Would be interesting to try it backwards up the stairs as well, to utilize more back and make it more like a Good morning.

1. Form!

If you don’t have the form down, you’re not only hurting yourself, but you’re wasting time, neither of which is very appetizing. Do yourself a favor and make sure that your form is right. And don’t think just because you’ve been doing it for a while means you form is perfect. Have you heard the saying ‘practice makes perfect?’ Well, sorry to disappoint, but that’s not true. PERFECT practice makes perfect. So every three months or so take a video of your lift.

Doesn’t need to be heavy, moderate weight will do. Watch your form, feet and toes shoulder width and slightly pointed out, placing your shoulders over the bar, back arched. If you don’t know if you’re rounding or arching your back, it’s easily to check -just keep your head tilted back. Anything else I haven’t covered on form can be found here How to Deadlift

2. Assistance Exercises

Anything that works the same muscles as a dead is an assistance exercise. Yes squats count (technically), but that’s its own lift altogether. I use squats for the leg portion of the lift. For assistance exercises I use a good bit of different ones. My go-to’s are Romanian deads, sumo deads, and rows. For rows I do both barbell and dumbbells. Barbells I use both grips, starting palms down, then switching when I can’t hit my reps. For the dumbbells, I only do one at a time, and always always do them heavy. Like, crazy heavy. You should really have to push yourself.

Then there are sumo deads. A nice lift, it shortens the distance your legs have to go, but keeps the back work essentially the same.

And my personal favorite is the Romanian deads. Also referred to as the “stiff legged deadlift.” This is done like a normal dead, but your legs are all almost locked out. Legs rigid, grab the bar, and in this instance, lift with your back. These have proved the best for me when trying to get that next 5 pounds.

I know what you’re thinking- you’re thinking, “I’m way to hardcore to be wasting time on little fish.” Lucky for you, I’ve got your ticket. A nasty little isolator called a ‘good morning.’ Rack up like a squat, but don’t squat. Place your legs the same as in the Romanian. Bend at the waist, come chest just short of parallel to the floor, and back up. Have fun with those.

If these don’t focus on your back enough to suit you, hit the pull-up bar and the roman chair for some back extensions.

And if you heed but one thing in this article, let it be this. Never leave out bridging. The simplest of all assistance exercises, you need nothing but a bit of floor space, and a happy place to go to as you sweat out what feels like pure pain as you try to make it to 3 minutes. So, if you’re having trouble with your next max and deads aren’t doin it for you, split it up into a few of deadlift variations and see how you fare.

3. Rest

We all have those days when we hit a 10 out of 10 in the weight room. And if you’re devoted to your training, a good number of your days will hit the mark. In case you didn’t get the memo, growth occurs when you rest, not when you’re doing the work. So, rest rest rest. Get bigger, stronger, and more badass in general. And if you just can’t miss that new episode of House, Tivo it. You don’t have Tivo? Have a friend do it for you. No friends? You should probably spend a little less time in the weight room.

4. Nutrition

I don’t know about you, but after a good session I’m like a bear coming out of hibernation. As a matter of fact I stay like that. So what do you do? Eat big. Eat often. Fuel those muscles for the next go around.

I said eat big, not eat Big Mac. It’s your life, do what you will. But if you’re looking forward to being ahead of the Jones’s when the numbers come in, go for the good stuff.

Luckily, the big man upstairs made it real easy. Eat lots of colorful fruits and veggies. Pretty colors means good for you. You’d be hard pressed to go overboard too, unless you have an unhealthy attraction to prunes. Meats are also simple. Lean is good. But you need fat. If you like some bacon with that plate of eggs go for it. I’m not your mom, just remember your success is directly connected to your discipline. Nuff said.

5. Focus

Focus – Set short and long term goals. Know what you want. Thomas Edison once said, “Whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re probably right.” This is where it all comes together. The focus must be maintained. It’s with you as you pull that last rep. And it’s with you when you pass that KFC, and all of its tasty fried gold just a fiver away. Willpower is key. Stake your claim. And no matter what you’re doing, keep those goals first and foremost in your noggin.

