Deadlift Mistakes in Athletic Performance

Let me start by saying I love deadlifts. I especially enjoy really heavy deadlifts. There is a true test of strength and mental grit in picking up a weight from the floor with no momentum and pulling on it long enough to keep moving the bar to completion. Unfortunately, it has gotten a really bad reputation in the sports performance and general fitness world. We often hear “deadlift will hurt your back”, but we never look at the how people are hurting their backs while deadlifting. The exercise isn’t dangerous, but like any exercise performed incorrectly you’re opening yourself to higher risk of injury when poor technique and low strength meet. There are a few ways to breakdown how people have hurt their backs while performing the deadlift. 

Technique - Most people simply have really poor technique for the deadlift. Conventional deadlift they around rounded forward with hips too high and in a sumo position they don’t have the hip mobility to be in an advantageous position at the start. 

Loading - Most of the time when we hear about a low back injury from deadlifting, it can be traced back to poor loading protocols. The weight is the third concern on any exercise after technique and speed. For many beginners, using a lower bar weight to improve technique will have a double benefit of lowering risk of injury and also helping with hypertrophy (muscle growth). Small incremental weight changes are the best bet for long term success.

Frequency - Doing too much of anything will not only lead to minimal results, but also overuse injuries in the muscles used during the activity. Deadlift is one of the more taxing exercises you can perform as it involves the entire body (maybe because of the grip on the bar adding more than other lifts), so performing it at a high frequency with moderate to high weight makes it difficult to recover. 

Note- For our athletes and most of the people we work with, deadlifts will be performed either in a sumo position or with a hex bar. A conventional deadlift has almost never been a great choice for our clients except a few exceptions based on limb length and mobility restrictions. Let’s look at the most common technique issues we see with the deadlift. 

Not Creating Enough Tension - Imagine your car is getting pulled out of a ditch. The tow truck will never hook up and gun it to get your car out, but rather will slowly creep forward until tension and then slowly pull away. This is easier on the vehicles. Your body is the same way with a barbell. Once you set the grip, raise up into the bar and you’ll hear the bar click into the collars. As you do this, your hips will rise to the highest point they can be in without being forward and over the bar. This will help you create a straight line with your pull instead of going forward and then back. Think slow down set up, then once bar goes to break the floor have a violent pull. 

Arms Bent - This is always scary. As someone who has seen many biceps tear off, I hope to not see another. By having the arms bent, your asking the underhand arm to use the bicep to generate the force to break the ground. Since your biceps aren’t very strong, it’s quickly too much for them. Even with no bicep tear, it still will create an inefficient movement because of the lack of tension from the floor.

Pushing on Toes - In a sumo stance, you want to push the floor apart. This will help activate your gluten and hamstrings. It will also help keep the bar closer to the hips instead of floating out away from the body. In a hex bar this can place a lot of extra stress on the knees as people will roll their hips forward into this very odd start position. In a hex bar push through the floor similar to a leg press. 

Bar too Close or Far Away - Many people wear their bloody shins like a badge of honor. It’s more a sign of someone deadlifting incorrectly. When the bar is dragging on the shins, it has to go out around the knee cap and then back into the thighs. This is wasted movement. A good bar path should be a straight line slightly coming back towards the hips. For bigger people, they will need to set up a little further back due to their mid section compared to smaller people. If the bar is too far away at the start, you won’t be using the correct muscles to move the weight. Instead of using gluten, hamstrings, upper back, and lower back you will be using mostly lower back. 

We will do follow up pieces on the deadlift in regards to loading and frequency for athletic performance. The technique is the most important as it will dictate both the frequency and the ability to load the movement. If a deadlift is hurting your back, it is generally a sign of a mechanical issue or a technique issue. Use the deadlift to improve your performance and not take away from it.

Nick Showman

Showtime Strength & Performance

www.showtimestrength.com