This week we launch our ‘Deep Dive series’.
A new series on movement mastery, and our first movement we tackle is one of our favourites, Deadlifts.
We dissect the movement mechanics behind the lift, and offer our two cents on positioning, bar path, common pitfalls, and misconceptions about what gym-goers think is one of the most basic of movements.
We deep dive into 🤿:
😉 Why you should get hinging (and not the dating app kind)
🏋🏾 Rob’s fun fact about “correct” barbell height
✊ The gripping debate – Which grip is superior?
😖 Why do deadlifts get a bad reputation for being the culprit of back injuries
🤯 A piece of gym kit you might have been neglecting
And a whole load more!
New Lunge & Lift episodes available EVERY MONDAY
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https://www.wit-fitness.com/
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00:00
hey guys welcome to the lunge and lift
00:02
podcast today we’ve got a new style of
00:06
podcast we’re going to do a movement
00:08
deep dive and it’s probably going to be
00:10
something we come back to a few times
00:12
over the lifetime of the pod because we
00:15
have some movements that we both love
00:17
and i think
00:18
we both like exploring the nuance and
00:21
finer details of each of the movements
00:23
so today we’re going to be tackling the
00:25
deadlift which is one of our favorite
00:27
movements
00:28
and it’s seemingly simple but there’s a
00:30
lot of intricacies which we enjoy
00:33
discussing
00:34
but before we get into it as always a
00:36
big thank you to our show sponsor wit
00:39
fitness check them out in one new
00:41
changes and pools or at the website with
00:43
hyphenfitness.com and use our discount
00:46
code ll15 to get 15 off your purchase
00:50
nice mate i i think it’s really cool
00:52
that we’re doing this episode because it
00:53
really ties in well with the fact that
00:55
we’re producing a downloadable document
00:57
for our listeners and for our audience
01:00
of the best accessories they’re not
01:02
doing for their deadlift it’s it’s just
01:04
so convenient i’m glad you said about
01:05
this such a coincidence
01:08
it’s definitely one of my favorite
01:09
movements what about you mate
01:11
yeah absolutely i think of all the
01:13
barbell movements um i probably enjoy it
01:15
the most even though i don’t always do
01:17
it um
01:19
but i think it is something that most
01:20
people should be doing it’s super
01:23
functional you know picking something up
01:25
off the floor is
01:27
something we do from
01:28
very early age till
01:30
very
01:31
old age and
01:34
bang for buck you get so much from it
01:35
it’s a big compound movement so you’re
01:37
training all your muscles to work
01:39
together for an overall goal and i think
01:42
especially in the modern day with our
01:44
sedentary lifestyles the posterior chain
01:46
is
01:47
abused and neglected because we just sat
01:50
on it most of the time so
01:52
it needs a little bit of extra
01:54
stimulation compared to if you’ve got a
01:56
more active lifestyle and
02:00
yeah i think on this on the surface it’s
02:02
just picking something up so it’s
02:04
seemingly simple but there is a lot of
02:06
nuance in executing a good bed lift and
02:08
also in coaching the good deadlift which
02:11
we’re going to get into today
02:13
yeah i guess
02:14
as we both knows in like everyone should
02:17
be deadlifted obviously deadlifting goes
02:20
to more of say the word hinge so
02:23
everyone should be doing a hinge
02:25
so
02:26
what i guess it all boils down to why
02:28
are you actually deadlifting and
02:30
obviously
02:32
as a listener you you should hopefully
02:34
know if you do dead lift while you’re
02:36
dead and if you don’t dead lift what
02:37
hinge are you doing and if you’re not
02:39
doing their hinges get injured but why
02:42
what are the options maybe for why you
02:44
might be deadlifting i guess sport is a
02:46
an obvious one
02:47
yeah
02:49
many sports you use the deadlift so
02:52
uh
02:53
powerlifting is the obvious one where
02:54
it’s a third of the sport
02:56
but also you could argue that
02:58
weightlifting involves a form of
03:01
deadlift they might some weightlifters
03:03
might get upset that we call it a
03:04
deadlift because
03:05
it’s uh quite distinct but you’re still
03:07
pulling the bar from the floor
03:09
uh
03:10
crossfit obviously uh involves the
03:13
deadlift and that can be in multiple
03:15
ways it could be a one rep max it could
03:17
be high volume moderate weight deadlifts
03:20
and everything in between
03:22
but then
03:23
the other reason you might deadlift is
03:24
just to be fit for life like like we
03:26
said it’s a very
03:28
functional pattern for
03:30
day day-to-day you know just bending
03:32
over picking something above the floor
03:34
without doing your back in so training
03:36
for that
03:37
um
03:38
is a very good idea
03:41
so i guess understanding what deadlift
03:44
is right for you is probably the number
03:47
one
03:48
point for this whole episode and
03:50
i think it’s a really common uh
03:54
say thought process that everyone has to
03:55
deadlift from the floor and i just
03:57
wanted to throw this fact out to us if
04:00
you may or may not heard this and also
04:01
to the listeners but
04:03
we also i think i i know i’ve done it
04:05
over the years as well where i say right
04:07
cool you don’t really start probably
04:08
dead lifting until you have a 20 on
04:10
either side or at least a plate that’s
04:13
the same size of 20 plate and in some
04:14
commercial gyms they don’t have a bumper
04:17
plate let’s say a five kilos at the
04:18
right size so you have to normally raise
04:20
it up off the floor to get it to a
04:21
similar sort of height so it starts
04:23
around that mid chin
04:25
now
04:26
this was actually determined by someone
04:28
either called jan todd or yarn todd i’m
04:31
probably guessing it’s young
04:33
and um basically
04:35
the 45 pound or the 20 kilo plate and
04:38
with the barbell is 8.75 inches off the
04:41
floor and that was basically determined
04:43
so that when olympic weight lifters if
04:46
they fall the bar rolls over their face
04:49
now
04:50
with most sports beyond outside of
04:53
olympic weightlifting that bar is just
04:56
being picked up to the hip and back down
04:58
so you don’t need to think about it it’s
04:59
just going to fall out the hand whereas
05:00
obviously weight lifters if they try and
05:02
catch a clean and they fall back it can
05:03
roll over that’s if it doesn’t say hit
05:06
their stomach or if they’re if they’re a
05:07
larger athlete or and presuming that
05:09
everyone’s face with their nose is 8.75
05:12
inches so it’s there’s a lot of things
05:13
that kind of go into this but
05:16
what that originally told me when i
05:17
first found that fact out was
05:20
everyone’s trying to pull
05:21
based on an injury an injury prevention
05:24
thing not based on your body type and
05:28
you’ve got tall athletes having to
05:30
perform take sumo deadlifts to try and
05:31
get into a good position
05:33
lower their center of gravity you’ve got
05:35
short athletes taking advantage of that
05:37
shorter deadlift and it before we kind
05:40
of go on to podcasts it’s just a thought
05:41
experiment i’d love to think that you
05:44
was able to have a deadlift where
05:45
everyone had the same
05:47
amount of distance in a way like because
05:49
obviously if you’re taller you’ve got a
05:51
longer longer lever so
05:53
it’s just
05:54
it’ll be really interesting but
05:56
i think when it comes to
05:58
for life especially
06:01
you’ve got to realize you don’t need to
06:02
you’re not a failure if you don’t
06:04
deadlift conventional from the floor and
06:06
i think that’s i think because that’s
06:07
obviously the staple that’s what
06:08
everyone thinks conventional deadlift
06:09
where your feet are underneath your hips
06:11
and your hands just outside your knees
06:13
that is the staple of the deadlift but
06:15
there are so many options which we’ve
06:17
discussed before and
06:19
for life i think they’re the ones you
06:20
might have to maybe navigate if you have
06:22
any issues with commercial deadlift
06:24
that’s a great fact thank you for
06:26
sharing i didn’t know that and
06:27
i think yeah it’s
06:29
it’s so funny how
06:31
that
06:32
distance has been decided to save
06:34
people’s faces but it has become now the
06:37
standard for what a proper
06:40
in air quotes deadlift is and it’s
06:43
pretty much arbitrary like hopefully i
06:45
imagine most people’s faces are less
06:47
than 8.75 inches when they’re lying on
06:50
the back of their head
06:52
but
06:53
the fact that so much training has
06:55
revolved around that distance now
06:58
because of that and i don’t think like
07:00
