Deadlifts are the exercise recommended for every gender and goal. They help to build body strength and muscle. Also, they have a role in fixing back pains. So here is a guide that will help you the best deadlifts. So let’s see the top 5 reasons why you should add this exercise in your workout routine:

1. You will gain strength that will help you throughout your life.

Each person is different. And so is our strength. Some can’t move a table and others do deadlifts. Even though if you don’t have to work with heavy objects, there will be a moment in your life when you will need to lift something, so if you will deadlift you will be prepared.

The deadlift is very simple. It takes a basic human picking something up movement and makes you far more capable at it. That means you’ll be stronger and you will not hurt yourself easily.

2. Deadlift training will help you lose fat.

The stronger you get, the more body mass you will have and with this the higher your basal metabolic rate will be. This represents how many calories the body burns.

There is a study that came with an amazing result. It appears that who do weight training can burn 350 more calories on average while just sitting. This effect can be achieved in 16 weeks of strength training. In this period appears an evident lift in the resting metabolic rate in men that are between 50-65 years old.

Till recently everybody thought that cardio is king losing fat, researchers proved that men who lift weights gained less fat than the other.

3. Deadlifts will reduce lower back pain.

It appears that lower back pain is one of the illnesses of this century. So if you are not doing deadlifts because of them, you should reconsider. But why?

Because deadlifts work in a very specific way on your back. They maintain the integrity of the spine by strengthening the spinal erectors. These guys travel the entire length of the spine, tucking under the lats and traps, and running all the way down to the lower back.

So recent studies have shown that deadlifts work on these muscles better than anything. They experiment checked the spinal erector activation during the deadlift. It appears that this kind of training induces high amounts of upper spinal erector activity in such a way that any other exercises can’t.

4. Deadlifts have a great effect on your health

There is a study that says that muscle mass can protect against diabetes. Not only this, but mass also is important when recovering from illnesses or surgery.

The conclusion is a simple one. If you are strong you are also healthy. And deadlifts can make you very strong

5. Deadlifts will make you live longer

As previously said, deadlifts make you stronger and it is a good thing. By keeping you away from health problems, your muscles will also make you live longer.

How to make the best deadlift for your body

Many people have tried deadlifts and thought is not for them. And this is because this exercise involves many muscles. It works all of your limbs and therefore ankles, knees, hips, and shoulders.

There are many changeable factors. So it is very hard to have a strict set of rules regarding deadlift.

Each body is different. This means that two people having the same height can have different femur lengths or torso.

A person that has long femurs and short torso will most likely have a more hip-dominant pull. This means that their butt will be higher in the air, so most of the force will come from the hamstrings and glutes.

At the same time, a person with a long torso and short femurs will be able to get lower and involve their quads more.

This can also tell you if you would be better with a sumo deadlift or with a traditional deadlift stance.

First of all, find a measuring tape. Using it, find out what is the distance between your bony part of your hip and the floor. This represents your leg length.

After this, measure from the same point on your hip to the top of your head. This represents the torso length.

The last thing you need to do is to check the distance from the top of your shoulder to the tip of your middle finger. This is the arm length. Divide each of those numbers by your total height in inches. You will get a percentage that will tell you if you have a short, long or average-length torso, legs or arms.

  Average Above Average Below Average
Torso 32 > 32 < 32
Legs 49 > 49 < 49
Arms 38 > 38 < 38
Segment combination Conventional Sumo
Elongated torso/Short Arms            X
Elongated torso/Elongated Arms                 X  
Short torso/Short Arms            X
Short torso/Elongated Arms                 X  
Average torso/Short Arms            X
Average torso/Elongated Arms                X  
Short torso/Average Arms                X          X
Elongated torso/Average Arms                X          X

There are other variables that you should consider, such as strength and flexibility. However, based on the tables from above you should get a picture of what is suited for you and what is not. If you have the right constitution for it, it is recommended that you switch between the two styles.

The styles work on slightly different muscles. The conventional type requires more hip drive. The sumo involves the upper legs a little more. This is why using both versions is recommended.

You should read this before you start pulling

1. Your posture

The Conventional Deadlift Foot Placement is the following: Start with your feet shoulder-width apart. Don’t know what it is? Don’t worry and try this: Jump in the air for 2-3 times. The place where your feet will land is the proper posture for the conventional deadlift. Your toes should point forward.

