Improve Your Deadlift by FIXING These 3 Errors!
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Let’s quickly address three common deadlift mistakes that we see with new lifters . . . and sometimes experienced lifters as well.
Figure 1: Don’t do this.
Mistake #1: Shrugging at the Top of the Deadlift
See what Becky is doing in Figure 1? Don’t do that. Don’t shrug at the top of your deadlifts. It’s inefficient, unnecessary, and at heavy weights, you can’t do it anyway, so trying to do so is a waste of effort and energy.
To fix this, don’t bother telling yourself, “Don’t shrug.” When you do this, you are saying the one word - shrug - that you don’t want running around in your head.
figure 2: much better
We often refer to this type of cue as a negative cue or an avoidance cue, and although it can sometimes work, a better approach is to give yourself something to do as opposed to something not to do.
With this in mind, cue yourself, “Chest up, shoulders down,” or simply “Shoulders down” (Figure 2). This will help ensure that the bar is simply hanging from your shoulders and that your shoulders are not actively contributing to the elevation of the barbell.
Mistake #2: Releasing Your Valsalva Early
Do you exhale at the top of your deadlift? Don’t do that.
Breath is support, so stay tight and keep your valsalva (i.e., hold your breath against a closed glottis) until the bar is back on the ground. You won’t run out of air - it only takes another half-second to lower the barbell - and then you can release your breath.
Cues to fix this issue include “Hold your breath,” “Hold your valsalva,” or “Lift silently.” That last cue comes courtesy of SSC Mia Inman in her article Lift Silently from Starting Strength, and it wonderfully conveys what you should hear as you complete your deadlift . . . nothing. After the bar leaves the floor, there’s no noise. Specifically, you don’t hear any noise from exhalation - until the bar is back on the floor.
Mistake #3: Lowering the Barbell Around Your Knees
After you’ve locked out your deadlift at the top of the lift - with shoulders down and your breath held, of course - you want to lower the bar in a nice, straight, vertical line back to its starting point right over the middle of your foot.
figure 3: becky lowers the bar around her knees. don’t do this.
Lowering the bar in a curved path around the knees (Figure 3), on the other hand, is inefficient, and as a result, it’s harder. Additionally, it causes you to set the bar down in front of the middle of your foot, which means you’ve got another variable to deal with before starting the next rep.
This problem arises when you try to keep a vertical torso when setting the bar down, which means you are primarily bending the knees to set it down, which in turn means that your knees become obstacles for the correct bar path.
Figure 4: becky pushes her hips back, bends over, and “bows to the floor.”
The solution for this is to reach back with your hips, very consciously bend over at the hips (Figure 4), and slide the bar down your thighs.
Your knees will be unlocked, but keep them back until the bar passes the knees. If this concept doesn’t work for you try one of the two following approaches:
While setting the bar down, watch the middle of your foot and sight the bar into place as you lower it. In other words, aim for the middle of your foot.
Bow to the floor. That’s it. Simply cue yourself to “bow to the floor,” and you will naturally bend over to set the bar down. It can be useful to remember that the bar’s job is to go straight back down to where it started. Your job - on the other hand - is to stay out of the bar’s way, so bow to the floor and set it down.
As always, we hope these tips help you get stronger and live better.
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