Photos are of Konstantin Konstantinov and credits to Alexander Trinitatov.

Deadlift Warmup

Before Deadlifting and before any strenuous workout, you should ALWAYS do 5-10 minutes of moderate cardio to get your blood flowing, your muscles loosened up and your joints lubricated. A light jog, a brisk walk with the treadmill slightly elevated, a bit on the elliptical or even the stationary bike will do the job.

Stretching for the Deadlifting

You always want to do DYNAMIC stretching pre-workout and STATIC stretching post-workout. So forget what you learned in gym class because studies have shown that static stretching pre-workout can actually decrease your strength, muscle stability and increase your risk of injury.

Some weight lifters prefer not to stretch at all before lifting but the general consensus is you SHOULD stretch before lifting heavy.

Check out Joe DeFranco’s Agile 8 for a great lower body stretching routine. It contains both static and dynamic drills to improve lower body and hamstring flexibility.
Here are the dynamic drills you should do before lifting:

Weight Pyramiding

When working with heavy weights for any lift (Squat, bench press, deadlift, etc), you always want to slowly build up your weight while you decrease your reps. This helps prepare your nervous system and your joints for the stress of lifting heavy weights. For instance lets say I max out my deadlift at 225lbs. My pyramid would look something like this
135lbs x 5. Rest 1-3 minutes.
155lbs x 4. Rest 1-3 minutes.
175 x 3. Rest 1-3 minutes
195 x 2. Rest 1-3 minutes.
225×1.

Taylor a pyramid to your strengths and weaknesses. Obviously if your one rep max is 400 lbs you don’t need to be going up by 20 lbs each time.
Some lifters like pyramid down as well. After lifting your 1RM, do a few reps of something like 80% of your 1RM and then lots of reps of 60%, or maybe even do it till exhaustion.

Disclaimer:

what applies to the professional bodybuilders, powerlifters and strongmen may not apply to you. The pros don’t always do everything by the book because they are extremely aware of their body and their abilities. For instance some deadlifters round their thoracic spine(upper back) during Deadlifting, this helps them keep the weight closer to their body when they lift it up. Should an amateur be doing that? No. So be careful with the mindset “he’s big, so I have to do what he does”.

Mistake #1: Training the deadlift heavy all the time

Very few people can train the deadlift week after week and still make progress. I feel the only ones who can get away with this are the ones who’re built to deadlift. If you’re built to pull, then the stress on your system is going to be less than those who aren’t built to deadlift.

The deadlift is a very demanding movement and it takes a lot to recover from. This is compounded if you’re also squatting every week.

The squat and deadlift train many of the same muscles and this is another reason why you don’t need to train the deadlift heavy all the time. Years ago the only deadlifts I did off the floor were in meets. The rest of the time was spent training the lower back, glutes, and hamstrings. While my deadlift increased 40 pounds over the first few years, I did run into some problems with this approach.

The major problem I had was when I’d go to a meet I didn’t know where to place my feet and if I got stuck I didn’t know how to adjust. Since I’m not built to deadlift, these things aren’t natural to me. I had to find a way to put some pulling back in the program without taxing the system. What we came up with was a session of speed deadlifts with a moderate weight pulled for five or six singles. This way the weight was heavy enough to teach good form and not too heavy to tax the system. This worked out to 45 to 50% of max to be trained after the dynamic or speed squat workout. These don’t need to be done every week but should be used as the meet or test day get closer.

I still suggest letting the box squat train the deadlift muscles with dynamic squat training of eight sets of two reps in a wave-like sequence. (For squat training details, see the following articles: Periodization Bible Part II, Squatting from Head to Toe, and TNT Part II for cycles and percentages.)

Let the max-effort day be for training the heavy deadlift. Try to pull off pins, off mats, or with bands one out of every four to six max effort days. Let the other day be some type of medium or close-stance good morning or low-box squat.

Mistake #2: Pulling the shoulder blades together

This is a mistake I made for years. Stand in a deadlift stance and pull your shoulder blades together. Take a look at where your fingertips are. Now if you let your shoulders relax and even round forward a little you’ll see your fingertips are much lower. This is why we teach a rounding of the upper back. First, the bar has to travel a shorter distance. Second, there’s less stress on the shoulder region. It’ll also help to keep your shoulder blades behind the bar. You’ll read more on this later.