Sumo Deadlift Foot Placement is the following: There are two versions here:

  • Place your feet as wide as you can. This means that your toes are nearly flush against the weight plates. The drawback here is the risk of dropping the weight on the toes.
  • Widen your feet as far as possible while but keep your shins vertical for when you lower yourself to grip the bar. The wider your posture is, the more your feet should point outward.

Be sure to set up in such a way that the bar is about an inch to an inch-and-a-half from your shins. The bar should be right about the middle of your foot when looking down on it.

2. The grip

What to do with the hand is simple. You need to take a shoulder-width grip. Deciding on how to grip the bar is a little more difficult. There are 3 options:

  • The double-overhand grip. This is the most preferred grip. If you add a higher weight to your deadlift, you’ll eventually reach a weight where the grip strength becomes an issue.
  • The mixed grip. This is known as “one overhand, one underhand” grip. This version will let you pull heavier weights easier. Of course, there are some minuses when it comes to the mixed grip. The bicep activity in the underhand grip arm is much higher during this version. In time, muscle imbalances can appear, so you should switch which arm is overhand from set-to-set or workout-to-workout.
  • The hook grip. This grip is not very popular. And it has a good reason why is this. It really hurts, but the benefits are also great. The thing about this hook grip is that you can use more weight than a double-overhand grip. This is possible because your thumbs act as hooks for the bar. The biggest weight amount ends up pulling on your thumbs so the bones, and joints of your thumbs will not feel good.

Ready to weight the lift? This is what you need to do

Ok, you’ve placed your feet and gripped the bar. Here are five things to check before you rip that sucker off the floor.

1. Head

Don’t look up because it will extend your neck and you can get a neck strain.

Try to keep your head in a neutral position. Your chin should stay tucked. Look straight ahead through the entire lift.

2: Shoulders

Don’t roll the shoulders forward to grab the bar. You don’t want a hunchback. Pay attention to your shoulders, especially if you’re using heavy weight.

Pull your shoulders in and hold them tight to your sides. By doing so, you will decrease the distance between your shoulders and hips. And this will help you lift weights more efficiently.

3 Legs

People tend to bend over and grab the bar without putting any tension on the muscles. You won’t be in a position to pull the most weight or pull it effectively.

Push the hips backward. You will feel tension at the back of your legs and into your glutes. This means you are doing the right thing. Maintain the tension while bending the knees so your hands can reach the bar.

4 Your Core

Breath before pulling. A big breath in creates intra-abdominal pressure. This way you be more stable. You will also protect the spine, and will you lift more weight.

Step up to the bar into the correct position and take a big breath in. Push the air down and out you fill your abdomen. Engage your core to hold your breath in that position. Only then make the lift. Keep that breath held throughout the rep. Take a new breath in before every rep.

5 Hands and Arms

Don’t grip the bar loosely. Also, don’t pull the bar without taking the slack out first.

Grab that bar like you mean it. It doesn’t matter what grip you will choose. Just be sure you are gripping the bar as hard as you can.

How to execute the Deadlift

The only things you need to do is push off the floor and keep everything tight

If you are doing the conventional deadlift, think of pushing the floor away. This helps you generate tension throughout your hips and knees.

If you want to do a sumo deadlift, do as you would spread the floor. This means to push outwards on the sides of your feet.

In both cases, the result should be the same: generate tension through your knees and hips.

Done wrong and you will go into a position called the Angry Cat Deadlift. This means that the lats aren’t activated enough, or the person’s core isn’t sufficiently braced making the lumbar spine to be the first thing that comes up.

Done right and you won’t have this problem. But if you do everything right and still feel your lower back rounding, it means that you’re using too much weight. Start with a less heavy lift.

Be careful when you reach the top of the rep. This is known as a lockout. Don’t consider “locking out” to be “leaning back.” Doing this it will hyperextend the knees and spine. And this can compress the spinal discs between your vertebrae.

The goal is to stand up. The completed rep is when you’re standing tall while holding the weight. So, simply stand up straight, thrust your hips, and focus on squeezing your glutes at the end of the lift.

The last thing you need to know is what to do when you reach the top of the rep. Here you have 2 options. You either drop the weight or lower the weight back to the floor.

Dropping the weight is considered bad form for most fitness trainees, but may consider doing it sometimes.

Lowering the weight back to the floor can be a little more difficult. Keep the tension in your arms, lats, core, and legs, and lower the weight to the floor. You need to keep your feet pressed on the ground. Also, you need to focus on maintaining the tight grip on the barbell and set the weight back on the floor.