Deadlift is the most feared exercise in the gym. People usually avoid doing this exercise as it may result in severe and unhealing injuries; however, doing it right will benefit you the most. In this article, I’ll discuss different exercises to teach how to improve your deadlift.
When you lift a deadweight – a weight without momentum – on a bar or when it’s lying on the ground, you’re performing a deadlift.
It is one of the few traditional weightlifting exercises where every repetition must begin with a dead weight.
As exercise affects the muscles on the lower back, legs, and core, deadlifting aids in improving core stability, core strength, and overall posture.
Many resources talk about the advantages of deadlifts which go beyond developing physical strength or just enjoying the workout.
People frequently concentrate more on the health advantages of deadlifts, but they also provide other advantages.
Advantages of Deadlifts
The deadlift works the muscles, improves posture, and has other sports-related advantages. Because they are useful for activities like jumping, athletes choose deadlifts.
As mentioned here, doing deadlifts enhances the following:
- Increased Cardio Endurance
- Burns More Calories Compared To Running
- Results In A Stronger Posterior Chain
- Can Lower Injury Risks
- Improves Overall Body Performance
- Increased Fat Burning
- Increases Primary Anabolic Hormones That Stimulate Fat Loss And Muscle Growth
Although the deadlift may seem scary, it should be the main exercise in any program for building strength.
You might have a favorite dish, but no matter how much you adore a certain flavor, you must confess that, eventually, you start to like something else.
The same holds true for your muscles. According to American Council on Exercise, muscles might react to a specific exercise stimulus, but over time it becomes vital to modify the exercise or the way it’s done to ensure that your muscles continue to experience the desired changes. (4 Deadlift Variations to Spice Up Your Programming, 2018).
You need to be strong throughout your body to do a successful conventional deadlift. As a result, the strength of your deadlift will only be as powerful as its weakest link.
More deadlifts are the finest exercise you can do to get a better deadlift. But experienced trainees who have corrected all of their weaknesses will find such counsel most helpful.
Muscles Affected by Deadlift
As cited in (Martín-Fuentes et al., 2020) the following muscles listed below are the ones affected by the deadlift exercise, and the greatest method to address your shortcomings with the traditional deadlift is through accessory workouts that target them:
- Glutes
- Thoracic Spine (upper back)
- Lumbar Spine (low back)
- Hamstrings
- Latissimus Dorsi (Lats)
- Grip Strength
How to Improve Your Deadlift
The workouts listed below help me a lot in improving any weak link that can affect my deadlift.
1. Glutes – Hip Thrust
The best exercise for building glutes is hip thrusts, this exercise is the best for glute hypertrophy. Your glute Medius, Maximus, and Minimus will all develop, making your deadlifts stronger.
Start out easy if you haven’t done any straight glute training before. Then, you ought to notice an increase in your deadlift numbers and glute strength during each training session.
2. Upper back- Weighted cat-cow
This exercise is a yoga pose variation that you may turn into a strength training exercise by adding weight to it. The setup is the first step in any effective deadlift, and the cat/cow is an essential part of the setup.
Weighted cat/cow stimulate the growth of muscles in areas that are generally not stimulated by deadlifts. Weighted cat/cow will help you build the muscle you need to maintain your thoracic spine alignment during deadlifts.
Because it isn’t too strenuous, the weighted cat/cow is a fantastic supplementary exercise for traditional deadlifts.
You will gain a lot from including this exercise in your training regimen if you notice your upper back rounding at the start of your deadlift.
3. Lower Back- Straight-legged deadlifts
Individuals often overwork their abs while neglecting their lower backs. That’s because a 6-pack is shown prominently on every fitness magazine cover as the pinnacle of sensuality.
Yet a hot 6-pack is not the reason you are reading this essay. Instead, you’re more interested in learning how to increase your deadlift, which you can achieve by having a strong lower back.
“The muscles in the front of the body are for show, and the muscles in the back are for go,” is a saying I’ve heard.
Give your lower back a strong hypertrophic stimulus with straight-legged deadlifts to make it less of a weak link.
You must begin with far less weight than you are used to—I suggest starting with about 40% of your typical deadlift workout weight. To be safe, start with 120 pounds for eight repetitions if you can lift 300 pounds for that many.
Keep the reps in the 8–15 rep hypertrophy range and concentrate on feeling the low back muscles contract. (Schoenfeld et al., 2021)
4. Hamstring- Romania Deadlift
Like no other exercise, Romanian deadlifts will strengthen your hamstrings. You won’t need to do the hamstring curls, so put them away.