yeah having been in gyms for a long long
07:03
time now and not being made aware of
07:05
that fact is quite interesting and
07:09
when we distill it back to why we’re
07:10
deadlifting if you are training to pick
07:12
something up off the floor
07:14
you’re actually only training to pick
07:15
something 8.75 inches off the floor so
07:19
you probably need some you need a sample
07:22
yes exactly a sandbag or some form of
07:24
deficit to actually be able to grab
07:27
something from the ground
07:29
that sort of segues into the training
07:31
for life thing but
07:34
if you are training for life there’s a
07:36
lot of movement variability in life you
07:39
say you drop a pen it could be anywhere
07:41
around you it’s not going to be 8.75
07:43
inches off the floor
07:45
like perfectly in the middle of your
07:47
stance you’re going to want to bend over
07:49
to the side slightly forwards maybe
07:51
twisting at the same time
07:53
so
07:53
only training a conventional deadlift
07:55
with a perfect setup
07:58
actually isn’t
07:59
preparing you as well as it possibly
08:02
could for
08:03
that
08:04
life skill of picking something up off
08:06
the floor so my advice for dead lifting
08:09
for life is actually to use a lot of
08:10
different variations doing dumbbell
08:12
deadlifts kettlebell deadlifts by adding
08:14
in different planes of motion um
08:17
you can mix it up because you’re not
08:20
really training for an absolute one rep
08:22
max for day-to-day function
08:25
you know there’s the stories of people
08:27
picking up a car to save somebody’s life
08:29
like
08:30
sure that’s
08:31
if like
08:33
i don’t know if everyone should center
08:34
their training around possibly having to
08:36
do that one day
08:37
because it’s much more likely that
08:38
you’re going to drop a pen so
08:41
having um having that in the back of
08:44
your mind when you’re designing your
08:45
training program
08:46
if you or your client are
08:50
yeah not looking to break any world
08:52
records then having as much variation as
08:54
possible whilst ensuring progressive
08:56
overloads of course um
08:59
i think would be my number one piece of
09:02
advice for
09:03
joe bloggs is dead lift yeah mr joe
09:06
blogs or mrs joanne blogs
09:09
so
09:10
yeah i might i think that’s obviously a
09:12
hundred percent and i think fit for life
09:14
and even if you’re doing loads of
09:16
variation it doesn’t mean you need to
09:18
excuse excuse the french be a little
09:20
[ __ ] about it and then go light and
09:21
everything because this is still your
09:23
opportunity to still get strong in these
09:25
variations and this is where like the
09:27
conjugate method and stuff like that
09:29
it’s all about variations of the same
09:31
movement because they’re still getting
09:33
that hinge motor pattern say so sticking
09:35
with the deadlift they’re still thinking
09:36
about okay how many different variations
09:38
can we do of this deadlift to
09:40
essentially strengthen your full
09:41
structure and they always come back to
09:43
the conventional that they’ve got their
09:45
competition lift on say the dynamic days
09:47
or whatever because that’s the
09:48
opportunity for them to really hone in
09:50
that movement pattern for the
09:52
competition and just sticking with that
09:55
for life
09:56
i think obviously understanding
09:59
if you are trying to say get stronger at
10:01
the conventional deadlift and even if
10:03
that’s for life
10:04
i guess that
10:07
when you’re talking about picking
10:08
something up off the floor as you said
10:10
at the start it is pretty simple and
10:12
self-explanatory right
10:14
but do we then need to start taking into
10:16
account for maybe what accessories to do
10:19
or how to hold the bar and that to keep
10:21
it fit for life or does that now start
10:23
going more into that training specific
10:28
interesting question i think
10:30
for life
10:32
variation is king like i say so you can
10:35
mix it up as much as you want i think
10:37
that more comes into the equation when
10:40
we get into the sport specific side of
10:42
things where
10:44
as we always say specificity is king for
10:47
sport uh
10:49
the only lift you need to be doing
10:52
in your sport is the competition lift so
10:55
if you are a power lifter you need to
10:57
squat bench deadlift if you’re a
10:58
weightlifter you need to clean and drag
11:00
and snatch but everything outside of
11:02
that can be considered accessory work
11:04
and should be
11:06
improving those core lifts that’s the
11:09
reason you’re doing anything else
11:11
because like to practice your sport you
11:13
just do the core movements so if we’re
11:15
looking at a deadlift if you’re a power
11:19
lifter
11:20
and you pull sumo in competition sumo
11:23
should take up a lot of your training to
11:25
get that specificity to practice the
11:28
skill that is
11:29
how you compete and anything that isn’t
11:32
sumo is an accessory so for that person
11:34
a conventional deadlift would be
11:36
considered an accessory movement because
11:38
it isn’t
11:39
the key thing that they’re working
11:40
towards however you get into crossfit
11:44
then we’re having a chat about this
11:46
offline
11:47
there are so many different ways you
11:48
could be asked to deadlift you could be
11:50
asked to deadlift under fatigue you
11:52
could be officed a deadlift a one rep
11:53
max you could be asked to deadlift 100
11:56
reps at a lightweight
11:58
so
11:59
having practiced all of those skills
12:01
individually is important because they
12:03
are your competition lifts so
12:06
whether you choose to
12:08
switch grip hook grip
12:10
double overhand regular grip
12:12
they are all
12:15
tools in your tool in your tool bag
12:16
depending what the sport asks for you
12:19
in a given workout which makes things a
12:21
lot harder to prepare for yeah and
12:25
yeah
12:26
well i think with
12:28
crossfit for me it’s a really
12:29
interesting one with deadlifting because
12:31
they expect everyone to conventional
12:33
deadlift with a one rep max you cannot
12:35
do a sumo doing
12:37
max and have you so then it doesn’t
12:38
matter how tall short whatever everyone
12:40
is doing the conventional deadlift so it
12:41
means everything outside of that is an
12:44
accessory because they don’t ask you to
12:46
clean deadlift so because it’s not right
12:48
there so that’s obviously you might do
12:49
it with a weightlifting cycle so if you
12:51
are straightening your deadlift you have
12:53
to no matter what pull that weight from
12:56
the floor in a conventional stance
12:58
so i just i find that fascinating that
13:00
they make you do i know it’s to kind of
13:02
keep it fair across the board because if
13:04
someone’s short and doing a sumo and
13:06
they can out lift someone that’s tall
13:08
doing assuming you know i mean so the
13:09
levers are different so i get it to make
13:12
it blank uh keep it consistent across
13:14
the board but
13:16
they come to that point of training
13:17
competing and i guess as you say for
13:20
life so
13:22
when it does i think one of the most
13:23
important bits for me as well especially
13:25
with like touch and go
13:27
is it’s if you do do crossfit it’s so
13:31
important to do touch and go
13:33
because it’s a such a unique fin of how
13:36
your hamstring glutes lower back get
13:38
pumped up
13:39
and not even in a bad way but to have
13:41
that much time under tension and that
13:43
much that much of a pump sometimes
13:45
people just don’t know how to do it they
13:46
think they’re backs in pieces and it’s
13:48
like it’s just a pumped lower back and i
13:50
think because we’re not used to having a
13:52
pumped lower back it can be quite a hard
13:54
thing to deal with a lot of time
13:55
especially then using a workout like
13:57
damn we then go into handstand push-ups
13:59
and then you can so you’ve got that
14:00
coming with i think your hips tucked in
14:02
a different way so it’s it’s it’s a it’s
14:05
an interesting thing now for me
14:08
when it does come to strength training
14:10
overall yes okay if you want to start
14:11
getting sport specific but i’m a big
14:14
advocate of doing singles so even if
14:16
you’ve got to do a set of five each time
14:18
you’re resetting the bar creating that
14:20
tension and i think if you are doing
14:22
when you want to choose to do touch and
14:24
go within strength training i
14:27
i like to try and say like you’re trying
14:29
to touch eggshells
14:30
so you’re just trying to tap the floor
14:32
rather than cheat and use the floor to
14:34
bounce up now i guess that’s now coming
14:37
from say a power lifter background when
14:38
i say cheat it’s like when someone says
14:40
pull ups doing that kipping is cheating
14:42
but it’s not it’s just efficient so i’m
