Stop Using Your Arms to Deadlift
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Your arms are not for pulling.
Not in the deadlift, anyway. Let’s use the squat to shed some light on today’s deadlift mistake.
Gravity likes things to be as low as possible, so to be stable in the squat, you stand with the entire sole of your shoe resting firmly on the ground.
You certainly do not squat on your toes with the heel of your shoe up in the air. Squatting in such a silly fashion means that your squishy, wobbly ankle ruins the efficiency of force transfer between you and the floor.
figure 1: don’t bend your elbows like this fool.
In the deadlift, an analogous error is pulling with flexed arms , i.e., bent elbows (Figure 1). This mistake shows up with both new and experienced lifters, and it makes the deadlift less efficient and harder than it should be.
(If you’d like to see both this error and its solution demonstrated, check out the short video below.)
In the 5-step deadlift setup, this problem usually occurs during step 4 – the “squeeze your chest up to set your back flat and rigid” step. If you commit this error, you are attempting to apply tension to the barbell as you set your back, which is good, but you’re doing so by actively pulling with your arms, which is bad for two reasons.
First, flexed arms give your shorter arms, and shorter arms are your enemy in the deadlift. You want long, straight out arms.
Second, you’ve created a force transfer inefficiency – a force transfer leak. Bent arms are weak and deformable, so they absorb some of the force that should be transmitted directly to the bar. Long, straight arms (Figure 2), however, are nondeformable, very strong indeed, and transmit force efficiently.
figure 2: long, straight arms . . . much better.
Bent arms make lift less efficient and actually feel heavier and harder to pull than it otherwise would with straight arms, so let’s fix this.
First, simply cue yourself, “Long arms,” when you squeeze your chest up to set your back.
If that doesn’t work well, try the reminder, “Straight arms.”
Another option is to tell yourself to “stretch out the arms” when you set your back (or even “Go go Gadget arms!” if you’re old enough to get that cartoon reference). The concept of stretching the arms leads us to the fourth cue . . .
“Get away from the bar.”
When you squeeze your chest up to set your back, you are obviously still connected to the bar via your hands, but you should be actively trying to move upward and away from the bar as you lift your chest. Flexing your arms pulls you down closer to the bar, so this cue has the opposite effect and helps you stretch the arms long and straight.
Don’t bend your arms when you deadlift. Don’t create a force transfer leak. Don’t give yourself stubbly little arms.
Your deadlift will thank you for it.
As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.
-Phil
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