Deadlift form check - lower back rounding?

[Alex Kershaw]

I recorded my deadlift a while ago and found my back to be very rounded. I took a big deload, figured out how to feel for the correct position and started to work back up from where the form was good.

However, it seems that when the weights start to get within 15kg of my 5RM, the lower back starts to round and it gets worse as the weight gets heavier. The warm-up weights all look good* and then the work set falls apart.

I saw a cue on the forums - 'nipples to the wall', and ended up using it and it seemed to help a little. However, it only works for me if I use it as the cue for the entire movement (i.e. the execution of the lift as an 'extension' of the chest-up movement) otherwise my lower back rounds.

My back definitely still has some 'movement' so I've put a video below. Any feedback would be appreciated and suggestions on whether it would be worth continuing to add weight from here (this is 12.5kg less than my previous 5RM). Also, I'm aware that SS:BBT3 talks about a 'chest first' approach and the problems with it so I'm wondering if this will cause other issues. There is only 1 UK-based SS coach and he's booked up for the next few weeks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kQ_jtpyTzQ


* the warm-ups look good to me at least. In case the consensus is that I need to deload again, I'll include a link to my last warm-up set here to verify that the problems don't occur at that weight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YVjzj9H0Fs

[Paul Horn]

Your back looks pretty flat, but I suspect you could get it tighter. Nipples to the wall is a good cue, but one of the things that really helped me was learning to use the weight of the bar to pull myself into the right position. The idea is to pull all the slack out of the bar with your arms as you set your back. Try this exercise. Put a relatively light weight on the bar and follow the 5 step setup procedure. When you get to step 4 (squeezing the chest up), squeeze up so hard the plates lift 1" off the ground. Then put it down (don't do a full deadlift). Do this five times and on the fifth one, after you squeeze up, do a complete deadlift. Do a few sets of that exercise with a light weight and then move on to your normal deadlift workout. If you do it right, you should start to feel a new level of back tightness.

Also, tuck your chin or you're going to hurt your neck.

[Alex Kershaw]

Thanks Paul. The '1-inch off the ground' already happens for me when I do my first warm up (135 lbs) but I'll try doing it in the exact way you suggested (3*5 with the first 4 of each set not full reps). I'll try the other stuff too and report back on Friday (deadlift day) if that's okay - cheers!

[Alex Kershaw]

Sorry for the delay - I can see this thread edging towards the locked ones but I do have a deadlift video from Friday to upload (spoiler: it didn't go well) so I thought I'd quickly post - should get round to uploading it tonight. Cheers for the help Paul.

[Alex Kershaw]

So I'm kinda ashamed to post these - it doesn't seem to look nice at all and it's only 2.5kg heavier than the week before. I was trying to think of pulling the slack out of the bar, keeping my chin down and raising my chest, but it looks like I ended up doing none of those things. It's frustrating that I can only really practice for 1 set a week... If I go any lighter to do it more frequently, the form looks fine!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmetNhFZABM

What do you think?

[Steve Hill]

I would say you are still not getting your back set completely. There shouldn't be a difference in this WRT to weight, since, on the floor, you don't really have any loading on the back yet (other than what you put there squeezing up). If you can do it with light weights, you can do it with 5RM. The question will be, can you HOLD it?

[Alex Kershaw]

I would say you are still not getting your back set completely. There shouldn't be a difference in this WRT to weight, since, on the floor, you don't really have any loading on the back yet (other than what you put there squeezing up). If you can do it with light weights, you can do it with 5RM. The question will be, can you HOLD it?

But there is a massive difference when the weight goes up - see the lighter set included at the bottom of the original post.

Are you saying that I'm not getting properly set at the bottom on any of the 3 videos provided, and that it just becomes more pronounced during the set as the weight gets heavier? On each video, it looks to me like I'm set before each rep leaves the floor (apart from perhaps rep 5 on the latest set where I'm fatigued) but perhaps I'm wrong on this!

[Alex Kershaw]

So I kept the weight the same as last week, focused on just raising my chest and I think I managed to get similar form to that of the original post (2.5kg heavier weight). Interesting to me though is that my lower back is really sore this morning which hasn't happened for a while - not sure whether that is indicative of anything.

I know my neck is still in the wrong position but it really helps me to set my back for some reason - my plan is to isolate that issue if I can get the back as tight as it needs to be since focusing on both things at once didn't seem to go well last week...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nll19o2oTmQ

Any comments from you guys would be really helpful - I know my back still has some weird movement in the middle of it and I'm not sure how to stop it...

(I've continued to do the 1-inch deadlifts as prescribed from Paul and have been progressing the weight on them)

[Paul Horn]

Your back isn't terrible, it's just not as squeezed up as it could be. We can tell because the moment you initiate the pull it starts to round. When the low back is "locked" in extension, it doesn't do that. Now, at 120k it's ok, but at 185k it might be a mess. Also, the fact that you think you need to over extend your neck to set your back tells me you haven't quite figured out what muscles you're supposed to be squeezing. The neck isn't involved.

It's a very frustrating issue, one that I struggled with for a long time, so I know what you're going through. My advice is to have some look at your back in real time while you play with different mental cues. Have them yell at you when you get that extra little bit of extension and remember what you were thinking about to make it happen (for me it was squeezing behind my knees before pulling).

Finally, that little exercise I gave you doesn't really need to be progressed. The load doesn't matter, just focus on the way it feels to squeeze up so hard the bar floats. It's a way of teaching you that the arms and the weight of bar are involved in setting the back.

[mrcosmic]

Hi Paul,

I know this cue isn't used here, by Mike T has the video where he describes how he thinks about contracting the lats and "putting the shoulder blades in the back pocket". I don't know if this is relevant or not for the purposes of getting a tighter back.