14:44
i know that’s a bias and i’m not saying
14:46
it’s cheating because it’s it’s it’s
14:49
it’s functional for what the
14:51
the task is at hand
14:53
yeah but as a strength athlete i’m gonna
14:55
say
14:56
if you’re doing more than one rep you’re
14:58
not bouncing off the floor even though i
15:00
do and i i i know the value it is easy i
15:03
just had to get in there well i think
15:05
that’s a really good point to make is
15:06
that
15:07
in crossfit if you’re doing touch and go
15:09
dead lists the reason you do it is
15:11
because it’s faster and easier and in
15:13
the competitive workout the goal is to
15:16
make your life as easy as possible and
15:18
conserve your energy whereas if you’re
15:20
doing strength training and the purpose
15:22
of the session is to get stronger you’re
15:25
actually trying to make it as difficult
15:26
as possible for yourself it’s the same
15:28
principles bodybuilding is that it
15:31
doesn’t really matter what weight you’re
15:34
using all that matters is that it’s
15:36
really difficult and then you get close
15:38
to failure so you create the stimulus
15:40
for growth and most bodybuilding
15:42
movements are actually
15:44
inefficient ways of moving so that you
15:46
can overload a muscle
15:48
more than it would like if you just go
15:50
about your day-to-day life none of your
15:51
muscles are hitting failure so they’re
15:52
not getting a stimulus
15:54
to grow and develop so you’ve got to
15:56
come up with an artificial setting to
15:59
overload those muscles
16:01
and for strength training we’re trying
16:03
to
16:04
create an environment where certain
16:06
muscle groups get overloaded to give
16:09
them a reason to develop
16:11
bigger and or stronger
16:13
when we’re doing touch and go reps we’re
16:15
trying to avoid failure because we want
16:17
to go as fast as we can and we don’t
16:19
want
16:20
any of our local muscular fatigue to be
16:22
the limiter to us scoring well in the
16:24
workout
16:26
and if you’re doing singles in diane
16:29
you’re going to be slower
16:30
and
16:31
it’s uh just yeah it’s it’s not going to
16:34
be
16:35
the opposite way getting a score yeah
16:37
right and the thing is as well because
16:38
even though i’m a huge advocate for
16:41
singles doing 21 singles like by the
16:45
time you get to say 10 you’ll be gassed
16:48
because the amount of energy and because
16:50
essentially the reason that the whole
16:52
reason why i’m a big advocate of singles
16:55
within so even like when i was coaching
16:57
crossfit classes
16:58
is because most people
17:00
as soon as we’re going to get into some
17:02
of the movement mechanics but most
17:03
people don’t understand how to touch and
17:05
go properly and it just turns into a
17:07
back raise continuously right and they
17:09
don’t understand how to use the legs
17:11
when you watch proper touch and go
17:12
deadlifts you actually notice it’s quite
17:14
squatty so there’s quite a lot of leg
17:17
drive in a vertical pull and it’s
17:20
when you do a one rep max
17:22
you’re trying to brace as hard as you
17:23
can so you’re trying to create a midline
17:25
tension you’re trying to create tension
17:26
throughout your body so you can lift
17:27
that rep multiple times however many say
17:30
once twice whatever right now
17:32
that’s a skill which you want to be able
17:34
to condition and i think for the general
17:37
public trying to say improve their
17:39
strength that’s definitely where they
17:41
want to be getting better at bracing and
17:44
i know we’ve mentioned it before that
17:46
meme where everything’s braced you know
17:47
trying to reach it but it’s like in if
17:49
you are trying to lift a heavy weight
17:50
off the load or off the floor or squat
17:53
or bench whatever you need to understand
17:56
that that brace because
17:58
that’s what determines whether you can
18:00
lift it or not through the body
18:02
correctly so i think
18:04
i guess that we’re going to then move
18:06
nicely into then the movement mechanics
18:08
because as i mentioned there
18:11
it is a hinge it’s a hinge dominant
18:14
exercise right which is why i guess
18:16
obviously it does depend on okay i’m
18:18
gonna
18:19
i could put a cabbage because if you
18:20
look at strong man it’s a lot more of a
18:21
squat kind of deadlift so and touching
18:25
again it depends so yeah yeah i’m gonna
18:28
i’m gonna let you jump in here
18:30
okay and then i’m gonna encounter you
18:33
yeah i think the um
18:35
when does a hinge become a squat is
18:37
another
18:38
arbitrary line in the sand that we draw
18:41
because they both both involve
18:44
double flexion so you’ve got knee
18:46
flexion and hip flexion knee extension
18:47
and hip extension so as you
18:49
yeah lower yourself and as you stand up
18:52
the knee and the hip both work and
18:56
whether something is classed as a hinge
18:58
is basically if the hip is
19:00
flexing more than the knee
19:03
and
19:04
in
19:05
life in day-to-day function you must
19:07
never get one without the other so
19:12
you can describe deadlift styles as more
19:15
hingy or more squatty
19:18
and
19:19
different people will have different
19:20
preferences depending on which parts of
19:23
their body are stronger and more
19:26
skillful
19:27
and it’s
19:29
very
19:30
individual dependent as to what’s
19:31
optimal as rob just said there
19:34
most strong men
19:36
and most of the biggest lifts ever have
19:39
a slightly more squatty style of
19:41
deadlift because
19:43
if you think about the goal there
19:44
they’re trying to lift as much weight as
19:46
possible so they want to recruit as much
19:48
muscle as possible to help achieve that
19:51
task so they essentially set up and it’s
19:54
almost like a leg press where they’re
19:56
pushing the floor away and then
19:59
hinging but
20:01
the most
20:02
efficient way to maximize your output is
20:05
to have all your muscles working
20:07
together at the same time and
20:09
um yeah with favorable mechanics which
20:12
we’ll get into later when we talk about
20:13
bar path
20:15
however if you have a different reason
20:17
for doing the deadlift other than
20:19
lifting as much as humanly possible then
20:22
we start to look at the nuance for why
20:24
you might have a more hingey versus
20:27
squatty deadlift like if somebody is
20:29
already squatting in their training
20:31
program
20:32
then they’re getting that stimulation of
20:34
like a more knee flexion
20:36
dominant
20:37
movement pattern
20:38
so having a more hip dominant one say
20:40
they sit down a lot for work
20:42
could be a good idea and
20:45
this is where you get versions like the
20:46
high hip deadlift or the romanian
20:48
deadlift or even stiff legged deadlift
20:50
where the hip doesn’t drop down very
20:53
much at all it stays nearly at the same
20:55
height as it is when you’re stood up
20:56
straight there’s just a very soft bend
20:59
in the knees and
21:01
the vertical displacement of that pelvis
21:03
is
21:04
much less as compared to the squattier
21:06
version of the deadlift and
21:09
yeah so reasons why that
21:12
might be tough for somebody
21:14
if they have limited hamstring range
21:17
they find it difficult to get into a
21:19
good hip hinge position then
21:22
that that hinge dominant version might
21:24
be very difficult for them to learn so
21:26
doing
21:27
trap bar deadlifts are a great way to
21:30
play with this because in a trap bar
21:32
when you don’t have
21:33
the barbell
21:34
out in front of you and you can be right
21:36
in the middle of the weight rather than
21:38
the anterior loaded style you can do any
21:41
style of deadlift you want you can do
21:43
anything from stiff legged to basically
21:45
just a standing like a a squat with
21:48
the trap bar and you can
21:51
use that as a progression to build
21:53
towards a more hingey pattern without
21:55
punishing the inability to hinge well
21:58
yeah
22:00
that’s me talking for a long time
22:03
now it’s funny because it’s like i love
22:05
the track bar i think it’s it’s a really
22:07
really good tool and i think for most
22:09
for life it’s probably one of the best
22:12
tools to use because it gives you that
22:15
flexibility of
22:17
depends on someone’s mobility depends on
22:19
how someone needs to be in their
22:20
position do they need to be more squatty
22:22
do they need to be more hingy and it
22:24
gives them an opportunity to lift heavy
22:26
loads off the floor and kind of negate
22:28
um
22:29
maybe some imbalances or some limiters
22:32
elsewhere and
22:34
for someone that i i know from previous
22:37
clients and this it’s not always what
22:38
they need to be doing and they
22:39
definitely don’t need to be doing one
22:41
rep maxes but plenty of clients will
22:44
benefit from just lifting a heavy load
