Deadlift training: A master class: part 1
By Andy Bolton and Elliot Newman
The deadlift is an extremely practical movement. Most of us will sometimes have to pick up fairly heavy and awkward household or work related items that are situated below our waists or on the floor. Knowing how to do so safely is a good thing. In the gym, where the weights are much greater (and consequently so are the risks) this is even more true. To ensure that you deadlift safely and lift in the most efficient manner possible go and read our first article that focuses on technique.
There were two main questions that have come up time and time again from our first article. We will address these points before moving onto showing you some ways to train your deadlift, depending on your goals.
The first issue concerns grip. This is actually not as hard an issue to get to the bottom of as you might expect. Firstly, for almost everybody, you must use a mixed grip or a hook grip in order to deadlift anywhere near your potential. A mixed grip involves having one hand supinated and one pronated and this is the grip of choice for most powerlifters, (the people with the biggest deadlifts on the planet). The hook grip involves having a double overhand grip that is strengthened by putting your index and middle fingers over your thumb. This can be painful at first, but some people can make it work. Our advice to most is to stick with the mixed grip for deadlift training and switch which hand you have supinated on each set to ensure balance.
For the most part we suggest leaving your lifting straps at home. They will keep you from developing a strong grip, whilst making you look like a wimp. Neither are good things.
The second issue from our first article regards the position of the upper back during the deadlift. This actually all depends on your goals and why you are performing the deadlift.
If you are a powerlifter, the relaxed thoracic spine position that we described in the first article is an absolute must. As a powerlifter, the deadlift counts towards your total and you want to pull as much as you can. Relaxing the upper back will shorten the distance you need to pull and should help you lift a lot more in competition.
Athletes competing in other sports need to understand that the activities they do in the weight room are really General Physical Preparedness (GPP) exercises for their sport. In simple terms, the weight room allows an athlete to develop physical qualities that their sport does not develop. Any exercise that an athlete does in the weight room should, ultimately, help improve their performance in their chosen sport (otherwise there is no point in them doing it).
With this in mind, the athlete may want to relax the upper back less than a powerlifter and keep the scapulae retracted. This will make the ROM longer but is a somewhat easier position to keep safe.
This is not to say that a relaxed upper back is an unsafe position (the thoracic spine is designed to be mobile). However, a lot of athletes think they are relaxing their upper back, when in fact they are relaxing their whole back. In other words, they are rounding at the lumbar spine. Something we definitely do not want.
So in conclusion, powerlifters should adopt the relaxed upper back because it will help them shorten their ROM and this should help them pull bigger and therefore increase their total.
Athletes from other sports have two options. For advanced athletes who can brace their core hard and keep their lumbar spine arched, then go ahead and by all means adopt the relaxed upper back deadlift technique. For athletes who are less confident about their abilities to simultaneously arch the lumbar spine and relax the upper back, go ahead and pin those shoulders back. It’s not the end of the world, as the deadlift is just one of many tools you can use to improve your performance in your chosen sport. For the powerlifter, it is a third of their sport; quite a difference.
Deadlift training
It is important to realise that there are many ways to get to the top and in this case, build the biggest deadlift you are capable of. In powerlifting, every top athlete you speak to will train slightly differently. They will agree on some things and disagree on others. Such is life.
Two obvious examples are the Sheiko method of training and the Westside method of training. Nobody in their right mind could dismiss either of these programs as not being effective because both systems have produced numerous World Champions and World records. However, they are extremely different. Discussing those systems in detail is beyond the scope of this article.
What this article will provide is a lot of useful and practical advice that you can use to improve your deadlift training. Most of you will write your own training programs or at the very least, tweak ones you have read online, in magazines or books. Hopefully, with our help, you will do a better job of this having read what you are about to read!
Where to begin: an effective warm up
Before moving some serious iron we strongly recommend that you prime your body to do so in an efficient manner. A great warm up should enhance your performance in the weight room and reduce the likelihood of injuries.
Lets’ get one thing straight. Five minutes on a bike does not count as an optimal warm up for a training session that starts with some type of deadlift movement. Nor does 10 static stretches held for 30 seconds each. And loading the bar with 135lbs and pumping out 2 sets of 10 certainly isn’t optimal either.
Here’s what we recommend instead:
1. 5 minutes of steady state aerobic work (bike, treadmill, elliptical etc)
2. A few choice static stretches, some activation work and some mobility work.
To learn about this in detail we highly recommend Inside Out by Mike Robertson and Bill Hartman and Magnificent Mobility by Eric Cressey and Mike Robertson. To be honest, these products are so good that there is little point in us relaying the same information again.
As an example, a good warm up could look like this:
5 minutes walking on treadmill at 3km/hr
Foam roll
Hip Flexor Stretch: 15seconds/side
Sleeper Stretch: 15seconds/side
Glute Bridge: 12 reps
X Band Walks: 10/side
Wall Ankle Mobilization: 8/side
Push Up Plus: 12 reps
Arm Circles Forwards/Backwards: 10/each way
Scapular Wall Slide: 12 reps
Wrist Mobilization: up/down, side to side, circles
High Knee Walk: 10 reps
Running Butt Kicks: 10 reps
Walking Lunge with Overhead Reach: 10reps
Side to Side Leg Swings: 8/side
Band TKE’s: 20/side
Face the Wall Squat: 10 reps
The last warm up on the list, the Face the Wall Squat comes from Pavel Tsatsouline and will improve your mobility and technique for both the squat and deadlift.
To perform the Face the Wall Squat, set up in front of a wall with your toes about 2 inches from the wall, turned out slightly and your feet just outside shoulder width apart. The idea is simply to squat to depth. It may prove quite humbling at first and the wall will provide you with feedback.
If your knees go forwards too much they will hit the wall. The Face the Wall Squat will teach perfect squat form and eventually you should be able to do squats as deep as you need with your toes touching the wall. The wall reinforces sitting back into the squat, keeping the shins fairly upright, making the head move last on the descent and first on the ascent and keeping the lumbar spine arched. This may help your squat first and foremost, but the increased hip mobility this drill gives you will be good for your deadlift too; especially if you pull sumo.
Ultimately, many of you will perform training sessions that include both squat and deadlift type movements, making the Face the Wall Squat one of the most valuable warm up and technique drills you can perform in the gym.
We recommend the above type warm up for athletes, bodybuilders and powerlifters alike, before any weight training session. So now that you are primed and ready to move some serious weight, let’s get deadlifting.
Working up to a hard single or 1RM
A very common scenario occurs when a powerlifter is several weeks out from competition and wants to work up to his opening attempt in the gym.
For a powerlifter with an opener of 500lbs his session could look like this:
135lbs x 5 x 3
225lbs x 3 (start taking approximately 10% jumps from here)
275lbs x 3
325lbs x 3
370lbs x 1(switch to singles as the idea is not to burn out with sub-maximal weights)
415lbs x 1
460lbs x 1
500lbs x 1
This warm up routine allows you to groove the movement pattern with lighter weights and then prime your central nervous system to lift your opener (first deadlift attempt in competition) by taking small jumps of around 10% all the way up to your top weight for this particular session. You will notice that the jumps get slightly smaller as the weights get heavier. You do not have to do this but many lifters like to.
A very similar method should be used for working up to your max. In the above scenario the next attempts might be 525lbs and 540lbs.
