Deadlift Cues

How to Deadlift - Body by Science

grip and rip

I'll imagine that I'm crushing oranges in my armpits the help engage the lats.

1.) Shins 1 inch from the bar
2.) Bend at the hips to grab the bar, do not bend knees
3.) Once bar is gripped, bend knees until shins touch the bar
4.) Push chest out, bracing your core. This should in effect make the bar heavy in your hands, your hip and knees do bot move in this step
5.) Pull the bar up your shin and past your knee. Focus on making sure you are pulling UP and not back.

If you are scraping your shins, your probably pulling back and not straight up, or your hips started too low.

Stance
Grip
Shins
Chest
Pull

From Mark Rippetoe:

quote:

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The Deadlift: Perfect Every Time



1. Take your stance, feet a little closer than you think it needs to be and with your toes out more than you like. Your shins should be about one inch from the bar, no more. This places the bar over the mid-foot – the whole foot, not the mid-instep.

2. Take your grip on the bar, leaving your hips up. DO NOT MOVE THE BAR.

3. Drop your knees forward and out until your shins touch the bar. DO NOT MOVE THE BAR.

4. Hard part: squeeze your chest up as hard as you can. DO NOT MOVE THE BAR. This establishes a "wave" of extension that goes all the way down to the lumbar, and sets the back angle from the top down. DO NOT LOWER YOUR HIPS – LIFT THE CHEST TO SET THE BACK ANGLE.

5. Squeeze the bar off the floor and drag it up your legs in contact with your skin/sweats until it locks out at the top. If you have done the above sequence precisely as described, the bar will come off the ground in a perfectly vertical path. All the slack will have come out of the arms and hamstrings in step 4, the bar will not jerk off the ground, and your back will be in good extension. You will perceive that your hips are too high, but if you have completed step 4 correctly, the scapulas, bar, and mid-foot will be in vertical alignment and the pull will be perfect. The pull will seem "shorter" this way.

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Tow the bar - you're just holding it. Sit back just prior to pushing the ground away, so you would fall on your arse if you let the bar go. Push away from the ground with your legs. Tow the bar, long arms.

And I'm a fan of the neutral neck. So I'm not looking forward until the lift is complete.

A big cue I like to use is:

When I walk into the area with deadlift setups, if a spot is open I'll go grab some water and do some stretching first. Then when I come back, there is a good chance the spot will be taken and "Aw shucks, guess I gotta skip DL today".