22:46
off the floor because it makes them feel
22:47
good it makes them feel strong so beyond
22:49
just the physiological like benefits
22:51
there that they leave feeling like
22:53
accomplished it’s like following any
22:55
type of strength program they they can
22:56
see progression they can see where they
22:58
started and with the with a trap bar is
23:00
it’s a it’s a lovely lift and
23:04
i think when you you touched on there
23:06
where like determined with the hinge and
23:08
the squat and i think
23:10
talking about the for life people
23:14
if you cannot do a more hinge dominant
23:16
deadlift you need to find the correct
23:19
deadlift for you that will be hinge
23:20
dominant so whatever hinge movement that
23:22
is that’s the one you should be doing
23:24
because you made the good point there
23:25
you will most likely be squatting in
23:27
your program that is the most direct
23:30
path to say building your squat pad
23:33
right don’t use the deadlift then to
23:35
build your legs as a squat as a knee
23:37
flexion exercise the the deadlift should
23:40
be being utilized as a hinge dominant
23:42
exercise so if you cannot do a
23:44
conventional deadlift as we discussed
23:46
earlier depending on many other factors
23:49
there are so many variations you know
23:51
coming if we work our way down from the
23:53
conventional deadlift you when have
23:54
straight down from that you have a sumo
23:56
deadlift where your feet are going to be
23:57
wide and your hands are going to be
23:58
inside
23:59
your thighs and you’re going to be your
24:01
lower center you’ve got a lower center
24:03
of gravity you know you come down for
24:04
that as you said we then got the trap
24:05
bar you then can utilize things like
24:07
kettlebells which will be kind of like a
24:09
sumo deadlift or and you’ll be inside
24:12
like because you’ll be inside your
24:13
thighs there’s so many options
24:15
but you want to be picking on where
24:16
you’re getting the best hamstrings and
24:18
glute activation and you feel your lats
24:21
up posterior chains everything in the
24:22
back of your body you want to be feeling
24:25
worked in a deadlift and if you’re not
24:27
ask yourself is this the correct
24:29
deadlift for you or are you doing it
24:30
just because it looks good
24:32
and i guess all these sound things we we
24:34
always come back to is in why are you
24:36
training like why are you doing this if
24:38
you’re competing for a sport
24:41
that determines you to say like with
24:43
powerlifting you have to then lift it up
24:44
in one fluid motion it cannot be a stop
24:47
at any point it has to continue just
24:48
like with weightlifting with the jerk it
24:50
has to lock out in one motion and not a
24:52
press
24:53
you know
24:54
if you’re in that sport then cool you
24:56
need to train for your sport as we’ve
24:59
discussed earlier but for day-to-day
25:01
life we want to make sure we’re getting
25:03
the muscle recruitment that we’re using
25:05
the exercise for and i think that’s a
25:06
really clear
25:08
a really important thing to make clear
25:11
absolutely for me
25:16
so the next point we want to talk about
25:18
in the mechanics of the deadlift is the
25:20
bar path so something that gets
25:22
spoken about
25:24
like all the time but i don’t think the
25:27
understanding for why it’s so important
25:29
is often explained and
25:32
at its simplest bar path is we want a
25:35
vertical bar path we want the bar to go
25:36
straight up from where it sits on the
25:38
ground and then straight down and that’s
25:41
for one reason is it we’re going from a
25:43
to b in the most direct path possible so
25:46
from a performance point of view we’re
25:48
not wasting any energy we’re not doing
25:50
extra work by sending the bar forwards
25:52
and backwards
25:53
but also from a safety point of view the
25:56
further away from
25:58
the center of balance we go the more the
26:01
bar feels like it weighs
26:04
so if we go back to our gcse physics and
26:06
leverage
26:08
these
26:15
the leverage is basically the force
26:17
times the distance away from the fulcrum
26:20
so if we imagine the middle of your foot
26:22
is your center of balance
26:24
if the bar is over that there is zero
26:27
distance from the fulcrum so it’s not
26:30
going any away any any distance away
26:32
from the middle of the seesaw let’s
26:33
think of it like that the further away
26:35
from the middle of the seesaw that
26:37
weight goes the more it feels like it
26:39
weighs because of that principle of
26:42
leverage the bar obviously has the same
26:44
mass but because it’s further away from
26:46
you it’s like when you do a if you hold
26:49
a dumbbell at your shoulder it’s easy if
26:51
you hold it at arm’s length out to the
26:52
sides it feels so much heavier because
26:55
it has that extra distance of the lever
26:59
so when we’re dead lifting
27:01
the smallest distance away on a heavy
27:04
bar can actually make it feel like it
27:06
weighs a huge amount more
27:09
so
27:10
from a performance point of view we want
27:12
zero uh distance away but also from a
27:14
safety point of view we’re going to
27:16
be
27:17
much more predisposed to overloading the
27:19
back if we’re out of position and
27:22
this is why a lot of power lifters will
27:24
wear long socks because they’re
27:25
literally scraping up their shin to
27:27
avoid any chance of any
27:30
extra
27:32
any distance away from the bar and i i’m
27:34
going to get the maths wrong here but i
27:36
heard this years ago as a stat i think
27:38
it’s actually about the clean rather
27:40
than deadlift but if the
27:42
bar is on perfect bar path and it weighs
27:44
100 kilos there’s about 370 newtons
27:48
worth of force required to lift that bar
27:50
on perfect bar path
27:52
if it goes an inch away from you that
27:54
now requires 570 newtons of force i’m
27:58
probably butchering but it’s nearly
28:00
double that’s the the main point it
28:02
takes nearly double the amount of force
28:04
to lift the same bar for an inch of
28:05
distance so
28:07
you can see there how if you have a
28:10
sub-optimal bar path you’re not only
28:12
killing your performance but also
28:13
increasing your risk of injury
28:15
significantly
28:17
and
28:18
the key
28:20
factor for
28:22
ruining your bar path is the position of
28:24
your knees so
28:26
a lot of people if especially if they’re
28:27
quad dominant they like squatting more
28:30
than they like hinging
28:31
their knees will shoot forwards to try
28:33
and use the quads and even the lower
28:35
back more than the hips the glutes and
28:38
the hamstrings
28:40
so
28:41
what you want to watch out there for
28:43
there is um the knees coming forwards it
28:45
happens especially on the way down that
28:48
people sort of run it down their thighs
28:50
and around their knees and you just get
28:52
this brief exposure to really poor
28:55
leverage and
28:57
the it goes really wrong when it lands
28:59
on the floor out in front and then they
29:01
try and pull the next rep from that
29:03
position so at the very least make sure
29:06
the bar is in the middle of your foot
29:08
before you pull from the floor and quite
29:10
often you’ll if somebody does pull from
29:12
out in front
29:14
their body will naturally equalize to
29:16
bring it back on plane because it knows
29:19
that it’s so much easier or it literally
29:21
can’t pull it up out over the toes
29:24
i find it so i’ve got a couple of things
29:27
on this and it’s just as we was talking
29:29
it was making me think uh how
29:31
so obviously this comes down to when i
29:33
mentioned earlier about the trapper why
29:35
it’s so easy because then doesn’t matter
29:37
how far forward your knees are how high
29:39
your hips are is that the bar can stay
29:41
as long as your lats are engaged and
29:42
you’re packed down and you’re holding on
29:44
that way it the bar path is straight
29:46
it’s going through the middle of the
29:47
body so it’s going to be your strongest
29:48
position
29:49
now when it comes to touch and go
29:52
i think a real common misconception
29:55
is
29:56
going too fast with touch and go and the
30:00
so your point there with knees coming
30:02
forward first is normally because
30:04
someone hasn’t taken a split moment to
30:06
just do a slight hinge so hinge on that
30:08
hip ever so slightly first because
30:11
if you if
30:13
going fast so try if you say you’ve got
30:15
60 seconds to do multiple reps right but
30:17
you become inefficient as you just said
30:18
it takes more effort to lift that same
30:21
load so if you start bending from the
30:22
knees first and you the bar travels
30:24
forward and you’re doing touch and go
30:25
you can get you could probably get
30:26
through that four minutes of worth quite
