The Deadlift

The deadlift is one of CrossFit’s foundational movements and represents the safe and sound approach for lifting objects from the ground. The deadlift trains the hip hinge movement pattern and is unique in its capacity for developing full-body strength. Read further to learn everything you need to know about the deadlift:

• What Is the Deadlift?
• Deadlift Benefits
• Muscle Groups Worked
• How to Prepare for the Deadlift
• Equipment Needed for the Deadlift
• How to Warm Up for the Deadlift
• How to Perform the Deadlift
• Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
• Deadlift Modifications
• Deadlift Variations
• Common Deadlift Workouts
• Get Started Today!

What Is the Deadlift?

The deadlift is one of the nine foundational movements in CrossFit and also one of the lifts contested in the sport of powerlifting. The deadlift requires the athlete to crouch down and grasp the barbell from the ground, then drive their feet into the ground to stand tall while holding the weight at arm’s length.

The deadlift is a relatively simple lift, allowing almost anyone to learn it and experience the tremendous benefits of head-to-toe strength this lift offers. 

The deadlift is a versatile movement that can be used in many different types of workouts, incorporating every variation from heavy loads and low reps to light loads and high reps.

Deadlift Benefits

The deadlift is a highly effective training tool for developing strength, building muscle mass, rehabilitating an injured back, improving athletic performance, or maintaining functional independence as we age.

Strength

The deadlift is a full-body strength exercise, activating and strengthening virtually every muscle in the body. Specifically, the relatively high loads that can be used in the deadlift develop strength in the quads, hamstrings, glutes, spinal erectors, lats, abdominals, and upper back.  

Muscle Mass

The deadlift rivals the back squat in its ability to build muscle mass in athletes. With so many muscle groups engaged simultaneously to lift relatively heavy loads, deadlifts provide a great stimulus for muscle growth. As an athlete gains competence in the deadlift and the weight they lift with proper form increases, they’ll notice increased development in the back, including lats, traps, and spinal erectors, as well as in the glutes and hamstrings. The heavy weights lifted, combined with the full-body nature of this movement pattern, result in a strong neuroendocrine impact that promotes muscle gain.

Rehabilitation 

Deadlifts protect the back from potential injuries from sports, life, too much sitting, or the ravages of time. By placing a controlled stress on the vertebrae and muscles, tendons, and ligaments of the back, the deadlift induces these structures to adapt and strengthen. This results in a back more resilient to compressive forces and the flexion and extension that many daily tasks require. Properly performed deadlifts also improve glute and hip strength, allowing these muscles to become the prime movers in lifting heavy loads and shifting the emphasis off the spine. Finally, the hinge movement pattern of the deadlift reduces pain and improves function by taking the structures of the back through their intended range of motion.

Athletic Performance

The deadlift strengthens the muscles that help athletes run faster and jump higher: the glutes, hamstrings, quads, abdominals, and spinal erectors. The added muscle mass built when training with adequate load and volume in the deadlift allows athletes to better receive and deliver contact in sports like football, hockey, basketball, and fighting. The ability to transfer forces into the ground or from the ground, through a strong core, into an external object such as a ball, bat, or racket, is an essential athletic trait that the deadlift trains well by stressing and strengthening midline stability. Regarding conditioning, both heavy, low-rep sets and lighter, higher-rep sets of deadlifts are great tools. Last but not least, the deadlift develops the hip extension that is the driving force behind most athletic movements and is necessary for elite athletic performance 

Functional Independence

Life regularly demands that we pick objects up off the ground: a bag of fertilizer for the lawn, a bag of dog food, or a twenty-four pack of our favorite beverage. The deadlift represents the safe and sound method by which any object should be lifted from the ground. As we grow older, if we continue to train our deadlifts, we’ll maintain the capacity to pick objects up off the ground and not rely on someone to do this for us. 

Muscle Groups Worked

The deadlift incorporates every major muscle group in the body and especially the muscles of the legs, core, and back.

Legs

As the athlete pulls a heavy load from the ground, the muscles of the legs, including the hip flexors, quads, hamstrings, glutes, and even the calves, receive a tremendous stimulus. 

