Deadlift - Hips Dropping

[Wayne Beaton]

Hello.

I've been coaching my sister in law for a while now and we're stagnating on the deadlift. She can squat 70kg (154lbs) but can't get past 65kg (143lbs) on the deadlift. We actually deadlifted 60kg for 2 sets of 3 pretty smoothly back in June this year, and each time we get to the 60kg mark her hips drop, the bar moves away from midfoot and the lift becomes a battle. We've tried lots of resets. We dropped the cleans and added in a light deadlift day practice form. Her form is really good: bar is over midfoot, shins touch the bar and shoulders are just in front of the bar before she begins the ascent.

All her warm ups are done with great technique, but the hips 'automatically' drop when the 60kg+ work sets come along, so that when we get to 65kg the bar is stuck to the floor! The result now is that she 'hates deadlifts' and has an aversion for them now...

I know that this is a psychological barrier, but I have no idea how to break through it.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Pete Troupos]

Hey Wayne
Can you post a video from the front, 45ish degrees?

[Wayne Beaton]

Sorry - here you go. Missed the first rep unfortunately!

[Pete Troupos]

Thanks Wayne.
Her setup is a bit off. Her shoulders are way too far forward of the bar, the shins a little too vertical, and she likely has her weight on her toes. Have her set up a little further from the bar with her shins. Maybe a cm. And rather than tilt forward on her toes to bring the shins to the bar, have her bend her knees and drop her butt to bring her shins to the bar. Have her make sure to rock off her toes, then set the back. When you look at it from the side, you should see the bar under her scaps with the shoulder joint just slightly ahead of the bar. But her hips will naturally be lower than what you see here. Fixing the setup is the first thing.

Next, drill her to break the bar off the ground by extending the knees first. She's trying to rock back, open her chest and pull the bar around her knees. She may stop doing this once she's in a better start position, but keep an eye out for it.

Good luck.