30:28
comfortably and maybe get say
30:30
30 reps it could be more than but say 30
30:32
reps whereas if you take a little bit
30:34
more time on the on the way down not
30:36
necessarily putting loads of time under
30:38
tension because you’re gonna then get
30:39
other limiters there but hinging first
30:41
and maybe being a tiny bit slower from
30:43
the hip to the knee and then once you
30:45
hit the knee that’s in when that bounce
30:47
comes or that touch and go motion comes
30:49
because then you know you’re right the
30:51
knees are out the way
30:52
and you can just keep continue doing
30:54
that movement smoothly and effectively
30:55
and what are they supposed to say you
30:56
know it’s fast and smooth
30:59
that’s it slowly smooth as fast yeah
31:01
exactly right so and this is where you
31:04
know this i think i think most people
31:06
know this if you do something
31:08
inefficiently you might be faster
31:10
initially but you’re gonna blow out long
31:12
term because it’s not working what
31:14
you’re supposed to be doing and i think
31:15
touch and go deadlifts i think this is
31:17
my
31:19
my biggest gripe with them is because
31:21
people disrespect them because they
31:22
think it’s easier but it’s it’s it’s
31:25
such a skill in itself to actually learn
31:27
how to touch and go consistently fast
31:29
and effectively because if you do it
31:31
properly you can go for reps and reps
31:33
and reps and then you know the bar’s not
31:35
rolling out in front of you over your
31:36
toes and so forth because
31:38
as you said like the one of the most
31:39
important bits of a deadlift is that bar
31:41
path and i think that disrespect of
31:43
where it is and then maybe taking an
31:46
extra moment to roll the bar back into
31:47
you and it’s just funny because when you
31:48
said about wearing socks it reminded me
31:50
back to like 2013 and full uh
31:53
power lifting thing i was football socks
31:55
chalk on the thighs you know everything
31:57
wearing tights make sure it slides up
31:59
nicely you know i don’t get it wrong it
32:01
worked but um yeah
32:03
it was a really interesting thing but
32:05
yeah yeah that’s a really good point i
32:07
was just going to say yeah to just echo
32:09
you on the touch and go thing there
32:12
it
32:13
always comes back to bite you so if
32:15
you’re inefficient one you’re wasting
32:18
energy and you’re going to perform
32:19
worse in the workout because you’re just
32:21
burning more energy than necessary it is
32:23
actually slower overall because you’re
32:26
moving the bar further there’s more
32:27
distance being covered by that barbell
32:30
per rep
32:31
and because of the inefficiency you’re
32:33
also loading your muscles sub-optimally
32:35
so you’re going to be more backy you’re
32:37
going to be more quality you’re not
32:38
going to use the bigger stronger muscles
32:40
of the glutes and the hamstrings so
32:42
in all from all points of view it is
32:44
worse
32:45
apart from how it feels in that moment
32:47
because it you feel like you’re moving
32:49
faster that spending the time to work on
32:52
that bar path
32:53
is think of it as like an investment
32:55
because it’s going to improve all of
32:56
those other areas the more you practice
32:58
it and more you refine that motor
33:00
pattern but it’s just
33:02
in the first instance you just want to
33:04
go as quickly as you can and you’re
33:05
thinking bar up bar down bar up bar down
33:08
but when you review your tape and see
33:11
how wasteful you are um it’s well worth
33:14
going a little bit slower to start with
33:16
to then be efficient and perform better
33:19
in the future
33:20
yeah and i i think like these obviously
33:23
keep the bar path is like probably a
33:26
number one performance point that always
33:27
gets hammered and
33:29
that’s
33:30
i think having a good bar path and
33:33
making sure that you’re locked in
33:35
throughout so creating stability through
33:37
your structure
33:38
so by packing your lats you know whole
33:40
using the weight on the bar so that’s
33:41
like a skill in itself so holding onto
33:43
the bar however you do it you know pull
33:45
on that bar so you’re creating that
33:46
whole tension through your body rather
33:49
than because
33:50
what i tend what i used to tend to see a
33:52
lot was
33:53
just basically grab and go
33:55
and now my issue with that is normally
33:57
what happens with a grab-and-go deadlift
34:00
and it sounds like a touch and go but i
34:01
grab and go deadlift if someone does it
34:02
so fast they haven’t had the opportunity
34:04
to create total body tension so if they
34:06
do
34:07
get the lift so this is presuming they
34:09
don’t fail it if they do get the lift
34:11
their body is literally gone to whatever
34:13
position possible to get that weight up
34:15
rather than the most efficient one
34:17
possible now the reason why i say this
34:20
is because
34:21
when we deadlift we all look slightly
34:23
differently there isn’t a right way per
34:25
say to say conventional data and using
34:27
just the conventional as an example
34:30
there is some
34:31
say foundational foundational principles
34:34
that we all want to maybe follow so
34:36
we’re all going to try and think about
34:37
packing our lats we’re going to try and
34:38
keep the bar close we’re going to try
34:40
and have our maybe
34:43
our head neutral and so that these
34:46
common cues may be hips slightly higher
34:47
than the knees problem is though maybe
34:50
if you do have a limitation of you might
34:52
have been more internally rotated so you
34:54
might be more kythotic so the top of
34:55
your shoulders might be slightly pulled
34:56
forward more you’re not going to look
34:58
how i look like when i got my lats
35:00
packed and like you watch some of the
35:01
biggest deadlifts their upper back is
35:04
slightly rounded but it’s it’s locked in
35:06
place and there’s nothing wrong with
35:08
that because it is a solid structure so
35:10
i think it’s when we’re trying to judge
35:12
if we’re doing it right or wrong
35:14
it is more than the way it looks but it
35:16
is also how it feels and unfortunately
35:19
you’re the only one that could know if
35:21
it’s right or wrong obviously we can as
35:22
coaches up we can make observations and
35:24
we can see say poor move mechanics and
35:27
say actually that could probably be more
35:28
effective because we can see things are
35:30
overloaded elsewhere
35:31
but if you understand that when you pull
35:33
tension on that bar you can feel your
35:36
lats engaged so just underneath your
35:37
armpits you can feel your hamstrings and
35:39
glute switch on so when you come up
35:42
it’s one movement and it’s i like to i
35:44
use this analogy of of a car and the and
35:47
the clutch because
35:49
you can drive a car ride in the clutch
35:52
you can ride and you move forward and
35:53
like do everything
35:55
it’s and it will work but it’s just not
35:57
efficient whereas if you find the biting
35:59
point you’re going to be just at that
36:00
sweet spot where all the power is ready
36:02
to then put it down so get take the
36:04
clutch off and that’s what i feel the
36:06
tension on the bar is you’re finding
36:08
your sweet spot so then when you drive
36:10
down into the floor like a leg press say
36:12
that weight is going to come straight up
36:14
like a car hitting that sweet spot of
36:16
the clutch and just flying off so
36:19
yeah enough for me i like that i like
36:21
that
36:23
right
36:24
next movement mechanics done or key
36:27
points there’s obviously a lot of new
36:28
ones we could go into but for the
36:31
in the interest of time we’ll move on to
36:33
the common pitfalls so i think
36:35
deadlifts have
36:37
had a bad rap in the past for being the
36:39
best way to injure your back and then
36:41
the fitness injury sort of moved on to
36:44
think you know actually deadlifts are
36:45
the best way to strengthen your back and
36:47
the truth is good let good deadlifts
36:49
strengthen your back bad bad lifts can
36:51
hurt your back and
36:54
why does the back
36:56
get injured in deadlifting typically
36:58
it’s because the back is excessively
37:01
loaded
37:02
so it’s trying to do
37:04
more of the movement than
37:06
is ideal and isn’t conditioned to do so
37:09
like the
37:10
the lumbar spine the lower back is not
37:13
designed for huge amounts of motion
37:16
so if we’re yanking on a deadlift and we
37:19
don’t have a good brace as uh rob just
37:22
walked us through there
37:24
and the lumbar spine moves a lot
37:27
it’s not going to be very happy it’s not
37:29
built for that if you look at the
37:30
structure of the vertebrae the lumbar
37:33
spine the vertebrae have uh bigger and
37:36
they have smaller space between them so
37:38
