3 Cues to Set Your Back in the Deadlift

Setting the back in rigid extension in the deadlift can be problematic for some lifters, and this is understandable. You can’t see what’s going on back there and you might not know what extension really feels like. Your spinal erectors are fighting with your hamstrings for control of your back, and we want your spinal erectors to win this battle because a nice, rigid back is much more efficient at transferring force from your hips and legs to the bar. With this goal in mind, let’s examine a few cues that might help you out.

“Push your belly down between your thighs.”
The first cue we use when teaching the deadlift is “squeeze your chest up,” but after that, this is probably our next best cue, and I believe the credit for this one goes go Nick Delgadillo. The concept is pretty simple - shove your belly down in between your femurs, and if you do that, you’ll have a rigid, flat back.

“Wrinkles in your shirt”
Picture the back of your shirt with wrinkles in it - not smooth (which is what it would be if your back was rounded in flexion) but rather starting to bunch up as you try to arch your back. Granted, we don’t want your back to be arched - just straight - but trying to arch it will help get it straight for a lot of people who struggle with back extension. This one tends to be useful because, even if someone doesn’t have a solid grasp of back extension, they can picture what they’d have to do to put some wrinkles in their shirt.

“Show your shirt to the wall.”
Imagine someone standing about 10-20 feet in front of you. Now - without dropping your hips - try to show the writing on your shirt to that person. That person needs to be able to read what’s on your shirt. It’s a bit of an exaggeration, but a useful one nonetheless.

Try one or two of these cues out the next time you deadlift. If you don’t have a coach or an educated friend watching you, record yourself so you can check afterward whether or not you successfully set your back. Happy training.