Mistake #3: Rounding the lower back

This is another mistake I see all the time and most lifters know better. It happens most of the time because of a weak lower back or a bad start position. While keeping your shoulders rounded you must keep your lower back arched. This will keep the shin straight and the shoulders behind the bar and keep your body in the proper position to pull big while keeping the back under minimal stress.

If you pull with a rounded back, the bar is going to drift forward away from the legs, thus putting you back into a very difficult position from which to recover. When the bar drifts forward, the weight of it will begin to work against your leverages and cause you to have a sticking point just below the knees or mid-shin level. When you pull you can either arch your back in the beginning standing position before you crouch down to pull or once you grab the bar. Either way it’s important to keep the lower back arched and tight.

There are many ways to strengthen the lower back for this. Good mornings, reverse hypers, and arched back good mornings are a few. You can also use a band around your traps and feet for simulated good mornings. With this technique you only use the bands and train for higher reps (in the 20 to 30 rep range) for local muscular endurance.

Mistake #4: Not having enough air in your belly

As with most exercise you must learn how to breathe. Stand in front of a mirror and take a deep breath. Do your shoulders rise? If so, then you need to learn how to breathe. Learn to pull your air into your diaphragm. In other words, use your belly! Pull as much air into your belly as possible, then when you think you have all you can get, pull more. The deadlift isn’t started by driving your feet into the floor; it’s started by driving your belly into your belt and hips flexors.

One note on holding air while you pull.

You do need to try and hold your air as long as possible, but this can only last for a few seconds while under strain because you’ll pass out.

So for a long pull, you’re going to have to breathe or you’ll hit the floor and people will stare. While there are several people out there who may think this is a cool thing, I disagree. It’s much cooler to make the lift!

So when you reach the point where you begin to really have to fight with the weight, let out small bursts of air. Don’t let it all out at one time or you’ll lose torso tightness and cause the bar to drop down. By letting out small bursts you can keep your tightness, continue to pull, and lock out the weight.

Mistake #5: Not pulling the bar back

The deadlift is all about leverage and positioning. Visualize a teeter totter. What happens when the weight on one end is coming down? The other end goes up. So if your body is falling backward, what happens to the bar? It goes up! If your weight is falling forward the bar will want to stay down. So if you weigh 250 pounds and you can get your bodyweight to work for you, it would be much like taking 250 pounds off the bar. For many natural deadlifters this is a very instinctive action. For others it has to be trained.

Proper positioning is important here. If you’re standing too close to the bar it’ll have to come over the knee before you can pull back, thus going forward before it goes backward. If your shoulders are in front of the bar at the start of the pull, then the bar will want to go forward, not backward. If your back isn’t arched the bar will also want to drift forward.

For some lifters, not being able to pull back can be a muscular thing. If you’re like myself, I tend to end up with the weight on the front of my feet instead of my heels. This is a function of my quads trying to overpower the glutes and hamstrings, or the glutes and hamstrings not being able to finish the weight and shifting to the quads to complete the lift. What will happen many times is you’ll begin shaking or miss the weight. To fix this problem you need to add in more glute ham raises, pull-throughs and reverse hypers.

Mistake #6: Keeping the shins too close to the bar

I’m not too sure where this started but I have a pretty good idea. Many times the taller, thinner lifters are the best pullers and they do start with the bar very close to their shins. But if you look at them from the sides they still have their shoulders behind the bar when they pull. This is just not possible to achieve with a thicker lifter.

If a thicker lifter with a large amount of body mass — be it muscle or fat — were to line the bar up with his shins, you’d see he would have an impossible time getting the shoulders behind the bar.

Remember you need to pull the bar back toward you, not out and away from you.

So what I believe happens is many lifters look to those who have great deadlifts to see how they pull, then try to do the same themselves. What they need to do is look to those who are built the same way they are and have great deadlifts and follow their lead.

