Deadlifts - How to do Them Safely and Effectively
Deadlifts are an EXCELLENT exercise to strengthen the low back, upper back, the glutes and the hamstrings. Doing a deadlift correctly engages the entire body and requires you to utilize ALL of your core in 360 degrees (the abs, the sides of your torso and the back).
I do deadlifts several times a week to work on strength, stabilization and posture.
However, doing a deadlift incorrectly can lead to mild to severe back injuries such as disc irritation or herniation.
Far too often I have people come in the office after injuring themselves while doing deadlifts.
Follow these guidelines to start deadlifting properly:
1) Focus on form. Doing an exercise correctly and mindfully is far more important than doing it with heavier weight or completing more reps. Put your ego aside, start light and increase gradually. Move slow and controlled.
2) Get clear on your goals to determine how much weight to use. Holding a 10, 15 or 20 lb dumbbell in each hand may be plenty of weight to help you build strength and stabilization. Unless your goal is to build muscle mass you don’t need to go super heavy.
3) Make sure your low back is in a neutral position. How do you do this? Imagine your pelvis is a bowl of water. If you tilt your pelvis too far forward the water will spill out. If you tilt it too far backwards the same will happen. Place your hands on your hips and play with tilting your pelvis forward and back until you find a position where the water would not spill out of the bowl. This creates a level pelvis which will help keep your low back in a neutral position.
AVOID ROUNDING THE SPINE - AT ALL. Once you establish a neutral pelvis and a long spine there should be no flexion or bending in the spine as you move through the deadlift.
4) Engage. Press your feet firmly into the ground keeping your knees slightly bent. Pull your shoulders down and back and draw your shoulder blades together. Your chest should be lifted and stay that way throughout the entire movement. Keep the core tight, pulling the bellybutton towards the spine. As you lift use the hips and glutes to bring you upright, not the back.
5) It’s all about the hip hinge. When you perform a dead lift all of the movement occurs around the hips. As you lower the weight towards the ground the torso, head and neck should all stay in exactly the same position. Everything from the waist up moves together as one unit. Only go down as far as you can keep this form intact. As soon as your start rounding the spine STOP.
As you lower the weight towards the ground keep the bar or dumbbells close to your body. This requires you to shift the weight back into your hips, send your pelvis back and bend the knees slightly to allow the hip hinge to occur. Then as you lift back up to a standing position contract the hips and glutes to bring the pelvis back over your feet.
6) Warm up with some Good Mornings. Good Mornings are an exercise that focuses on hip hinging and is a great way to prepare for doing deadlifts. See the video below.