. It is the most systemically fatiguing lift in common use, and recovery rather than stimulus is what caps frequency. Romanian deadlifts are a lower-cost way to add hamstring volume between sessions.
Swap it out
Same training effect, different demand on the joints.