that means they don’t flex and extend as
37:41
much as those of the thoracic spine
37:44
so when we’re pulling on a deadlift and
37:47
taking those vertebrae to end range at
37:49
some point they’re going to complain and
37:51
give you some grief so
37:54
why is why is that happening why is too
37:56
much of the weight going into the lower
37:58
back
38:00
generally it’s because we’re not
38:02
able to load other areas of the body so
38:04
we’re
38:05
usually not loading the hip as much as
38:08
we could this is the typical
38:10
presentation that
38:12
because we sit on our asses all day
38:14
we’re not very good at using them for
38:16
lifting
38:17
so their nearest neighbor the lower back
38:19
tries to do his mate’s job and ends up
38:22
getting overworked so
38:25
this can be both sides of the hip so
38:27
we’re not using either glute or it can
38:29
be one side dominant and funnily enough
38:32
like when that happens say you don’t use
38:34
your left glute
38:35
very well usually the right lure back
38:37
will be the one to complain because he’s
38:39
best suited to create the same types of
38:42
motion so look out for that if you feel
38:44
that always one side of your lower back
38:46
gets pumped or painful when you’re dead
38:49
lifting
38:50
you might have an issue with the
38:52
opposite side glute
38:54
and this comes back to
38:57
our hinge pattern in its purists we’re
38:59
trying to achieve a good hip flexion
39:03
during the movement so if the hip is not
39:05
flexing well that’s when the back will
39:08
start doing that flexion
39:10
for it and
39:11
i think as a practical takeaway on this
39:14
one the key thing we’re looking for in a
39:16
good hip hinge is obviously hip flexion
39:18
so the angle at the front of the hip
39:20
decreasing
39:22
but also
39:23
a posterior translation so that
39:25
basically means your butt’s going
39:26
backwards in space and i obviously i
39:29
always use
39:30
one of rob’s cues actually for this i
39:32
like is if you’re trying to shut the car
39:34
door when you’ve got the shopping in
39:36
your hands you just push your bum behind
39:38
you
39:39
and that’s crucial to getting a good hip
39:41
hinge loading the hamstrings and loading
39:43
the glutes if the hip does not go
39:45
backwards it’s very difficult to get
39:48
those muscles to bear any of the weight
39:50
and
39:51
that’s what you would see somebody who’s
39:53
very quad dominant if somebody comes up
39:55
onto their toes the heels come off the
39:57
ground knees shoot forwards bars out in
39:59
front that’s a very common
40:01
um
40:02
sub-optimal deadlift which can lead to
40:05
lower back pain so that would be the
40:07
first thing to look at if somebody’s
40:09
complaining or you’re feeling back pain
40:11
when you are dead lifting bar path and a
40:14
good hip hinge
40:15
yeah and i guess that then comes down to
40:18
understanding what is the right deadlift
40:21
for you
40:22
because i think if these things are
40:24
happening and you’re being excessively
40:25
loaded on the back and it’s because you
40:26
can’t load your hip properly that might
40:28
mean you’re doing the incorrect deadlift
40:30
for you at this moment in time doesn’t
40:31
mean you cannot conventional deadlift it
40:33
just means at this moment in time i
40:35
think three episodes which i’d like to
40:37
link to which if you haven’t listened to
40:39
definitely listen back to we have one on
40:41
mobility and flexibility is that your
40:43
limiting factor that was i think episode
40:44
10 we have one about muscle imbalances
40:47
episode 44.
40:49
uh sorry four episodes we also have the
40:51
accessory episode what’s the right
40:52
accessory for you episode 57 and we also
40:55
have a really recent one about your
40:57
limiters episode 75 that’s just two
40:59
episodes ago
41:01
two three episodes ago so really reason
41:03
but all those links will be in the
41:04
description box below so
41:06
if you’re unsure of like you know maybe
41:09
what deadlift or what these things are
41:11
have listen back to those episodes maybe
41:13
try and get a couple of pointers from
41:14
there and then take that into your
41:16
training and maybe start experimenting
41:18
with different styles of hinging
41:20
to find your right one and then maybe
41:22
then think oh what’s my progression back
41:24
to conventional deadlift or maybe
41:27
leave the conventional deadlift out of
41:28
it and maybe start seeing my deadlifting
41:30
some people say it’s cheating um
41:33
but you know that’s their left their
41:35
opinion
41:36
just opinion
41:38
um
41:39
nice one say uh back to the common
41:42
pitfalls the next one i wanted to
41:44
highlight was the sequencing so locking
41:47
out of the knee before the hip
41:50
so this is also um
41:52
something we see in quad dominant
41:54
athletes where they want to do as much
41:57
work as they can with the knees and the
41:59
quads
42:00
and avoid using the hip as much as
42:02
possible but ironically this ends up
42:04
requiring more from the hip which if
42:06
it’s not happening will lead to back
42:09
pain as well so what you want to look
42:10
for here ideally
42:12
in a
42:14
great deadlift the lockout is
42:17
almost simultaneous between the hip and
42:19
the knee
42:20
that
42:21
your stand as you’re standing it up they
42:24
both come to full extension at the same
42:26
time
42:27
if i was going to choose one to go first
42:29
before the other i would always choose
42:31
the hip first because then you’re in a
42:33
more upright position to lock out the
42:35
knees so the spine is not
42:38
as vulnerable as it would be if you’re
42:40
still bent over
42:42
and that’s kind of the issue with the
42:43
knee going the knee extending before the
42:46
hip is if your legs straighten you then
42:48
basically got a stiff leg a deadlift to
42:50
finish off the movement so one it’s a
42:52
lot harder because now you’ve only got
42:54
the hip and back available to do work
42:57
because the knees now
42:59
tapped out
43:00
um
43:02
and uh
43:03
yeah it’s just
43:05
something we see quite often that um
43:08
should be avoided if possible so what
43:11
the way to get around this one is as
43:12
you’re thinking of standing up deadlift
43:14
drive your hips forwards and i don’t
43:17
like saying it but squeezing your bum or
43:18
pushing the hips forwards to lock out
43:20
the hip before the knee just ensures
43:23
that the back is in a safer position and
43:25
rob likes to talk about hitching so i’m
43:27
going to let him uh take over here well
43:30
yes so it’s funny because
43:32
obviously as i mentioned earlier on in
43:33
this episode uh hitching is essentially
43:36
when the bath essentially stops at say
43:39
mid-thigh essentially it starts like
43:41
you’re trying to get your body into the
43:42
most
43:44
into the best way possible to lift the
43:46
weight so it’s normally it will be your
43:48
hips are going to lock out and then your
43:50
knees are going to lock out
43:51
now
43:53
in powerlifting that’s not allowed ju as
43:55
i mentioned earlier just like in weight
43:56
lifting how the you can’t press out the
43:58
way it has to be jerked in one motion
44:00
now in strong man so lift the most
44:02
amount of weight possible hitching is
44:04
allowed
44:06
so
44:07
it’s funny because it’s the strongest
44:09
way to to do it yeah it’s if it needs to
44:13
say stop that is if the bar actually
44:15
needs to rather than keeping that load
44:17
through the lower back and as at the
44:19
hips and locked out needs it’s funny
44:20
just because as you were saying i just
44:22
wondered so i was just watching back my
44:23
best ever deadlift and it was funny
44:26
because you do yeah that’s just because
44:28
it’s because we were talking about the
44:29
start and so all i remember is i had
44:31
literally every blood vessel with my
44:33
face burst so i was like i literally
44:35
looked proper mixed race not just kind
44:36
of mixed right so i literally i went
44:38
dark
44:39
and
44:40
so i was watching it as as i was coming
44:42
up and uh i’ll show you and i’ll put it
44:44
on the screen
44:45
but
44:46
if you can see
44:48
as i’m coming up it gets to that point
44:50
here so my niece is not locked out yet
44:51
and it’s hips and knees together
44:54
and now for me when i watch that back
44:57
it’s funny because that’s a natural
44:58
position for you to get into when you
45:00
are getting heavy now with that kind of
45:03
parallel to me i’d say so because it was
45:05
in one one motion
45:06
but it’s
45:08
i think it comes down to then also
45:12
i wouldn’t tend to recommend hitching if
45:14
you’re training for life
45:16
because you’re again you should be
45:18
deadlifting for a stronger hinge so then
45:20
you’ve got to ask yourself what the load
45:22
that you’re lifting up is probably too
