Tip: set up for the deadlift
Hey guys, this will be a quickie but it can be very helpful for many of you guys in the gym. We’re talking about the Deadlift today. It’s one of the “Big 3” exercises that are very popular and often performed poorly. With these tips, you will be sure you’re performing the Deadlift correctly!
In this video, we will go over just a few critical things.
Keep the center of mass over the middle of the foot. With a barbell deadlift, you will have the bar very close to your shins. With a kettlebell or trap bar, you will want to make sure the handles are in the middle of the foot.
Learn the hinge pattern well! Practice performing a good, deep hinge before you start. If you’re new to deadlifting, you should practice this until you can repeat it well every time. This is also a great thing to do as a warmup movement before you even lift.
Start your deadlift with a reach, exhale, and inhale. The arm reach combined with a deep exhale will help to kick on your oblique muscles and pull your ribs down. With your ribs down, you want to take a breath into your abdomen to charge your thorax full of air pressure. This is going to give you really good stability and a great position for your big muscles to lift the bar.
Think about trying to push the floor away rather than pull the bar off the floor. Seems weird, but external cueing in the proper way can be a game-changer in terms of performance. When driving the floor away, I feel my glutes and hamstrings first. When I think about pulling, I notice my mid back tighten up.