How To CORRECTLY Deadlift (ft. Ed Coan & Dr. Stuart McGill)

The deadlift is one of the best exercises to build tremendous strength, power and pack on pounds of muscle – however, do them wrong and you greatly increase your risk of injury especially to your back.  In this video – with the help of Ed Coan (the greatest powerlifter of all time) and Dr. Stuart McGill (the world’s foremost authority on spine biomechcics and back pain) I’m going to give you 3 simple yet extremely effective steps to perform a perfect deadlift.

Step 1 is setting up in a proper start position – For most people set your feet just inside shoulder width with toes pointed relatively straight forward. The bar should be positioned directly over your mid foot.

As you get down to the bar – there are 3 foundational technique pillars you need to focus assuming for a perfect start position before the bar is moved.

The first we already established with the bar positioned over the middle of your foot. This will ensure the bar is ready to be moved in a straight path. If the bar is positioned too far forward, the bar must then travel back in towards the body as it’s lifted from the ground. And when you’re trying to lift max weights vertically from the ground, horizontal bar movement is detrimental to the efficiency of the overall lift.

The second is to have the bar connected to your body. This means the bar will end up touching the shins in your start position. And no – you dont need the bar 5 inches away from your body because you’re really tall.

Think about this scenario for a moment – if you were to set up with the bar a few inches away from the shins – you lose the desired mid-foot alignment and create more horizontal displacement to complete the lift. Or if you do create mid-foot bar alignment and have the bar away from your shins – it means you’ve shifted your full body too far back and likely will be off balance and therefore unable to create efficient force and power into the rest of the lift.

The final “technique pillar” that completes this start position harmonious trio is aligning the bar with the posterior deltoid, which is essentially where you would place the bar for a low-bar back squat.

If we look closely at your deltoid muscle – we find it is made up of 3 parts: the anterior, middle and posterior portion.

While some use the cue “shoulders over the bar” when setting up a deadlift – I find it can be too general and can lead to more variation in set up positions. On the other hand, posterior deltoid over the bar is more foolproof and will set the person exactly where they should be every time and will create a fairly vertical arm position as a side effect – which is desirable for lifting max weights from the ground.

This last step is also especially crucial if you’re going to use a mixed grip.  This method of grabbing the barbell with one hand over and one hand under is commonly used by powerlifters as it is often stronger than a double overhand lift- allowing many to lift more weight.

Now, if your arms were not vertical or very close to it, the bar would likely drift away from the body to a greater extent on the under grip side as you stand up-  lending the bar and body to twist. So, if you find yourself twisting in this way while using a mixed grip, you might be starting with your shoulders too far forward.

Ok so before we move on the next crucial step – if you are dealing with any aches and pains while trying to deadlift  – after this video head on over to Amazon.com and check out my Injury Fix Book “Rebuilding Milo” It will show you the exact steps I use as a doctor of physical therapy to help fix injuries and help the best athletes in the world return to lifting pain free.

But for now let’s continue with today’s blog. 

Before you start your lift from the proper start position – there is a crucial next step (get tight). Most people don’t engage their glute enough at the start and get tight BEFORE the bar moves from the ground. This leads their hips to shoot up in the air and their back to round – killing deadlift efficiency (be sure to watch the full youtube video on this topic linked above for tips/cues from Ed Coan and Dr. Stuart McGill for this step!)

The 3^rd and last step is the proper execution  or movement of the deadlift.      A helpful way to think about this lift is to break it down into two separate parts. From the ground to the knee is similar to a squat in that your chest and hips rise at the exact same rate. Now this doesn’t mean you start in a squat position – rather you assume the 3 fundamental pillars  of proper deadlift technique and then “squat it up” to the knee. Step 2 is to hinge like an RDL to the standing position. So put together, the sequence is “squat to the knee, then RDL up”

Last, don’t just drop the bar back to the ground. Remember, every lift in the gym has two parts – an eccentric lowering and a concentric ascent. If you throw out the lowering of a deadlift, you miss out on potential strength and muscle gains as your body has less time under tension. 

Instead, We want to control the descent by reversing the prior cues – “Hinge or RDL to the knee and then squat the bar back down.” If done correctly – you’ll finish in the perfect start position ready to start your next rep.

Until next time,