The most noteworthy carryover of any exercise on this list is the Romanian deadlift. They will also acquire great isometric upper back and lat strength in addition to enormous hamstring growth. For heavy conventional deadlifts, you require all three.
Your conventional deadlift max will increase significantly when you master the Romanian deadlift. When working your lats hard and attempting to get a significant hamstring stretch, concentrate on keeping your back neutral.
For the majority of people, reaching the maximum hamstring stretch just requires bending down to the kneecap. If you find yourself lowering yourself below this, either your back is too flexible, or you are not keeping it tight enough (most likely).
When performing Romanian deadlifts, your objective should be to maintain the bar as long as you can while getting the most hamstring stretch. You did a terrific job if your mid-back, lower traps, and hamstrings hurt the next day. Nonetheless, you need to work on your form if your low back pain is the primary source.
Here is a video by (Seriously Strong Training, 2018) to guide you on this exercise.
5. Lats – Lat pulldown
The ideal deadlift setup places your shoulders slightly in front of the bar. The form depends entirely on one muscle, the lats, but it enables the rest of our body to position itself in the best possible way.
The lats pull on the humerus (upper arm bone) like a rope to keep it close to the body. The bar remains close to the body as a result. Your mechanical deficit is reduced as a result. You can safely pull more weight thanks to this.
Your ability to control the bar will increase as your lat strength increases.
Weak lats may be to blame if you notice that the bar rolls away from you when it leaves the ground or if you have trouble maintaining a flat back.
6. Forearms – Grip crushes
I started concentrating on strengthening my grip a few years ago. I had to let go of the notion that if I didn’t wear straps, my grasp would only get stronger. Instead, I accepted the notion that if a muscle was significant to me, I would treat it accordingly.
My grip on a deadlift has never faltered as a result of this change in my training philosophy since including specialized forearm routines.
I also changed my exercise regimen by using lifting straps. I almost always use lifting straps during deadlift workouts since they let me use a double overhand grip.
My body develops most evenly thanks to the double overhand grip (as opposed to using a mixed grip in training which can lead to asymmetry).
Do not be scared to employ lifting straps; they are your ally. So don’t let them be an excuse to skip practicing your grip.
One of the most frequent deadlift mistakes is a weak grip, and it is also the most straightforward to correct. Get a gripper and set it to work.
Your burgeoning forearms will soon be able to lift weights that the rest of your body can only aspire to.
To be able to perform a perfect deadlift your body must be prepared for it, and activating and training the muscles responsible for this movement solely will help perfect it what I mentioned in the following article are some muscles I used to work on the weak points in my deadlift.
FAQs
What are Deadlift benefits?
- Increased Cardio Endurance
- Burns More Calories Compared To Running
- Results In A Stronger Posterior Chain
- Can Lower Injury Risks
- Improves Overall Body Performance
- Increased Fat Burning
- Increases Primary Anabolic Hormones That Stimulate Fat Loss And Muscle Growth
What muscles are targeted by the deadlift exercise?
- Thoracic Spine (upper back)
- Lumbar Spine (low back)
- Hamstrings
- Latissimus Dorsi (Lats)
- Grip Strength
- Glutes
What are some accessory exercises for deadlift?
- Lat pulldown
- RDL
- Hip thrust
- Cat/cows
- Straight leg deadlift
References:
- 4 Deadlift Variations to Spice Up Your Programming. (2018, August 14). https://www.acefitness.org/resources/pros/expert-articles/7073/4-deadlift-variations-to-spice-up-your-programming/
- Grebeniuk, O. J., I. (2020, December 31). Benefits Of Deadlifts: A Triple Threat For Your Back, Booty, And Legs. BetterMe Blog. https://betterme.world/articles/benefits-of-deadlifts/
- Martín-Fuentes, I., Oliva-Lozano, J. M., & Muyor, J. M. (2020). Electromyographic activity in deadlift exercise and its variants. A systematic review. PLoS ONE, 15(2), e0229507. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0229507
- Schoenfeld, B. J., Grgic, J., Van Every, D. W., & Plotkin, D. L. (2021). Loading Recommendations for Muscle Strength, Hypertrophy, and Local Endurance: A Re-Examination of the Repetition Continuum. Sports, 9(2), 32. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports9020032
- Seriously Strong Training (Director). (2018, February 22). How to do RDLs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mjRn4WURRk
Nicolas Abdallah a Lebanese 6th year medical student at the university of balamand lebanon, with a background of more than 10 years in the fitness and health world. My goal is to become an orthopedic sports medicine doctor.
