Posted on May 03, 2017 by Jenny Cromack
In my humble opinion the Deadlift and ‘hinge’ movement pattern is the most effective exercise that can be performed. It is a compound movement that requires strength, stability and mobility and numerous different joints of the body. It is a fatiguing exercise that activates large muscle groups all at one time – the posterior chain (muscles at the back of your body).
What Muscles Do You Use During The Deadlift?
- Quadriceps
- Hamstrings
- Gluteals
- Erector Spinae
- Trapezius
- Rhomboids
Movement pattern
What do I mean by a ‘hinge’ exercise? Well its quite simple, imagine your hip joint separates your body into two halves (which it does); upper and lower. During any deadlift the eccentric part of the lift should start with a break at the hips. Your upper body should rotate downwards resulting in your spine being as close to perpendicular with the floor as possible. As you can imagine this is much easier said than done…a reason a love the Deadlift so much. To correctly perform this hinge movement a neutral spine needs to be maintained which requires high levels of co-ordination and trunk strength. Furthermore, to get into the parallel position involves good hamstring mobility. There are many variation of the Deadlift and some will only involve a hinge at the hips, some with continue with a flexion at the knees and others will only use single legs and arms. All are mightily effective though!
Deadlift Coaching points
1. The first coaching point isn’t even the starting position, to be in the correct position to start the lift there is a sequence that needs to be followed. Stand up straight feet pointing forwards directly under your hips (not too wide). Soften your stance, with slight bend in the knees. From this position, engage your trunk muscles keeping the trunk braced, rotate your shoulders and head towards the ground. A tip for doing this correctly is imagine you are stick your bum to the top back corner of the room. Once your hamstring mobility will not let you go any further, sink your hips so you are in ‘forward leaning’ squat position over the bar.
2. Making sure the bar is very close to your shins, grip the bar with an overhand grip. Your shoulders and eyes should be lent well over the bar, not directly over it. This should make it slightly easier to keep a nice flat back.
3. At this point all you should be thinking about is keeping that lower back as braced as possible. Most people at this point will naturally look up and look in the mirror in front of them, don’t! This put excessive stress on your spine flexing your head to look up – look directly in front of you at all times.
4. Now for the lift.
5. Your first thought you be… ‘chest first, chest first, chest first!’ This will again maintain a flat back position. The idea is your shoulders and hips should rise at the same time, then your glutes should fire through making you stand up straight.
6. Finish the rep!! My favourite cue…’crack the nut’, think about trying to crack a monkey nut in-between your butt cheeks. This should help with pushing your glute right through and gaining full contraction.
7. Reverse the movement back to the start position, the bar should be no more than a couple of inches away from you at all times, the closer the better!
Now you know how, get those ‘deads’ in your programme!! The deadlift is a super effective exercise which should be included in everyone’s training regime.