Core

During the back squat, the muscles of the core, including the spinal erectors, abdominals, and obliques, isometrically contract to lock the spine in place and transfer forces from the ground to the bar as the athlete moves through the required range of motion. 

Back

The deadlift imparts tremendous stress on all of the muscles of the back from the spinal erectors to the rhomboids, lats, and traps. The erectors contract isometrically to lock the spine in place and preserve the strong, safe natural “S” curve of the lumbar spine. The upper-back muscles work hard to retract the shoulder blades and prevent the upper back from collapsing as the weight is pulled from the ground.

How to Prepare for the Deadlift

Preparing to deadlift requires assembling the proper equipment and performing a general and specific warm-up to get the body ready to move through the range of motion required. 

Equipment Needed for the Deadlift

To train the deadlift, an athlete can use a PVC pipe or barbells of various weights, from 10 to 45 lb, as needed. The weights used can be either rubber bumper plates or metal plates, although rubber plates are preferred in case the athlete needs to drop the weight at any time during the movement.

How to Warm Up for the Deadlift

To warm up for the back squat, the lifter should perform general movements that work every joint through its full range of motion. Air squats, ring rows, lunges, shoulder circles, and push-ups are good choices for the general warm-up. For the specific warm-up, a great option is Romanian deadlifts with a pause in the bottom position. Another one is a 3-to-5-second tempo deadlift on the way down and a 1-second count on the way up with a PVC pipe or empty bar. The athlete should then be ready to transition to their warm-up sets in the deadlift. 

How to Do the Deadlift

Performing a deadlift requires mastering the setup, the liftoff to full extension of the legs and hips, and the descent.  

Setup

The initial setup for the deadlift has feet set under the hips. The hands are placed just wider than hip width, symmetrically on the bar, where the arms don’t interfere with the legs during the pull from the ground. The bar starts above the midfoot, against the shins, and the shoulders are slightly forward of the bar. The arms are locked out with the insides of the elbows facing each other, the chest is up to lock in the natural “S” curve of the lower back, the abdominals are braced, and the shoulder blades are slightly retracted and depressed. The lats and triceps are contracted and pressing into each other, and the glutes and hamstrings are stretched and active, creating tension through the entire posterior chain. This is the strong, active start position from which the athlete initiates the pull from the ground.   

The Lift

To initiate the lift, the athlete fills their belly and chest with air with a deep breath and pushes their feet (with an emphasis on weight in the heels) into the ground to “squeeze,” not jerk, the bar off the ground. As the bar leaves the ground, it stays in contact with the legs, traveling straight up, and the torso’s angle of inclination remains constant as the shoulders and hips rise at the same rate while the bar is below the knees. Once the bar passes the knees, the hips extend and the shoulders rise to directly above the hips in the finish position. Throughout the lift, the head looks straight ahead, the lumbar curve is maintained, and the arms remain locked out.

The Descent

To return the weight to the ground from the top position of the deadlift, where the athlete is standing holding the barbell, the athlete has two choices. First, the athlete can simply drop the barbell. In a workout where many deadlift reps are cycled, this may become the preferred method as an athlete fatigues. It is also an option when very heavy reps are being done and the athlete is not concerned about working the eccentric or lowering portion of the rep.

Also note: For safety reasons, an athlete should drop the weight at any time during a rep where form — especially low-back position — breaks down. Of course, this method requires rubber bumper plates to be used.

The other option is for the athlete to initiate the descent by hinging at the hips and lowering the bar along the legs until it passes the knees. Once the bar has passed the knees, the athlete will bend their legs and lower the bar to the ground, where they reset back into their activated, strong starting position before beginning the next rep. Working the eccentric portion of the rep in this manner helps groove proper technique, as well as improve strength. 

Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

There are several common deadlift mistakes lifters should be aware of and avoid. 

Loss of Lumbar Curve

During the execution of the deadlift, it is not uncommon for the athlete to lose their lumbar curve into flexion. This “rounding” of the lower back is a vulnerable position for loading the spine and may put the athlete at a greater risk of injury. By losing the proper lumbar position, the athlete is also losing midline stability, and the forces generated as the legs drive into the ground will not be efficiently transferred to the bar, making the lift hard to complete. To avoid losing the lumbar curve, athletes should focus on maintaining a tall, “chest up” posture as they drive their feet into the ground to lift the bar. Adequate stretching and mobility work for the hamstrings will help ensure tight hamstrings are not pulling the athlete into a rounded position.

