So You Think You Can Deadlift? (Part 9)

Welcome to the long-awaited follow-up to Matt Wenning’s popular “SYTYCS” series. This time, Matt targets the pull in the same expert fashion that he did with the squat. We brought in loyal elitefts™ customer and amateur strongman competitor Ryan Minney as our training subject.

His form is broken down, analyzed and a thorough plan to improve his deadlift is laid-out.

In part 8, Matt has Ryan perform Russian curls. This key accessory movement will strengthen Ryan's hamstrings, allowing him to pull in proper position. Watch as Ryan strains during this exercise and how Matt cues him to control the downward phase and spring up with his arms.

In this final installment, Matt has Ryan complete a variation of the shrug. This variation will develop Ryan's lower trap area and rhomboids, strengthening and reinforcing his ability to keep his shoulder blades back when deadlifting. Using kettlebells to perform this accessory movement, watch how he's instructed to lean over, start from a dead stop, shrug up for a second, and then return to the starting position slowly.