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How to Deadlift Properly | Tips & Tricks for Pain-Free Deadlifts

Updated: Aug 31, 2022


How can better, stronger deadlifts help you?! You bend over to pick something up countless times per day. Whether you're picking up your dog, your child, a shoe, a napkin, or a heavy bag of gardening soil...you're performing the same type of movement as a deadlift. If we can learn how to assess and strengthen this movement pattern in a safe and controlled environment, aka the gym, then we can reduce the risk of future injuries!



In this article you will learn:

  • How to properly warm up with a yoga flow and massage gun

  • How to get your hips set with banded distraction and a floss band

  • How to effectively activate your glutes, hamstrings, and core

  • How to deadlift properly with good form reducing the risk of lumbar pain


By spending 5-10 minutes doing these simple drills and techniques you can minimize low back pain associated with deadlifts! I actually have herniated discs, bulging discs, spinal stenosis, and 8 inches of my hamstring muscle cut out and I never experience low back pain after deadlifts anymore...but I used to!


Proper Warm Up Using Yoga Flow and Massage Gun


The purpose of this initial yoga flow warm up serves a few purposes. You want to increase blood flow and get the body moving first of all. But you want to use this yoga flow as a tool. Pay attention to which positions are the tightest and try to breathe through these corners. Spend more time in the movements that are sticky and take note so we can focus on them later more using the banded distraction method.


The video shown is sped up so make sure you take your time, focus, and breathe! We go through downward to upward dog, deep lunge, and pigeon pose. I like to use the massage gun to pin point more super sore and stiff areas. Breaking open those muscles and increasing blood flow!



Banded Distraction For Setting The Hips


"Distraction" is a term often used in the physiotherapy scene. It allows us to manipulate our joints causing the bone to set better in them. Just think of it as creating space in our hip for optimal movement patterns! Sometimes our thigh bone (femur) doesn't connect efficiently in our hip joint. This could be cause by sitting too much, a hard workout from yesterday, or many other things. Using the compression floss band to wrap the thigh before we hit these distraction drills will help release your muscles even more! The floss band helps break open the skin, fascia, and muscles creating improved muscle function and blood flow!


This video goes through a few different hip flexion setting drills. The rock-backs and straight to bent leg flexion is utilizing posterior femur distraction (backwards). The deep lunge to pigeon pose is utilizing lateral distraction (out to the side).




Activating Glutes, Hamstrings, and Core

Now that our hips are "set" its time to do muscle activation exercises for the core, glutes, and hamstrings. This will help you get maximal effectiveness out of the deadlift and decrease the risk of lumbar injuries! If the muscles around the lumbar are not adequately "turned on" then the pressure of the deadlift may slip to the low back.


There is no getting around low back soreness after deadlifts. Being sore is normal but make sure the soreness is not actually pain! Pain should NOT be ignored. Pain is a beautiful signal that our bodies send saying, "HEY! Something is wrong!" If we ignore it then we are never going to be able to address it, adjust it, and make progress!


Shown in this video are 1 leg glute bridges, deadbugs, rockers, pallof press holds, and 1 leg RDLs. These exercises will help us properly engage the glutes, hamstrings, and core muscles. We need these muscles ready to go and fired up before even doing your warm up deadlift sets!



How to Deadlift Safely, Pain-Free


Before loading any weight on the bar I recommend doing a few movements with an empty barbell. We can address our upper back, mid back, low back, glutes, hamstrings, and hips in just a couple minutes (shown in the beginning of the video). Notice how this feels. If we feel ANY pain at all then we may want to take a step back and figure out how to correct this!



The number one rule for safe, pain-free deadlifts is BRACING! Before you lift, you take a deep belly breath in and brace your core as if someone is going to punch you in the stomach. This helps get the abdominals fired up and protect the lumbar! A weightlifting belt helps create this same tension. But I do not recommend ALWAYS wearing one. You want to be able to create this core pressure by yourself for light weight lifts. This will drastically increase your core strength and awareness. Which can help decrease the risk of low back injuries. But the belt definitely helps for heavier weight!


Not only do you want to pre-brace your core but we want to create lat tension as well. Think of squeezing an orange in your armpit before you lift. This will help keep the bar close to your body so you don't loose your balance and slip forward. Which is a big cause for lumbar injuries. As you brace your core and lats think "push your feet through the floor". This allows us to produce and keep full body tension, protecting the vertebrae!



You will notice in the video I do the "top down" set up a lot. Where my hips come up then right back down before I deadlift. This allows me to feel the hamstrings pre-engage helping me recruit maximal muscle function! Remember, if all your muscles are working together efficiently then we can minimize back pain after deadlifts!





Things That Are Holding Your Deadlifts Back


Make sure you address all the previous topics in this article: proper warm up, hip distraction setting, muscle activation, and proper form with focused bracing! Once all these things are optimal then we may still hit some snags. One of the most limiting factors of the deadlift is your grip strength. Often, you may be able to lift much more than you can actually hold in your hands.


How do you increase your grip strength for deadlifts? Number one, you just gotta practice grip work more. Loaded farmers carries or just hanging from a pull up bar are both great for better grip strength. But until you get Popeye forearms try different grip techniques for the deadlift.


You can experiment with alternating grip, also called mixed grip. One hand is gripped over the bar and the other is gripped under the bar. This allows use to hold a lot more weight than regular overhand. Using chalk can also greatly help how much we can hold in our hands. Either powder block chalk or liquid fast drying chalk are great tools for better deadlifts!



Weightlifting straps are great for improving your deadlifts. Just like with the belt though, I do not like to use them all the time. You want your natural grip strength to get worked during your workouts. This can't be done if you're always using straps. But when I do use straps I always recommend this type. Incredibly quick and easy to wrap around the bar once with no long ends. And the best part, you can drop the weight whenever you want in an instant. Which can really help prevent back injuries in case something goes wrong during the lift!



What is hook grip? How can it help you? Hook grip is when you wrap your thumb around the bar first and then wrap your fingers around your thumb. It is primarily used in olympic lifts: clean & jerk and the snatch. Hook grip is my go-to when I deadlift. Yes, it does hurt the thumbs a bit and takes a little getting used to, but so worth it.



Wrapping UP


The deadlift is an incredibly beneficial and often misunderstood exercise. It should strengthen and reinforce our lower back...not injure it! Learning how to warm up, set the hips, activate the muscles, and lift with proper form will help you decrease lumbar pain associated with deadlifting. Learn more about my favorite tools for better deadlifts below. Keep Seeking Strength!








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