Deadlift form critique

[bobobobobobobo]

Can you guys offer a critique of my deadlift form. It felt a bit off so I had my friend film it. Comparing it to the instructional videos I don't like how my back looks during it. Am I starting with my hips too high/low? What do I need to fix here?



Thanks.

[SirWankAlot]

On lift-off try lowering your hips more and raising the chest a bit higher. This will help arching your back which is definetly a problem with your deadlifts. Watch the instructional video's in the stickies and practice with light weight first.

[ltbs]

Hard to tell from the camera angle but it looks like you are starting with the bar too far away from you, over your toes. It needs to be about midfoot, fairly close to your shins which will bring your hips higher. Your back isn't tight enough (push your chest through your arms) and little to no glute activation to finish the lift, you need to hump the bar as soon as it has cleared your knees, hips back first to lower, you're bending your knees too early.

[medjen]

Hard to tell from the camera angle but it looks like you are starting with the bar too far away from you, over your toes. It needs to be about midfoot, fairly close to your shins which will bring your hips higher. Your back isn't tight enough (push your chest through your arms) and little to no glute activation to finish the lift, you need to hump the bar as soon as it has cleared your knees, hips back first to lower, you're bending your knees too early.

Agreed on this. Check out the deadlifting 101 sticky and watch the video by Rippetoe on deadlift set up. Bulletproof way to make sure you're set up properly.

To me, it looks like your lower back is rounded before you even start the lift (not tight enough, as stated above).

[__Iceman__]

Rounding your back may be a flexibility issue. You should stretch your back out and practice arching it every day.

[Sir_Malak]

After you get that form in check. Work your speed and drive hard/fast that is the key to power.

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_.../the_dead_zone


Part of the article:

Mistake #5: Not pulling the bar back

The deadlift is all about leverage and positioning. Visualize a teeter totter. What happens when the weight on one end is coming down? The other end goes up. So if your body is falling backward, what happens to the bar? It goes up! If your weight is falling forward the bar will want to stay down. So if you weigh 250 pounds and you can get your bodyweight to work for you, it would be much like taking 250 pounds off the bar. For many natural deadlifters this is a very instinctive action. For others it has to be trained.

Proper positioning is important here. If you're standing too close to the bar it'll have to come over the knee before you can pull back, thus going forward before it goes backward. If your shoulders are in front of the bar at the start of the pull, then the bar will want to go forward, not backward. If your back isn't arched the bar will also want to drift forward.

For some lifters, not being able to pull back can be a muscular thing. If you're like myself, I tend to end up with the weight on the front of my feet instead of my heels. This is a function of my quads trying to overpower the glutes and hamstrings, or the glutes and hamstrings not being able to finish the weight and shifting to the quads to complete the lift. What will happen many times is you'll begin shaking or miss the weight. To fix this problem you need to add in more glute ham raises, pull-throughs and reverse hypers.


I agree.

[artlove]

It looks to me like it's pretty hard for you, if you can't manage a proper form try lowering weight and working on your posture, when you perfect it only then add in some weight.
ARCH TAHT BACK!

[bobobobobobobo]

Thanks a ton for the advice! I thought my back wasn't properly arched and that has been confirmed.

So I need to focus on these things:
- Back properly arched, then keep it tight
- Setting up to pull backward per the t-nation article

Iceman: What can I do to practice arching my back? Like getting in the deadlift starting position and arching it?

[laurenrun262]

Thanks a ton for the advice! I thought my back wasn't properly arched and that has been confirmed.

So I need to focus on these things:
- Back properly arched, then keep it tight
- Setting up to pull backward per the t-nation article

Iceman: What can I do to practice arching my back? Like getting in the deadlift starting position and arching it?

Yeah, you are gonna injure yourself if you don't flatten out your back. Try making sure you pull from your glutes when you start. Remember chest up, butt down.

[artlove]

Thanks a ton for the advice! I thought my back wasn't properly arched and that has been confirmed.

So I need to focus on these things:
- Back properly arched, then keep it tight
- Setting up to pull backward per the t-nation article

Iceman: What can I do to practice arching my back? Like getting in the deadlift starting position and arching it?

take only the bar, or even a broom and stand sideways to a mirror and practice

[ltbs]

take only the bar, or even a broom and stand sideways to a mirror and practice

2 things wrong here. True Form can only be assessed/checked with some kind of challenging weight, an empty bar/ broom will give a completely different form output to a loaded bar, and you should never look sideways into a mirror during deads/squats/ohp etc, good way to get some kind of neck impinging/injury.