Deadlift is shitty, need some help

[jake272]

Hello fellow SS members, my deadlift has been suffering for a while now, and I'm not sure what to do about it. I'm getting online coaching and will be coming to the seminar in Denver in the summer, but I won't get coaching for a couple more weeks, so I thought I'd do my best to do film checks in the meantime.

I seem to have a lot of trouble with getting a neutral spine. I follow the five steps every time.
1. Stance, bar 1 inch from shins
2. Grip
3. Bend knees until shins touch the bar
4. Chest up
5. Pull

But nonetheless I can't get in a good position, it honestly feels like I can't squeeze my chest up much further.

Anyways, could anyone help a brother out? This is really getting to my head, I'll reload another 10% if I have to, but I just want to know what I can do to fix this shit.


Deadlift 340x5 - YouTube

[carson]

Shitty is a little too strong a word.

I noticed two things and I suspect a SS coach will note a few more.

First, imagine that you are creating a v angle in your lower back. It helps me to keep my back flat as a board. Sully suggested this to me.
Second, imagine that you can lean back just a little just as you squoze with the bar tight against the top of the plates. Do this without lowering your hips. It is subtle but effective.

[jake272]

Shitty is a little too strong a word.

I noticed two things and I suspect a SS coach will note a few more.

First, imagine that you are creating a v angle in your lower back. It helps me to keep my back flat as a board. Sully suggested this to me.
Second, imagine that you can lean back just a little just as you squoze with the bar tight against the top of the plates. Do this without lowering your hips. It is subtle but effective.

Thanks man, I'll try those things out, does it look like my hips are too high? I've had people before say that I need to drop my hips a little and move the bar a little forward because I was back on my heels too much, did you notice that at all?

[Matt Stacks]

It's tough to see for certain with this video that your shins are touching the bar on the setup (I'll take your word for it.) It looks like, however, you're losing contact with the body until lockout. I'd suggest pointing your toes out a little bit more to artificially shorten the femurs and then think about dragging it up your legs the entire time. I suspect this may help you.

[Adam Franklin]

The 2 biggest issues I see are:

1) There is a general lack of tightness in your setup, which results in you jerking the bar off of the ground when you finally decide to pull it (I call it going 0 to 60). In order to achieve tightness pre-pull (squooze, as Coach Wolf calls it), you must lift your chest by pulling AGAINST the bar. You may very will be "lifting your chest" relative to your hips, but if you are not pulling up on the bar while lifting and rotating the rib cage, you will not be tight prior to pulling.

There is a general misunderstanding of the "lift the chest" cue in the general population (at least on the forums and in the facebook group). Lifting your chest does nothing if your arms slack/not under tension. You must produce force against the bar while lifting the chest in order to produce "wave extension" in the back, as the book describes. This is the tightness required in a proper deadlift.

/rant

Jake, watch Squeezing the bar off the floor | On the Platform - YouTube, and pay close attention to Coach Niki when she says "the bar should feel heavy in the hands and heavy on the feet" (paraphrasing). You must achieve this while lifting the chest.

Try it out, and let me know how it goes.

2) You weight appears to be out over your toes. This, along with (1) is why your hips drop and the bar casts away from you right before the bar breaks off of the ground. We pull from midfoot, not on the toes or through the heals. Look up step 4.5 of the DL setup. Without dropping your hips, shift your hips back to get your weight off of your toes. It may feel like your are on your heals at first, but this is because you are use to being on your toes.

Once you figure out 1) then worry about 2). Let me know how it works out for you!

[jake272]

The 2 biggest issues I see are:

1) There is a general lack of tightness in your setup, which results in you jerking the bar off of the ground when you finally decide to pull it (I call it going 0 to 60). In order to achieve tightness pre-pull (squooze, as Coach Wolf calls it), you must lift your chest by pulling AGAINST the bar. You may very will be "lifting your chest" relative to your hips, but if you are not pulling up on the bar while lifting and rotating the rib cage, you will not be tight prior to pulling.

There is a general misunderstanding of the "lift the chest" cue in the general population (at least on the forums and in the facebook group). Lifting your chest does nothing if your arms slack/not under tension. You must produce force against the bar while lifting the chest in order to produce "wave extension" in the back, as the book describes. This is the tightness required in a proper deadlift.

/rant

Jake, watch Squeezing the bar off the floor | On the Platform - YouTube, and pay close attention to Coach Niki when she says "the bar should feel heavy in the hands and heavy on the feet" (paraphrasing). You must achieve this while lifting the chest.

Try it out, and let me know how it goes.

2) You weight appears to be out over your toes. This, along with (1) is why your hips drop and the bar casts away from you right before the bar breaks off of the ground. We pull from midfoot, not on the toes or through the heals. Look up step 4.5 of the DL setup. Without dropping your hips, shift your hips back to get your weight off of your toes. It may feel like your are on your heals at first, but this is because you are use to being on your toes.

Once you figure out 1) then worry about 2). Let me know how it works out for you!

Hey Adam, really tried to pull against the bar without dropping my hips, while squeezing the chest up.

Also tried getting the weight back off of my toes and on my mid-foot, do these pulls look any better?

Deadlift 345x5 - YouTube

[Adam Franklin]

These are looking better!! 2nd rep looked the best IMO. 1st rep, I can't tell when you decided to "pull" the weight because I can see your jerk up all off a sudden. Think smooth or gradual. "SQUEEZE the bar off of the floor!"

Setting the back is as much of a skill as it is a feat of strength. You will get better at setting your back, getting tight, and squeezing the weight off of the floor the more you work at it.