45:24
heavy for your hinge mechanics so then
45:26
you need to wait up so then a common
45:28
pitfall based on this would maybe be
45:30
going a little bit too heavy for the
45:32
intended stimulus
45:33
so
45:35
yeah so yeah yeah i like that yeah i
45:37
think the the hitching thing you’re
45:39
basically resting it on your thighs and
45:41
giving yourself an opportunity to get
45:43
another yank on it to get yeah exactly
45:45
get another stretch reflex well matt
45:47
freeze matt fraser just did it for his
45:49
best every deadlift and uh he hitched so
45:51
there you go it’s obviously
45:53
like it clearly helps you lift more yeah
45:56
that’s why people do do it at the
45:57
heaviest weights but um yeah obviously
46:00
certain federations do not approve but i
46:03
think in terms of safety i think it’s
46:05
actually safer because you’re upright
46:07
and the spine is vertical rather than
46:09
yeah your spine is loaded throughout
46:11
it’s a much easier it when it happens it
46:14
just feels strong and and rather than
46:16
watching someone’s lower back completely
46:18
round and as you say the
46:20
lumbar spine just overloading it’s
46:23
yeah that could be a whole different
46:24
conversation but i want to kind of keep
46:26
it here with the common pitfalls i think
46:28
one other one is the at the top and
46:32
basically hyper extending and i think
46:34
that is a really common pitfall because
46:36
it’s
46:37
people think they’re doing it right
46:38
there i’ve locked out this movement and
46:40
you’re leaning back and this it’s trying
46:42
to show everyone that you completed the
46:43
deadlift
46:44
and uh
46:46
it’s funny because
46:48
it’s normally not done
46:50
out of ill intention it’s normally done
46:52
because they’re trying to make sure they
46:53
finish the rep and they’re trying to
46:55
actually you know do it properly and
46:57
it’s just a mistake and i think it’s
46:58
just come maybe like looking especially
47:02
on um instagram when you watch uh my atg
47:06
and you know when you watch weight
47:07
lifters and they say like the position
47:09
that they’re getting to where they’re in
47:10
that a little bit of a hyper extension
47:11
they say it’s because it looks good for
47:13
a picture but you don’t actually you’re
47:15
not actually training that pull with the
47:18
head back that was always something that
47:19
chloe used to tell me uh when we were
47:21
when he was lifting that wit is i always
47:23
used to always just lead with the head
47:25
and pull my head back right because
47:27
again i’d seen this continuously rather
47:29
than thinking being tall and portable
47:31
i’d pull
47:32
back which then in turn would lead as
47:34
we’re talking about bar path go away
47:35
from you and that’s that’s the
47:38
yeah so that’s that hyperextension i
47:39
think it’s just it come by by people
47:41
maybe just misinterpreting
47:43
uh what was supposed to be done
47:45
exactly i think people think that the
47:47
further they lean back the more complete
47:50
like they should lean back as far as
47:51
they can to complete the rep when
47:54
actually once you’ve got once you’re
47:56
stood up your knees and hips are locked
47:58
out the bar is as high as it’s going to
48:00
go you don’t move the bar any further
48:03
you just move yourself further by
48:05
arching the back and having your
48:06
shoulders behind your hips and
48:09
the reason this is a pitfall for me is
48:11
the extra risk involved that you’re not
48:13
getting any more out of the exercise at
48:15
that point once you’re stood up
48:17
completely straight to then lean back
48:21
you’re adding a lot of risk for
48:23
yeah very little reward you’re you’re
48:25
basically taking your spine from
48:27
a
48:28
you’re reversing the direction of force
48:30
so when you’re folded forward the
48:32
spine’s in a flexed position and you’re
48:34
then if you have your shoulders behind
48:36
your hips you’re now loading the spine
48:39
from the other side so it becomes it can
48:41
be quite a sudden and vicious flexion to
48:44
extension with the force direction
48:47
changing 180 degrees
48:49
so i mean the spine could tolerate it
48:52
but
48:53
is that something that you is that an
48:55
adaptation that you want to train
48:57
probably not there’s not many cases
48:59
where the spine will be loaded in that
49:01
way switching from one to the other so
49:03
quickly
49:05
so i think it’s it’s probably just a
49:06
good way to
49:08
slip a disc without actually getting any
49:10
more benefit from the exercise so
49:12
when your shoulders are over your hip
49:14
your knees and your hips locked out
49:15
that’s as far as you need to go
49:17
yeah i think it’s a really nice one and
49:20
i guess
49:21
touch and go we’re touching this earlier
49:23
but
49:24
i guess that poor position from the
49:26
start
49:27
and also just like shooting the knees
49:30
forward on the way down uh yeah that’s
49:33
the easiest common pit for that and it’s
49:35
i’d say the way to counter that as i
49:36
mentioned earlier is just be a little
49:38
bit more um deliberate with the initial
49:42
hinge to start the movement on the way
49:44
down because it’s going to pay dividends
49:46
later on for the later because if you’re
49:48
doing touch and go you’re doing this to
49:50
do the most amount of reps in say the
49:52
most efficient way as possible in the
49:54
short amount of time possible
49:56
so
49:57
then i would arg then you’d have to say
49:59
it’s so much it
50:01
it’s going to pay to have better
50:02
movement mechanics and be a tiny bit
50:04
slower to give you more later
50:07
yeah it’s yeah it feels slower but yeah
50:10
yeah no sorry yeah i think that’s that’s
50:11
the distinction there like if you if you
50:13
look at your touch and go side on it
50:15
should look like a sewing machine like
50:17
the end of the bar should just be going
50:18
straight up straight down and if it’s
50:20
not then have a look at
50:22
it’s usually the way down because people
50:24
are in a rush to get down so the knees
50:26
shoot forwards and push the bar out in
50:28
front which means you’re in a shitty
50:29
position to pull the next rep
50:33
for touch and go dead lift clean and
50:36
snatch
50:37
the way down you should be thinking
50:39
about putting yourself in the perfect
50:40
position
50:43
yeah yeah it’s really interesting
50:44
actually because it just it it just made
50:46
me oh no i’ve lost it but i was just
50:48
thinking of a touch and go deadlift and
50:50
it’s
50:51
where
50:52
the bar starts um oh no i’ve lost it
50:55
i’ve lost it you carry on sorry mate
50:58
as you were saying that and i was just
50:59
like oh yeah there’s that really common
51:02
sorry
51:03
yeah knees bumping it forward so i think
51:05
it’s the uh the most common one there in
51:07
touch and go and then yeah when the bar
51:09
is sort of out by your toes and it’s
51:11
very back extension-y rather than
51:13
hip-hingey
51:14
and uh people you can you can also tell
51:17
because a lot of their weight is in
51:18
their toes and heels will sometimes even
51:20
come off the ground if they’re that over
51:21
balanced which
51:23
is horrible to see so i’ve remembered it
51:25
so it’s just with the touch and go when
51:27
we’re talking about how fast i think a
51:28
lot of the time as you mentioned there’s
51:30
like people uh think all right we’ve
51:31
gotta get it down fast as possible get
51:33
it down and technically if you’ve got
51:36
x say a hundred kilos coming from your
51:38
hip to the floor that’s a long way down
51:40
to essentially get a nice rebound back
51:42
back
51:43
rebound back off the floor so
51:46
but if you’re tired if you then do it
51:49
from your hips down you’re more likely
51:50
going to be in a much more compromised
51:52
position on that way back up because you
51:54
haven’t had the opportunity to pull it
51:56
get into a good position ready to
51:58
essentially accept that bounce whereas
52:00
if you do the bounce essentially from
52:02
your knee down to the floor and back up
52:05
you’re going to be in a much tighter
52:06
position so that loading that bounce is
52:09
actually going to go through the body so
52:11
you can lift it again and use what
52:13
you’re supposed to because
52:14
it’s
52:16
we
52:17
i try and use the analogy of like if
52:19
your brain has to send a signal all the
52:21
way down to your foot back to the brain
52:23
because it has to understand what we’re
52:24
doing in space and time if you’ve just
52:27
dropped a weight from your hip to your
52:28
foot you have to try and keep up with
52:31
that was if you can take a little bit
52:32
slower your brain signal can go down and
52:34
it can follow it down and it goes right
52:36
lock it back in and back up so it’s just
52:38
