6 Rules for a Better Deadlift

During my deadlifts, I tuck my chin at the lockout. I actually want to keep my head in a more “neutral” position and have it follow the angle of my torso. As your torso comes up, so should your head. I typically say, “take your head with you.” This means when you hit the lockout, you should be looking straight ahead.

At the start, you’ll want to cue your athletes to pull their chest through their arms. This will help keep them in a good position at the start, which will give them the best potential for staying in a good position throughout the entire lift. Eric Cressey uses the cue that he wants to “see the writing on your shirt.”

After the bar passes your knees, the only thing you should be thinking is to drive your hips forward with a powerful glute contraction to finish the lockout. You don’t have to over-pull the finish; just drive the hips forward until your body’s in a straight line. Think to yourself, “shortest distance between two points.”

Taking the slack out of the bar is huge for setting your full body tension and pulling yourself down to the starting position. With 225 pounds on the bar, you should be pulling up on the bar with 224 pounds of force before the weight even moves. There has to be that much tension on the bar. 

This cue goes hand-in-hand with “taking the slack out of the bar.” Both are helping to set your back, get more tension, and get you into the best starting position possible. Pulling up on the bar sets the lats and subsequently creates a tighter core.

Once you’re locked into your starting position and have as much tension as possible, drive the floor away as if you’re doing a leg press. This is an amazing coaching cue and will most times eliminate the athlete’s hips from shooting up at the start of their first pull.