Weight in the Toes

When an athlete begins to pull the barbell off the ground and their weight shifts toward the balls of the feet, they decrease the contribution of the powerful muscles of the posterior chain (glutes and hamstrings) to the lift. To eliminate this inefficiency, athletes should focus on shifting their weight back toward their heels as they push their feet into the ground to lift the bar. Actively engaging the glutes and hamstrings to lift the bar will also help keep athletes from being pulled forward toward their toes. 

Shoulders behind the bar in the setup

Athletes who set up in a “squatty” stance for their deadlift may allow their hips to go so low that their shoulders move behind the bar, resulting in a less effective starting position. By pushing the hips up and straightening the legs slightly to activate the glutes and hamstrings, the athlete will move their shoulders over the bar and assume a position with better leverage.

Bar Loses Contact With the Legs

Both on the way up and on the way down in the deadlift, the bar must remain in contact with the legs. A common coaching cue to remind athletes of this point is the phrase “feel the steel.” When the bar drifts away from the lifter during, the weight moves away from the athlete’s center of gravity, creating a longer “moment arm,” thereby making the lift harder and less efficient. As the bar moves away from the legs, the muscles of the core, back, and legs are put in a less advantageous position, and the shear forces increase on the lower back, increasing the risk of injury. To keep the bar close to the body, athletes should use their lats to guide the bar back along the legs. 

Hips Rise Without the Chest Rising

During the execution of a proper deadlift, the hips and shoulders/chest rise together when the bar is below the knees. This keeps the torso angle constant in this initial phase of the lift. If an athlete’s butt shoots up as they pull the barbell off the ground, they may need to slow down and work on squeezing the bar off the ground instead of jerking the bar off the ground. Or they may need to raise their starting position slightly, keep the bar closer, or work on not extending the knees too early in the lift. 

Shoulders Rise Without the Hips Rising

In this scenario, the fault of the shoulders rising without a matching rise of the hips as the barbell is pulled from the ground may be due to a “sqatty” setup position, where the shoulders are behind the bar. This fault may also be due to an athlete focusing too much on keeping their chest up and attempting to initiate the lift with their low back instead of a leg drive. 

Hips Do Not Move Back to Initiate the Descent

To properly lower the bar from the top of a deadlift requires the athlete to push their butt back first so the legs straighten and the bar can travel straight down past the knees. If, instead, the athlete initiates the descent by bending the knees, the bar will have to travel around the knees to get to the ground. This is an inefficient movement pattern for lowering the bar and puts the athlete in an awkward, compromised position. 

Deadlift Modifications

In training the deadlift, modifications can be made to the stance, grip, equipment, and load to accommodate any lifter.

Stance

In the deadlift, an athlete can use a foot position anywhere from hip width (traditional stance) to outside the shoulders (sumo stance). The athlete may also choose a squattier or straighter-leg stance. The stance a lifter uses at any given time depends on their fitness goals, injury history, and body proportions. 

Grip

Deadlifts can be done with a standard grip (knuckles facing forward), mixed grip (knuckles of one hand facing forward and the palm of the other hand facing forward), wide or snatch grip, a standard shoulder-width grip, or a narrow grip inside the legs, as with a sumo deadlift. 

Equipment

Deadlifts may be done with a standard barbell, an elevated barbell to accommodate a lifter with poor mobility, from a deficit (such as standing on plates to increase toe range of motion), a “trap” of “hex” bar, dumbbells, or odd objects. 

Load

The load in the deadlift can be adjusted from very light to as heavy a weight as can be loaded on the barbell.

Common Deadlift Workouts

Diane: 21-15-9 reps for time of: deadlifts (155/225 lb)/handstand pugs-ups

DT: 5 rounds for time of: 12 deadlifts (105/155 lb)/9 hang power cleans (105/155 lb)/6 push jerks (105/155 lb)

Heavy Deadlift: 5-5-3-3-3-1-1-1-1