The Deadlift, once just adored by powerlifters, has become in vogue in the rehab world since physical therapists have begun the benefits of applying the Hip Hinge (our exercise of the month 2 months ago) to improve their patients’ tolerance to load.
The Deadlift can be used for much more than just lifting an absurd amount of weight
Thor Bjornsson demonstrates by lifting 1,104 lbs – the World Record.
Being unable to lift stuff off of the ground is very limiting to your day to day life. Whether it is fear that prevents you from reaching down to the ground, or weakness in your posterior chain (back/glutes/hamstrings), being limited in a movement leads to more deconditioning. Learning how to hip hinge with weight will help reverse this downward spiral.
Learn The Standard Deadlift
If your goal is to move the most amount of weight possible, or just pick up/move a heavy-to-you object, the Deadlift is usually the most efficient. Here is how to do it:
The Deadlift Set-Up
- Your Shoulders will be pulled down and back (to reduce the moment arm of the load on your spine).
- Your Spine will be “neutral”
- Some people might want to feel their back arched
- Others might feel rounded
- Generally, keeping it “long” – reaching through the top of your head will find a nice neutral position under load.
- Your Knees are slightly bent, and stay above the ankles.
- Your Hips are back and lifted so your spine is fairly horizontal.
- Side note on “bending” if your spine is straight, this is not bending as you are bending at your hips, not your back.
- The weight (either a barbell, dumbbells, kettlebell, or maybe a child?) is lined up above the middle of your foot.
The Deadlift Movement
- As your spine and shoulders were engaged during the set-up, they should stay that way through the motion – shoulders pulled back and spine long.
- With your hips behind you, start the lift by pushing them forward.
- Your knees will stay relatively in the same place, don’t let them get pushed forward or you may bash or scrape your tibias into the bar (ouch).
- As your hips push forward to get up and above your knees, your shoulders will get pushed up toward the sky through a rigid back.
- The Weight moves in a straight line up above the middle of your foot, and doesn’t deviate forward or backward (if it does, your knees are probably too far forward).
Once you’ve mastered the standard deadlift…
And you want to build tolerance to new forces, variations of the Deadlift can help build tolerance to different loads. Or maybe you can’t quite tolerate the standard deadlift regardless of load – we can modify where the peak load is to a position you can tolerate.
For example, some people with back pain are sensitive to compression, meaning they have more pain when their spine is upright, while others are more sensitive to shearing forces, or when their spine is horizontal. We can change where the weight is positioned, to strengthen in pain free positions. We also don’t move like robots and our spines need to be able to control in 3 dimensions. Nor do we move at the same slow pace, especially athletes, so we may also need to train at different speeds. The Deadlift can be adapted or advanced to tailor to your needs.
How the Deadlift can be Modified:
Shoulders Shrugged
For those with Shoulder Pain or Thoracic Outlet Syndrome or just some scapular dyskinesias. Pulling your shoulders down and back, while taking stress off your lower back, can be a shoulder stressor. For these people, shrugging their shoulders throughout the motion will place the shoulder in a more neutral position. Shrugging your shoulders will also increase the moment arm of the weight (increasing the load on the spine).
Shrugged Scapulae vs Depressed Scapulae Ending Position
Notice the increased length of the moment arm (blue line). A longer line means a larger moment arm. Which means more load at the axis of motion (low back and hips).
You can also appreciate where the scapula lives (green arrow) when shrugged vs when pulled down and back as pictured above. With the shrug – the scapula naturally rotates up allowing the shoulder joint to move more freely. With the shoulders depressed, the scapulae downwardly rotate. This can lock the shoulder up and overwork the rotator cuff or put more passive stress into the neck, compressing the joints.
The Bent Arm Deadlift
For spines that are sensitive to “shearing” forces (that’s just a fancy name for a sliding force), but are not sensitive to compressive forces (pressure from above when you are upright), bending your arms through the motion will decrease the load at the bottom of the lift (since the weight is closer to your body) and as you stand up with your arms fixed, the weight is further away from your spine, so your spinal extensors have to work harder and will be strengthening is a less provocative position.
(Or maybe you just want to double up on arm day and give the biceps an extra workout).
Elbows Bent Decreases Load Initially vs Elbows Straight Increases Load Initially
Ends with Increased work of the Spinal Extensors vs Ends with decreased load of the spinal extensors
The Landmine Lift and Twist
Not all forces you encounter in a day are straight forward and backward, especially if you are an athlete. Training strength in lateral and rotary motions is required to build tissue capacity for sport specific motions. The key is to get low, and drive off the back foot. Your back knee should remain between your ankle and hip. Notice how this motion looks eerily similar to a low backhand in pickleball:
Kettlebell Swing
Just as life doesn’t come at you in one direction, life doesn’t come at you in slow motion. Adding speed will prime your muscles to respond to all situations athletes may encounter. But note that adding speed will add force much quicker than adding weight will. Remember your early physics classes when we learned Force = Mass x Acceleration..? Moving twice/thrice as fast is much easier to do than doubling/tripling your weight. That would then double the amount of force generated, so decrease your weights significantly to avoid injury when you start adding speed. Don’t forget to give yourself at least 48 hours to rest in between speed workouts.
Start your Kettlebell Swing with Two Hands:
Progress to Alternating with One Hand:
This is just the beginning of how the Deadlift is adapted to your limitations or better applied it to your sport. If you need assistance in generating an exercise program or tailoring an exercise program to best meet your needs, let us at ALTA Sports PT and Pilates in Boulder, CO know how we can assist you best.