Mistake #7: Training with multiple reps

Next time you see someone doing multiple reps on the deadlift, take note of the form of each rep. You’ll see the later reps look nothing like the first. In competition you only have to pull once, so you need to learn how to develop what’s known as starting strength for the deadlift. This is the strength needed to get the bar off the floor without an eccentric (negative) action before the start.

In other words, you don’t lower the bar first and then lift the weight as you do with the squat and bench press. When you train with multiple reps you’re beginning to develop reversal strength, which isn’t needed with the deadlift.

These two reasons are enough to keep the deadlift training to singles. If you’re using multiple reps with the deadlift, then stand up in between each rep and restart the lift. This way you’ll be teaching the proper form and be developing the right kind of strength.

Mistake #8: Not keeping your shoulders behind the bar

You’ve already read this a few times in this article and it’s perhaps the most important thing next to hip position in the execution of the deadlift. Your shoulders must start and stay behind the barbell when you pull deadlifts! This will keep the barbell traveling in the right direction and keep your weight going backward. The deadlift isn’t an Olympic lift and shouldn’t be started like one.

I did a seminar with Dr. Mel Siff at one of his Supertraining camps (one of the best investments you can ever make!) and we showed the difference between the two positions. For the Olympic lifts you want the shoulders in front of the bar; for the deadlift you want them behind the bar. Period. The amount of misinformation out there about this is incredible.

Mistake #9: Looking down

Your body will always follow your head. If you’re looking down then the bar is going to want to travel forward. At the same time you don’t want to look at the ceiling. Focus on an area that keeps your head in a straight up and back position with the eyes focusing on an upper area of the wall.

Mistake #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!)

You need to find the perfect spot where your hips are close to the bar, your shoulders are behind the bar, your lower back is arched, your upper back rounded, your belly full of air, and you can pull toward your body. Nobody ever said it was going to be easy, but then again, what is? (Definitely not training in a commercial health club….)

Conclusion

After I’d discussed my pulling concepts with my new trainer friend, he was a little set back. He’d never heard these things before and didn’t really know what to believe. After this I took him back out on the gym floor and started guiding him through a few deadlifts. A few corrections here and there and in no time at all he pulled 405. This wasn’t an easy lift for him but he made it and with that his confidence grew.

Next, I let him in on the best training advice he’d ever hear. I told him the first thing he needed to do was spend more time under the bar and suggested he find a real gym and start training with those who were much stronger than him.

The best training secrets come from the small garage gyms with very strong lifters, not the spandex driven, neon-machine warehouses. – Dave Tate

Drowning Pool – Bodies

AC/DC – Thunderstruck (Personal Favorite)

The way this song climbs and peaks is just epic for deadlifting and squatting.

AC/DC – TNT

Roy Jones – Can’t be touched

If this doesn’t pump you up, we suggest a trip to the doc to check test levels.

Survivor – Eye of the Tiger

Rocky. Nuff said.

Eminem – Till I Collapse

Kanye West – Stronger

We’re not huge fans of the gay fish but the lyrics are great.

Korn – Coming Undone

Tool – Schism

Another great song that builds up. Be warned, Tool is an acquired taste. Also check out Vicarious by Tool.

Godsmack – I Stand Alone

Fort Minor – Remember the name

Nelly – Heres Comes The Boom

Honorable Mentions
Faith No More- Epic
AC/DC: Back in Black
The Hives – Tick Tick Boom
Alice in Chains – Them Bones
Linkin Park Feat. Jay Z – Numb (Encore)
Audioslave – Show Me How To Live
Rick Ross – Push it
Buckcherry – Crazy Bitch
Velvet Revolver – Slither
Ladies and Gentlemen
Papa Roach – Last Resort
Nine Inch Nails – The Hand That Feeds
Immortal Technique – Point of No Return
Boom – P.O.D.
10 Years – Wasteland
Papa Roach –To Be Loved
Judas Priest – NightCrawler
Metallica – For Whom the Bell Tolls
Metallica – Creeping Death
Push It to the Limit

That should be enough songs to tide you over
Pro tip: create 3 gym playlists rather than 1, put different songs in each and rotate between them to not get sick of the music.
Disagree with our choice? Post your opinion below.

