Hips Rising Too Quickly in the Deadlift

[seanmanseau]

Hi Mark--

First of all, thanks for taking the time to look help all of us out. I have two questions:

One of our clients has a fairly common problem with his deadlift: his hips come up too quickly as he breaks the bar off the ground. We've pointed out the problem, he's aware of it, but nothing we've tried ("Lock the back angle in", "Lead with the shoulders") has helped him fix it. Can you suggest some more effective coaching cues?

Part 2. He's a strong guy, with a back squat 2RM of 350lbs, but he is unable to DL over 315. Part of it, I am sure, is anxiety due to a previous back injury. Today we had him try lifting sumo-style; the more vertical torso made him feel safer, but he was still stuck at 275lbs.

This guy is a ferocious athlete--one of our CF firebreathers--so it's not a matter of telling him to man up or stop being a puss. Given his squat (and a power clean of 225, with only a few months' training), he certainly has the potential to DL over 400 pounds. He just has a mental block. Have you noticed that the DL tends to cause more fear in athletes (especially the previously injured) than other movements? How do you help them past it?

Thanks again for any help you can offer.

Sean

[Mark Rippetoe]

The hips rise first in the deadlift because the hamstrings fail to anchor the back angle. This is discussed in BBT with illustrations that I cannot reproduce here, so refresh your memory there. We have had very good luck with more experienced lifters by just telling explaining the biomechanics of the error, and then yelling at them to keep the hamstrings tight before the bar leaves the ground. This usually works better than cueing the chest-up.

[KC_Pike]

So a cue of tight hamstrings will be able to help my hips rising too fast as shown here?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaBH9G27Ar8

That and the fact I dont set my back angle well before the pull AT ALL. I believe I keep my angle pretty well during the pull Im just not getting it in a good position at the start.

Thanks Mark, wish I had read your books YEARS ago.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Your back ANGLE is not the issue. Your back EXTENSION is what you're failing to set.

[KC_Pike]

Your back ANGLE is not the issue. Your back EXTENSION is what you're failing to set.

Ah yes, thats what I meant but I did an incredible job of using the completely wrong term for it.

Any other things you see that I could work on besides back extension and keeping my hamstrings tighter in order to assist with keeping my hips down?

Thanks again Mark.

[Mark Rippetoe]

I don't think it will take much to fix, since they're not really coming up that badly. And you may find that your arch will fix some of it because of its effect on hamstring tightness.

[KC_Pike]

I don't think it will take much to fix, since they're not really coming up that badly. And you may find that your arch will fix some of it because of its effect on hamstring tightness.

Excellent. Thanks again.