Deadlift form and hamstring flexibility
I’ve been thinking about deadlift form and wanted to note down a few things.
There are some good points here, especially Mistake No 10 - Starting with the Hips Too LOW:
This is the king of all mistakes I see. Too many times lifters try to squat the weight up rather than pull the weight. Think back to the number of times you’ve seen a big deadlift and thought to yourself how much more the lifter could’ve pulled if he didn’t damn near stiff-leg it. I see it all the time. Someone will say, “Did you see his deadlift?” Then the other guy will comment, “Yeah, and he stiff-legged the thing.” Am I telling you to stiff leg all your deadlifts? No, not at all.
All I want you to do is look at your hip position at the start of the lift when you pull and watch how much your hips move up before the weight begins to break the floor. This is wasted movement and does nothing except wear you out before the pull. The closer you can keep your hips to the bar when you pull, the better the leverages are going to be.
Once again, next time you see a great deadlifter, stand off to the side and watch how close his or her hips stay to the bar throughout the pull. If you’re putting your ass to the floor before you pull, your hips are about a mile from the bar. You’re setting yourself up for disaster when the lever arm is this long. This is also the second reason why lifters can’t get the bar off the floor. (The first reason is very simple: The bar is too heavy!)
That got me thinking about Pavel’s advice on deadlifting:
- Look up towards the ceiling, and *not* at the mirror. This will keep your back from “rounding”.
- Reach back with your butt, like you’re trying to sit in a chair that’s too far behind you.
- In addition to this, try to imagine your spine stretching out. This will further straighten your back.
- Tighten your abs as if bracing for a punch, and *then* inhale. This will protect your back.
Somewhere in Power to the People Pavel also talks about keeping your shins near vertical. So you hinge at the hips, pushing your butt way back.
It struck me that this is like the hamstring stretch position described in Relax into Stretch and which appears at about 1:35 in the video below:
Talking of high hips, Bob Peoples (best deadlifter ever!) lifted that style:
Consider then, Bob’s following statement, made over 20 years ago. “On October 4 I finally made a new world record deadlift record of 700 pounds. At this time I was lifting on normally filled lungs. However, I then started lifting on empty lungs and with a round back - that is I would breathe out to normal, round my back, raise the hips, look down and begin the lift. I feel this is much safer than following the customary advice of the experts. By breathing out you lessen the internal pressure and by lifting with a round back you lessen the leverage - all of which adds many pounds to your lift. I have used the reverse grip and also the overhand hook grip but I have now changed to the palms up or curl grip (with hook) and will experiment with it for a while to see if it helps.”
While I’m on deadlifts…..here is a video of Lamar Gant. If you have realy long arms it makes this easier!
