Over the past few years, almost no exercise has enjoyed a reputation boost like the deadlift. Once ostracized as being a “threat to your back,” the deadlift is now getting its long-overdue recognition as a badass glute developer.
But because deadlifts are suddenly popular, a lot of people who attempt them often miss the mark on form and programming. Lifters often cue their joints the wrong way, or let their back bend too much, or attempt ultra-heavy weights before they’re ready.
Surprisingly enough, a few small deadlift improvements can make a huge difference to your development, strength, and safety. Here are five simple training tricks to improve your deadlift, making it a safer and more productive lift.
5 Small Tweaks That Can Hugely Improve Your Deadlift
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Christopher Kimmel / Getty
Don’t Always Lift With a Mixed Grip
You may have heard this one before: Performing all your sets with a mixed grip leaves one shoulder internally rotated while the other is externally rotated—all while bearing load and trying to yank hundreds of pounds off the ground. That spells trouble over the long term, possibly paving the way for chronic pain, mobility imbalances, and skeletal misalignments through the body. It’s a guarantee that enough exposure to this will come back to haunt you—even if your precious mixed grip is what bolsters your grip strength. A better way forward: Only use the mixed grip if you absolutely have to, and try to limit it to sets when you’re doing 1–3 reps only.
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Anna Bizon / Getty
Lift With (Minimalist) Shoes On
There is a simple logic to lifting without shoes: You’re closer to the ground, and don’t have an annoying thick pad under your feet creating potential instability. (Lifting in running shoes, for example, is even worse.) But deadlifting without shoes doesn’t really give you all that great of an advantage. My recommendation is simple: Find a pair of minimalistic shoes with just enough arch support to keep your feet from changing position or being unstable during heavy deads. Simple shoes like the original Converse Chuck Taylor All-Stars, wrestling shoes, or even dedicated deadlifting shoes will do the job just fine.
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South_agency / Getty
Pay Attention to Barbell Thickness
Many typical commercial chain gyms don’t pay too much attention to the quality of barbells they use, as long as they weigh 45 pounds and hold plates. The truth is, bars come in different widths. Competition-grade deadlifting bars are sometimes skinnier than others—they help lifters gain a solid grip, and they accommodate lifters with smaller hands. If there are bars of varying thickness at your gym, find a skinny one and squeeze the snot out of it when you pull. It’ll feel fantastic.
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Neustockimages / Getty
Stop Deadlifting When You First Wake Up
If you can help it, deadlift in the late morning or afternoon. Deadlifts are a serious vertical pull, and they deliver their share of spinal loading. Your intervertebral discs are full of fluid in the morning(it’s one reason why it’s said that we’re “taller” when we wake up). The spinal discs will release fluid during the day, which better prepares your spine to bear load. That’s important for a compressive, lumbar-dominant movement like deadlifts. Furthermore, you’ll want your nervous system to be fully alert and awake when you do deadlifts. Try doing your deadlift workout after work, and not before, and you’ll probably perform better and stay healthier too.
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MichaelSvoboda / Getty
Use the Touch-and-Go Method
Deadlifts don’t always have to end when you stand up. When I see a lot of guys deadlift, they’ll do a strong, tight, pull, then just drop the bar like a ton of bricks they reset for the next pull. Maintaining tightness during the eccentric phase of the lift, however, and letting the bar briefly touch the floor before the next rep, creates much more time under tension and helps improve grip strength, muscular endurance, and conditioning. If your training goal is to get in shape (and not just lift as much weight as humanly possible), then you should use both methods. Check out an example of the touch-and-go deadlift method here.
You may have heard this one before: Performing all your sets with a mixed grip leaves one shoulder internally rotated while the other is externally rotated—all while bearing load and trying to yank hundreds of pounds off the ground. That spells trouble over the long term, possibly paving the way for chronic pain, mobility imbalances, and skeletal misalignments through the body. It’s a guarantee that enough exposure to this will come back to haunt you—even if your precious mixed grip is what bolsters your grip strength. A better way forward: Only use the mixed grip if you absolutely have to, and try to limit it to sets when you’re doing 1–3 reps only.
Lift With (Minimalist) Shoes On
There is a simple logic to lifting without shoes: You’re closer to the ground, and don’t have an annoying thick pad under your feet creating potential instability. (Lifting in running shoes, for example, is even worse.) But deadlifting without shoes doesn’t really give you all that great of an advantage. My recommendation is simple: Find a pair of minimalistic shoes with just enough arch support to keep your feet from changing position or being unstable during heavy deads. Simple shoes like the original Converse Chuck Taylor All-Stars, wrestling shoes, or even dedicated deadlifting shoes will do the job just fine.
Pay Attention to Barbell Thickness
Many typical commercial chain gyms don’t pay too much attention to the quality of barbells they use, as long as they weigh 45 pounds and hold plates. The truth is, bars come in different widths. Competition-grade deadlifting bars are sometimes skinnier than others—they help lifters gain a solid grip, and they accommodate lifters with smaller hands. If there are bars of varying thickness at your gym, find a skinny one and squeeze the snot out of it when you pull. It’ll feel fantastic.
Stop Deadlifting When You First Wake Up
If you can help it, deadlift in the late morning or afternoon. Deadlifts are a serious vertical pull, and they deliver their share of spinal loading. Your intervertebral discs are full of fluid in the morning(it’s one reason why it’s said that we’re “taller” when we wake up). The spinal discs will release fluid during the day, which better prepares your spine to bear load. That’s important for a compressive, lumbar-dominant movement like deadlifts. Furthermore, you’ll want your nervous system to be fully alert and awake when you do deadlifts. Try doing your deadlift workout after work, and not before, and you’ll probably perform better and stay healthier too.
Use the Touch-and-Go Method
Deadlifts don’t always have to end when you stand up. When I see a lot of guys deadlift, they’ll do a strong, tight, pull, then just drop the bar like a ton of bricks they reset for the next pull. Maintaining tightness during the eccentric phase of the lift, however, and letting the bar briefly touch the floor before the next rep, creates much more time under tension and helps improve grip strength, muscular endurance, and conditioning. If your training goal is to get in shape (and not just lift as much weight as humanly possible), then you should use both methods. Check out an example of the touch-and-go deadlift method here.
