Common Deadlift Mistakes - Fix your Deadlift!

If you want to get strong, you can’t deny the deadlift as the overall strength builder. It uses multiple muscles and carries over to several movements in contact based sports. Even for those who don’t play contact based sports, it has a great carry over to overall life.  But with the most amount of muscles and joints being used - it means there is more room for error.

Make sure you avoid these!

1. Positioning of the Feet
More often than less, I’ll have people have their feet far apart when deadlifting. This begins to work against their biomechanics and causes rounding in their back - causing long term pain and issues. 

To fix this, have your feet to be in a stance either

A) Hip Width Apart or

B) Shoulder Width Apart

This will depend on your biomechanics, and generally hips width apart is a good starting point for females, and shoulder width apart for males. 

But before people come at me with pitchforks - that is just a very general rule of thumb and more so depends on your body structure. 

If you can’t seem to find yourself comfortable between these two stances, you can also try the stance which you feel most powerful with - which is the stance you would take if you were to jump up as high as possible.

2. Grip Width
This one is a simple one, it’s directly straight from your shoulders and should be close to the outsides of your knees. Of course, this is a guide for those who deadlift in the conventional stance. If you're looking for sumo, you’ll need to see another post of ours when we release this! (At this time of typing this - we are yet to release it, but keep your eyes peeled because #SumoSupremacy!)

This grip width is also related to Tip number 3.

3. Hips & Shoulder Blades
This is related to each other, and we will first start with the shoulder blades seeing as it is easier.

As a rule of thumb, whatever you are lifting needs to be in the line of activation of the muscle. The lats (where the shoulder blades are) are one of the main muscle movers that pulls the slack out of the bar for us to make the movement more connected. Position yourself so that your shoulder blades are directly on top of the bar. You will require someone to tell you, or film this and review.

From there, we need to have our hips not too high, nor too low. This is somewhat subjective because there is no “magical amount” of degrees that will cover this. But you will know when it looks off, and if your starting position looks like a squat if you were to see it side by side.. Well - that’s off (if your hips are the same height as your knees at the start - no good!).

Be sure to check the video at the start of this blog to see what deadlifts shouldnt look like!

One of the hardest things when it comes to correct your technique - is exactly that. When you try to teach yourself - just know that it’s more than likely wrong and requires more research and double checking - there is always someone out there who knows more and has a sharper eye. But knowing you need to relook at your technique is always important and it doesn’t mean you should stop to be the best you can.

If you ever need help and support in your training, programming and performance, don’t be afraid to contact Momentum Active Remedy for a consultation. We have a team of University Qualified Exercise Physiologists and high quality Personal Trainers that can provide you with the support you need to achieve your goals.

Call us on 0423 568 356, email sean@momentumactiveremedies.com or book online on www.momentum-active.com to book yourself in!

Remember, #MomentumIsKey. You just need to get started.

Sean Koh

Owner & Director

S&C Coach, Exercise Physiologist, Scientist & Personal Trainer

Post. Grad. Dip. (Exercise Physiology) & B.Sc. (Sports Science)
AEP, AES