The following videos are way, way more than you need to know to deadlift. But if you’ve got time and want to perfect your understanding of the deadlift, these videos are worth watching.

“The legs and hips are the motor, the back is the transmission of the deadlift” – Mark Rippetoe

This one is crucial. Mark emphasizes the importance of NOT rolling your shoulders. That means you should not shrug or pull back your shoulders when performing the deadlift. You are risking injury by doing so.

Everyone has a different anatomy. Someone might have a relatively longer torso, longer arms or shorter legs than the average stick figure. That is why deadlift form may vary from person to person.

Here Mark stresses that even despite different anatomical proportions it’s crucial to have the bar over the middle of the foot, arms straight, scapula over bar.

Here Mark talks about starting angles, head position and NOT USING A MIRROR!

Born in Italy, Franco Columbu started out boxing and then progressed to Olympic weightlifting, powerlifting and later bodybuilding. He became a boxing champion, won the title of Mr. Universe, and the of Mr. Olympia twice, in 1976 and 1981. Franco Columbu was 5 feet 5 inches tall, and some magazines even reported him as 5’3″, and yet he had an champion physique and immense powerlifter strength.

A deadlift of more than 675 lbs

Now-a-days bodybuilding is not synonymous with powerlifting or strength training. Very few out there attempt to do both and only a handful succeed at both, like Johnnie Jackson or Stan The Rhino Efferding. Franco Columbu is one of the modern frontiersman for a killer physique and great strength. Columbu’s personal records are still unbeatable by 99% of the population. He achieved a Bench Press of 525 lbs, Squat 655 lbs, and a deadlift of 750 lbs. He even made it into the Guinness Book of World Records for having the highest lung power.

Can't get a back like this without deadlifting

In 1977 Columbu almost was the favorite to win World’s Strongest Man when during the Refrigerator race (yes they actually raced while carrying refrigerators.), Columbu tripped and seriously mangled his leg. The doctor’s had to remove muscle and he was told he may never walk on that leg again. Four year laters, Columbu won the 1981 Mr. Olympia.

Good warmup for a clean set of ten.

Columbu met Arnold Schwarzenegger in Munich in 1965 and competed against him in several bodybuilding competitions. Back then Mr. Olympia had two initial categories – one under 200lb and one over. The finalists of both categories would go on to compete against each other and the winner gained the title of Mr. Olympia. Arnold and Franco became great friends and repeatedly appeared together in photos and films.

Arnold and Franco

Franco excelled at everything he put his mind to.  Next time you feel self-conscious about your height, think about how Franco won Mr. Olympia twice despite being shorter than most bodybuilders, and despite mangling his leg a few years earlier, and don’t waiver in confidence.

The Setup

Here Mark explains the positional setup for the deadlift.

Position bar midway. Bend your knees until the shins touch the bar. Squeeze your chest up and pull. Simple ain’t it?

Deadlift Back Angles

Main thing to take away from this video is that if your arms are completly vertical, your back is TOO vertical.

Here Mark stresses that the deadlift is a back exercise. Don’t let your back go too vertical, but neither too horizontal.

Note that in the video he says to have the bar in contact with your shin and him. While this does help deadlifting form, take this with a grain of salt. Be careful not to hit your knees or your shins or you will get bruised or even injure yourself.

“If you can’t deadlift correctly, you can’t perform the olympic lifts correctly” – Mark Rippetoe

So mankind has been Deadlifting since recorded history. And yet look at us now.  We are strayed from our path. We join gyms that have “No Judgement” zones. We  spend hours doing situps and crunches. Our backs and legs have dystrophied from sitting at our desks in our cubicles. The Deadlift is a ferocious beast, the Sabertooth Tiger, endangered by the encroachment of mass-wuss society whose goals can mass filed under the categories of self masturbation.

No. Enough is enough. Here at theDeadlift.com we make a stand. A stand against lunk alarms, and skinny jeans, and P-90X tapes, and all other types of betafication.  Here we make our own culture, a counter-culture – we Deadlift.