Learn how to brace properly

Keeping tension through your torso is very important to maintaining a good position when Deadlifting. To achieve proper bracing think of in quick succession:

🔹Taking a deep breath into your stomach (not your chest).

🔹Tensing your stomach as if you are about to get punched in it.

🔹Expanding your sides.

Proper bracing is about expanding and tensing your core, think 360 degrees of tension around it.

If you brace your core correctly you will improve the transmission of force through your body and avoid leaking it out from an inferior position. Ultimately you will lift more weight and minimise your chances of injury.

Practice engaging your lats

Properly engaging your lats means squeezing them out and down.

We often like to think of it is as if you had a sheet of paper in each arm pit, if you squeeze your lats out and down you will lock it in place. If you lose tension in the lats the piece of paper will fall to the floor.

By doing this you are helping to use the lats to stabilise your torso and in combination with the bracing mentioned above improving the transmission of force through your body to maximise your lifts and minimise your risk.

Set your hips in the correct spot

A common mistake, especially for those new to Deadlifting, is to set the hips too low and try to almost Squat the bar up. The Deadlift is a hip hinge movement and not a Squat pattern, so setting the hips too low often leads to them shooting up too quickly and an inefficient position being created.

Ideally, you want to set your hips at the exact spot that allows your chest and hips to rise at the same rate as you lift the bar. This will vary from individual to individual based on leverages and body proportions, so may well take a bit of trial and error to get it dialled in.

Put these into practice and learn more

For more of the key points to consider when performing a Deadlift take a look at our previous post The Anatomy Of A Good Deadlift.

These tips are simple but very effective. We teach these and more during our Personal Training in Glasgow and our Glasgow Bootcamps. Drop us a message if you want to get involved.

Happy deadlifting team!