How To Perform the Powerlifting Deadlift

Article by David LaMartina

If you train with weights, whether it be for sports, physique enhancement, or just to be fit and health, you HAVE to be doing the deadlift. Next to the squat, it is the single greatest exercise for overall strength, muscular development, and speed.

There are many ways to do the deadlift, but the one that will reap you the most benefits is the powerlifting deadlift. There are many subtile nuances and important tips in learning to deadlift like a powerlifter. Here are the most important elements of the powerlifting deadlift:

Choose Your Stance Carefully

When you deadlift, you can choose to use either the conventional or sumo stance. The conventional stance has your legs narrow, with your hands on the outside, and the sumo stance has your legs wide (like a sumo lifter’s), with your hands on the inside.

Most people will find the conventional stance best for pulling big weights and developing their back and other muscle groups. However, if you have particularly short arms, if your back is vulnerable to injury, or if you are just plain bad at the conventional powerlifting deadlift, then you might want to give sumo a try.

Drive Your Hips Forward

In my opinion, the single most important thing to remember when performing a powerlifting deadlift is to drive your hips forward throughout the entire movement. From the moment the bar breaks the floor, all the way to lockout, you should try to push your hips forward as hard and fast as possible.

Keep Your Head Back

As with the powerlifting squat, you must keep your head back when you deadlift. Note that this does NOT mean keep your head UP. You do not need to look at the ceiling to deadlift successfully. You do need to keep your keep tucked back into your traps in order to keep your chest proud and the weight moving in the correct path.

Use A Mixed Grip

If you’re still at the beginner stage of the powerlifting deadlift, this may not apply to you, but you must use a mixed grip on the bar to keep it from slipping out of your hands. This means that one hand is in the “over” position, much like in a pull-up, and the other hand is in the “under position,” much like in an underhand chin-up.

This hand positioning keeps the bar from rolling out of your hands and allows you to handle FAR more weight than with the matched grip. Add some chalk to the mix, and it will be a long time before you have to worry about your grip giving out on you.

Continue To Learn About Traiing

Though tips like these are essential to improving your deadlift and other lifts, you must always keep learning about weight training to make consistent gains. Talk to lifters and bodybuilders in your area, train at their gyms, go to competitions, and read all you can online and offline.