allowing yourself to keep up with
52:40
yourself
52:42
definitely yeah it’s a much tougher
52:43
skill to to drop a bar from the hip and
52:46
control its path down and then meet it
52:48
at the bounce than it is to time it
52:51
on a shorter distance because there’s
52:53
less
52:54
there’s less
52:55
time when you’re not connected to the
52:57
bar so you’re more likely to find uh
53:00
is it’s kind of like a biting point as
53:02
well as when the you get the little
53:03
rebound
53:05
pulling on the bar again to ride that
53:07
little momentum upwards
53:10
question for you mate
53:12
head up or head down head neutral or
53:14
head crane
53:17
depends always always depends
53:19
but
53:20
for most people most of the time neutral
53:22
yeah but
53:23
um
53:24
there are certain situations like
53:26
somebody’s very rounded and they can’t
53:28
get their spine into a good position
53:30
then actually having the gaze higher up
53:33
slight extension through the neck means
53:36
flatter through the rest of the spine
53:38
and
53:40
if you are yanking on the heaviest
53:42
deadlift possible
53:44
throwing your head back
53:46
will help
53:47
like it’s it’s initially it’s like an
53:49
initiation you get a bit of a stretch
53:50
reflex you get a bit of momentum from
53:52
your head and that’s one reason why
53:53
people do do it is it optimal for safety
53:57
and for
53:58
uh health probably not but one rep
54:01
maxing very rare
54:04
it’s just an interesting thing because i
54:05
think about how much load say weight
54:08
lifters can do and all that their neck
54:10
is nearly a lot you watch a lot of them
54:12
quite craned back like in that position
54:14
and they’re dead but then power lifters
54:16
they the coaching is eyes down even
54:18
though a lot of the time the head still
54:20
will come up not saying that it doesn’t
54:21
but it’s in like it’s just it’s funny
54:23
how
54:25
obviously a power lifter is dead lifted
54:27
and a white lifter is uh clean dead
54:29
lifting or snatching or cleaning or
54:31
whatever and it’s funny how
54:32
the positions are so similar but they’re
54:35
so different at the same time
54:36
so it’s just for me it was just i just
54:38
wondered because for me obviously i
54:40
coach head neutral because as you say
54:42
for most people they don’t need that
54:45
extra and i think well this is a common
54:47
pitfall in itself using the neck to lift
54:49
the weight up because essentially i’d
54:51
say you’re craning the weight up and
54:53
you’ll find so much tension get built up
54:56
around the traps and the head and
54:58
for the general public even if you’re
55:00
training and you’re training to compete
55:02
i still wouldn’t recommend that should
55:04
be like your last resort like using that
55:06
head to pull because
55:08
is your neck really going to be giving
55:09
you that little bit technically it might
55:11
give you something who knows i i don’t
55:13
know the studies out there that might be
55:14
doing it but
55:15
if you can keep yourself locked in place
55:17
and keep that head neutral
55:19
you know don’t get me wrong i lift my
55:20
head loads i’m not saying i’m perfect
55:22
but i normally i notice i normally do
55:25
that halfway up the lift i then use my
55:27
head to finish off the lift so i then
55:29
use it as an addition rather than from
55:31
the start and i look back to old
55:33
deadlifts back in the day back like
55:35
nearly 10 years ago and i see i start
55:37
with my head and cranes and i just watch
55:39
my position just fall apart because i
55:41
haven’t created a solid structure to
55:43
start with and i think the head up is
55:46
that common cue of squatting you know
55:48
chest up and putting yourself into this
55:50
really because i compromise say position
55:51
that they might not necessarily be the
55:53
best position because they’re just
55:54
saying a really generic cue so the head
55:57
up i’d say try and coach that as a as a
56:00
head down lock in big brace so
56:03
so maybe let’s uh let’s move on to some
56:05
of the takeaways mate we want the
56:07
listeners to make sure it’s been an
56:08
in-depth episode and i’ve really enjoyed
56:10
today i do love a deadlift and i do like
56:12
to talk about the deadlift but i guess
56:15
why you should be deadlifting is
56:17
important because we know everyone
56:19
should be deadlifting in some sort and
56:21
when we say deadlifting we do mean
56:23
hinging we need to be making sure we
56:25
have a hinge pattern in our training
56:28
just like we should be having a press
56:30
pull squat we should have these other
56:33
movement patterns within our training
56:36
absolutely and once you know
56:38
that you should be deadlifting
56:40
how should you be deadlifting so picking
56:42
the right variations and accessories
56:45
for your goal so considering all the
56:48
differences between
56:49
conventional versus sumo versus track
56:51
bar deficits deficits and block pools we
56:54
talk about a lot in the accessories
56:55
episode but depending on what you want
56:58
out of your deadlift should impact
57:01
how you’re going about it
57:04
yeah i guess the mechanics of the
57:06
deadlift i guess making sure i think the
57:08
number one
57:09
mechanic mechanical movement thing that
57:11
we spoke about today was that bar bath
57:14
keep that bar as close to you as
57:15
possible if you need to wear football
57:17
socks by all means go ahead do it or
57:18
wear tights but keep that bar nice and
57:21
close
57:22
further away from you as ash made that
57:24
really good point you’ll probably be
57:25
working double as hard for just an inch
57:27
and no one wants to work that hard for
57:28
an inch
57:30
not tall mate
57:31
um
57:32
and then we would we whizzed through the
57:34
common pitfalls so typical ones
57:36
obviously overloading the back and
57:39
again like bar fault bar path fault
57:42
sorry so going around the knees
57:44
um
57:45
and the
57:46
considerations between a hinge dominant
57:49
versus a leg dominant or leg pressy
57:51
style
57:53
dead lift so just keep an eye out for
57:55
those when you’re reviewing your tape or
57:57
if you’re a coach looking at your
57:58
clients
57:59
those are the key things to look out for
58:01
and yeah look at our or listen to our
58:05
other episodes on accessories imbalances
58:08
and limiters for a deeper understanding
58:10
of how those can play into your deadlift
58:13
yeah we didn’t really touch on bent arms
58:15
did we that’s that’s a common thing
58:16
where i see it a lot of time that’s a
58:18
lot of time how you get bicep test
58:20
because the same you are holding that
58:22
weight through a flex bicep and the idea
58:24
is you’re long and the load is in the
58:26
hands not in the arms so yeah it’s a we
58:30
didn’t go too far into that and but that
58:32
is definitely a
58:34
a common pitfall just remember be long
58:37
as possible that’s probably the best cue
58:39
i would say just be as long as you
58:41
possibly can be as tight as you possibly
58:42
can do not lift the bar with your arms
58:44
just i know i love to train biceps but
58:46
don’t do it that way
58:48
so yeah but i guess overall
58:50
we’ve we’ve tried to dive deep and a lot
58:53
of this is because
58:55
as we said we’ve we’ve put together
58:57
this
58:58
best accessories you’re not doing a pdf
59:00
for you guys to download so if you do
59:02
want to check that out there will be a
59:04
link in the description box below or you
59:06
can just head over to our website
59:08
londonlift.com
59:10
and there’ll be a nice clear uh little
59:12
banner for you we can just put in your
59:14
name and email address and boom
59:16
you’ll get an email back so um yeah as
59:19
always thank you very much
59:21
for listening today if you did enjoy
59:23
this style of episode we would love to
59:25
hear back and maybe maybe some movements
59:27
that you’d like us to take a deep dive
59:29
on because obviously we have a list of a
59:31
couple of moves that we’re going to be
59:32
covering but obviously we’re going to be
59:34
biased between particular ones based on
59:36
our own training and our clients so
59:38
throw us your ones maybe the ones that
59:39
we don’t commonly see or do and we’d
59:41
like to maybe take a deep dive on those
59:43
so hit us up again you can head over to
59:45
our website go to our contact page ask
59:47
us any question you want as long as it’s
59:49
uh fitness kind of related i mean if you
59:51
go the other way who knows we might do a
59:53
q a episode but um yeah go onto our
59:56
website londonlift.com thanks as always
59:59
for your time don’t forget to leave us a
60:00
review uh can i ask you guys for
60:02
anything else um
60:05
share share share thank you very much
60:07
for your time and we’ll see you next
60:09
week
60:10
thanks guys
