Let's Talk About the Deadlift

The deadlift: it's a staple in our powerlifting diet. Whether you are an old friend to the sport or a new lifter who is just learning how to "get your nutsack on top of the bar," we all have something to learn. So why not take a few tips from these deadlift masters? From touching on the basics to zeroing in on common trouble areas, these guys can help you perfect your technique and improve your performance.

Deadlift Master #1: Dave Tate

Dave teaches Brock the basics of the conventional and sumo deadlift.

Deadlift Master #2: Zane Geeting

This week my goal was to pull some triples in the 80%-85% range of a projected briefs max. This is a good strength building range for me. With this training cycle, I'm doing more strength building/off-season stuff closer to the meet and only using the last few weeks to dial it in. Normally, this close to meet time, I'd be in full gear and pulling doubles or even singles. But so far I'm feeling really good, so I'm sticking to the plan.

Here's how training went:

Warm up

BW box squat

BW box squat touching toes

Fat man rows and push ups on rack

Stretching

Hams, hips, groin, pecs, and biceps

Sumo DL

135x8 225x3 315x3 add belt 405x3 add loose

Metal Jack Pro Briefs 495x3 545x3 585x3 615x3

Here's the video of 615x3. You can't tell just how far the plates slid on the one side of the bar, but I really had to pull the third one slower than I would have liked because of it.

Overall, I'm happy with the way it felt and am looking forward to pulling in full gear next week.

Conventional 3" block pulls

315x2 add belt 405x2 495x2

I decided to call it here. I loaded 545 pounds, got tight on the bar, and said forget it. I was shot. So, I moved on to accessory stuff.

BB shrugs

135x25 225x25x3 sets

Hammer curls

20s x50 30s x25

GHR sit ups

BWx20x3 sets

That was the end of it. After the pulls, I did some shrugs for upper back position and hammer curls for biceps health. I also did GHR sit ups for core stability. I'm looking forward to some heavy stuff next week. Oh, and on a positive note: no pain in the biceps that I partially tore back in June.

Deadlift Master #3: Clint Darden

What you should be doing: Sitting Back

I made this for a client a while back and thought I'd share. Technical errors on the deadlift drive me crazy, so we are doing all we can to fix his. Always remember: don't let your shoulders go over the bar!