Barbell Deadlift
oec:barbell-deadlift
A foundational compound lift where a loaded barbell is pulled from the floor to hip height through coordinated hip and knee extension.
Generated by gemini-3.8-flash from the sources below. No person has checked this record. Don't rely on it for safety.
Also called: Deadlift, Conventional Deadlift, Barbell Conventional Deadlift, DL, Deadlifts
How to do it
Setup
- Stand facing the loaded barbell with feet hip-width apart, toes pointing slightly outward.
- Position the bar over mid-foot, approximately one inch away from your shins.
- Hinge at the hips and grip the barbell just outside your legs using a double-overhand or mixed grip.
- Bring your shins forward until they make light contact with the bar without rolling it forward.
- Set your chest up, pull the slack out of the barbell, and brace your core firmly.
Movement
- Drive through the floor with your mid-foot and heels while maintaining a neutral spine.
- Keep the bar traveling close to your shins and thighs as your knees and hips extend simultaneously.
- Stand fully upright, locking out your hips and knees without hyperextending your lower back.
- Hinge at the hips and push them back to guide the bar down along your thighs.
- Once the bar clears your knees, bend them to return the plates to the floor in a controlled manner.
Breathing
Inhale deeply into your abdomen and brace against a closed glottis before initiating the pull; exhale once you reach the lockout or after the bar is safely returned to the floor.
Cues
- Push the floor away
- Pull the slack out of the bar
- Keep the bar glued to your legs
- Stand tall, do not lean back
Common faults
- Rounding the lumbar spine under load.
- Pull the slack out of the bar, brace the abdominal wall hard, and lower the training weight if spinal position cannot be maintained.
- Bar drifting away from the body during the ascent.
- Engage the lats by thinking of squeezing oranges in your armpits to keep the bar tracking directly over mid-foot.
- Hips shooting up before the chest rises.
- Push through the quads off the floor while maintaining a constant torso angle until the bar passes the knees.
- Hyperextending the lower back at the top lockout.
- Finish the lift by squeezing the glutes to achieve neutral hip extension rather than leaning backward.
Safety
- Ensure standard-diameter bumper or iron plates are used so the starting height is correct off the floor.
- Clear collars and floor space around the lifting area to avoid tripping hazards.
Muscles
Joints
- Hip: Extension
- Knee: Extension
- Lumbar spine: Isometric stabilization
- Thoracic spine: Isometric stabilization
- Shoulder blade: Isometric stabilization
- Fingers: Isometric stabilization
Details
- Movement
- Hip hinge
- Modality
- Powerlifting, Strength, Hypertrophy
- Mechanics
- compound
- Force
- pull
- Laterality
- bilateral
- Kinetic chain
- closed
- Level
- intermediate
- Equipment
- Barbell; Weight plate
- Record
- Repetitions and Load
- Load
- external, total
Related
- substitute for Trap Bar Deadlift
- substitute for Barbell Sumo Deadlift
- progression of Kettlebell Deadlift
- progression of Dumbbell Deadlift
- progression of Barbell Rack Pull
- regression of Barbell Deficit Deadlift
Sources
- wger: Deadlifts, by wger.de (CC-BY-SA-3.0)
This record: CC-BY-SA-4.0.