The 5 Most Helpful Deadlift Cues

I really like the deadlift. 

Whereas I’ve transitioned from powerlifting to focusing extra on hypertrophy, I nonetheless deadlift heavy. Why? As a result of I prefer it. 

The deadlift is such a satisfying carry. 

Despite the fact that I’ve been deadlifting significantly for almost ten years, there are nonetheless some cues that I mentally undergo in my head as I carry out this train. 

Beneath, I share my 5 favourite cues that I nonetheless use at the moment. Some make use of evocative metaphors that make them simple to recollect and all are fairly helpful in guaranteeing you do the deadlift appropriately. 

If you happen to’re searching for an in-depth information to the deadlift, try this complete article. 

To Set Your Again Proper: Level Your Booty Gap on the Wall Behind You; Squeeze Oranges in Your Armpits

To maintain your again robust and secure throughout a heavy deadlift, you need to preserve again extension throughout its setup and execution. Once you deadlift with a rounded again, you enhance the possibilities of damage.  

Setting and sustaining your again in extension may be exhausting when bending over to seize a barbell. It’s not one thing that comes naturally. I picked up two cues from Barbell Logic proprietor Matt Reynolds which have helped me appropriately set my again in extension through the years: level your booty gap on the wall behind you; squeeze oranges in your armpits. 

“Level your booty gap on the wall” jogs my memory to maintain my hips up. Once you level your booty gap on the wall whilst you’re bent over and grabbing the barbell, it would naturally put your decrease again into extension. 

When Matt coached my then 10-year-old son Gus on deadlift, he performed to his 10-year-old boy mentality and advised him, “Think about you’re going to have diarrhea. Level your butt in order that the diarrhea sprays everywhere in the wall behind you.”

Gross? Sure.

However it labored. Due to that cue, Gus is aware of get his decrease again into extension. 

“Squeeze oranges in your armpits” is a cue that jogs my memory to maintain my chest up throughout the setup and the carry. I simply think about I’ve received an orange in every armpit, and I must preserve them there throughout the carry. For some bizarre purpose, that cue helps me carry my chest, which helps preserve again extension throughout the deadlift. “Chest up” by no means labored for me, however “squeeze oranges in your armpits” does. 

If it feels uncomfortable, you’ll know your again is about in extension appropriately. It ought to really feel tight in your decrease again. 

To Stop Knee Caving: Shove Your Knees Out to Your Elbows

In case your knees are likely to collapse throughout the deadlift, then as you arrange, inform your self, “Shove your knees out to your elbows.”

Apart from stopping knee-cave, shoving your knees out so that they contact your elbows will put your legs in exterior rotation, permitting you to carry your adductors into the deadlift. The deadlift simply feels higher once you shove your knees out. 

To Stop Jerking: Pull the Slack Out of the Bar

One of many points I’ve had through the years with the deadlift is that I’ll work so much to get into a very good setup, solely to let that setup chill out proper earlier than I begin to pull the barbell off the bottom. 

To counter that deadlift mishap, I inform myself, “Squeeze the slack out of the bar.” 

Squeezing the slack out of the bar means pulling on the bar by extending your again and straightening your arms and wrists. Once you squeeze the slack out of the bar, the plates don’t depart the bottom, however the bar ought to really feel heavy in your arms. You would possibly even see the bar bend a bit as you squeeze the slack out of it.

Squeezing the slack out of the bar helps me preserve correct setup as a substitute of letting issues chill out proper earlier than the carry. 

To Maintain Your Arms Straight: Use Your Arms As Towing Straps

A typical mistake I see folks make when deadlifting is that they’ll attempt to actively pull the bar with their arms. You don’t pull the bar along with your arms, within the sense of bending your elbows and pulling such as you’re on a rowing machine or doing a pull-up. Any bend in your arms can be pulled straight as quickly as you attempt to carry the barbell; within the course of, a few of the work of lifting the bar can be misplaced on this straightening that might have higher contributed to the carry. Bent arms may also trigger you to alter place barely as you begin the pull.

To maintain your arms straight all through the carry, think about that they’re towing straps. As you arrange, take a lot of the weight of the barbell into your arms along with your arms straight, creating pressure in opposition to the barbell. With the barbell secured to your static arm “straps,” carry the barbell by elevating your higher physique. 

To Begin the Deadlift Proper: Push the Earth Away With Your Ft

Whereas the deadlift is taken into account a “pull” train, a helpful cue to execute the carry correctly is to additionally consider it as a push. After I’m prepared to drag the barbell off the bottom, I feel, “Push the earth away along with your toes.” An identical cue is “Leg press the earth along with your toes.”

Beginning the deadlift with a foot push will lengthen the knees, providing you with some assist out of your quads. Beginning your deadlift with a push motion may also be certain that your bar maintains a straight up-and-down path, making for a extra environment friendly carry.

I at all times really feel stronger after I consider my deadlift as a push as a substitute of a pull. Give it a attempt. Possibly you’ll, too.