BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO DEADLIFTS

[00:00] what's up y'all welcome back to my

[00:01] YouTube channel it's Kelly Matthews

[00:03] today we're going to talk all things

[00:05] deadlifting I'm going to walk you

[00:07] through your form different stances

[00:10] setup and common mistakes let's do it

[00:12] we're going to talk about the

[00:13] conventional stance deadlift first this

[00:15] is how you'll see most people deadlifts

[00:17] you also will see people in a Sumo

[00:20] stance which we'll talk about second for

[00:22] a conventional stance your feet are

[00:24] going to start about hips distance apart

[00:27] from there you kind of just want to let

[00:28] your arms hang by your sides and then

[00:32] hinge your hips back and wherever your

[00:34] hands end up on the bar that's probably

[00:38] about the ideal spacing for your hands

[00:40] to grip the

[00:42] bar when we come into position you want

[00:45] to think about pushing your hips back

[00:48] and bending into your knees this is not

[00:50] an RDL so you don't want your knees to

[00:53] be almost straight you do want to get a

[00:55] decent Bend and depending on the length

[00:57] of your femur and the length of your

[00:59] tibas you're St dance is going to look

[01:00] different based on that so some people

[01:03] will be sitting really low some people

[01:05] their hips will be a little bit higher

[01:07] once I come into position I have a

[01:10] couple options for grips overhand grip

[01:13] where both of my Palms will face in

[01:15] toward me or a mix grip where one Palm

[01:18] will face out one Palm will face in this

[01:21] will give you a stronger grip so if you

[01:24] feel like you're losing your grip on the

[01:26] bar you may want to play around with mix

[01:28] grip or adding some wrist straps which

[01:31] we'll cover a little bit later in the

[01:33] video once we're ready to go you're

[01:36] going to start at the

[01:38] top and I want you to think about

[01:40] pulling yourself down into your position

[01:43] so unlike the squat we don't have an

[01:47] Ecentric loading phase of this exercise

[01:50] which means we're just pulling the bar

[01:53] up off the ground we're just like raw

[01:54] dogging it off the ground so what you

[01:56] need to think about doing is activating

[01:59] on your way down so that you actually

[02:02] have a little bit of that mind muscle

[02:04] connection before you start so push your

[02:08] hips back bend your knees feel your

[02:10] glutes and your hamstrings come to the

[02:12] party a little

[02:13] bit find your grip this is really

[02:17] important you're going to take a big

[02:18] breath in hold that breath in as you

[02:22] pull the bar up and then you can either

[02:24] exhale at the top or exhale as you drop

[02:26] the bar depends on your preference so

[02:28] big breath in

[02:32] [Music]

[02:40] as you can see between reps if I'm doing

[02:41] multiple reps I do what's called a hip

[02:44] pump where I kind of lift my hips and

[02:46] reload that's kind of a way for me to

[02:50] like eccentrically load before I start

[02:52] the deadlift I find that to be really

[02:54] helpful the breath work is something

[02:56] that everybody should get under their

[02:58] belt as they start start deadlifting and

[03:00] that goes for if you're deadlifting the

[03:01] bar or if you're deadlifting your one

[03:04] rep max so again before you start it's a

[03:07] big inhale a brace through your belly

[03:10] like you're trying to you know create a

[03:12] really strong

[03:14] core hold that breath in and then you

[03:17] can exhale as you come up to the top and

[03:21] that's going to protect your back it's

[03:22] going to make your lift stronger and

[03:24] we'll talk about using lifting belts as

[03:27] a tool to increase that abdominal

[03:30] pressure which will help you lift

[03:32] heavier as you're coming up from the

[03:34] bottom of your deadlift the biggest

[03:36] thing I want you to think about is

[03:38] pushing the floor away I think a lot of

[03:40] times when we're approaching the

[03:42] deadlift we think of it as a pull and

[03:44] you'd be surprised what your mindset

[03:47] will do to the way that you approach the

[03:50] exercise so if you're thinking about

[03:52] pulling naturally you're probably going

[03:55] to pull more with your arms instead of

[03:57] thinking about really driving through

[03:59] your legs leg so think push the floor

[04:02] away and push your head straight up

[04:06] through the ceiling okay and then with

[04:09] your upper body you're not always going

[04:12] to have a perfectly flat back or neutral

[04:15] spine as they say you're going to see

[04:17] some people round a lot as they deadlift

[04:21] and that not might not be the right

[04:23] thing for you but as you get heavier and

[04:26] heavier into your deadlifts you'll find

[04:28] that like perfect form

[04:30] just doesn't exist you have to find the

[04:33] best position for you where you can find

[04:35] the best leverage to lift the most

[04:37] weight so generally speaking we want to

[04:39] think about keeping a relatively neutral

[04:42] spine or a flat back but if you get a

[04:44] little bit of round it's totally fine

[04:47] okay it's not going to break your back

[04:49] um let's go through a working set and

[04:52] then I'm going to talk to you about Sumo

[04:54] stance and then we're going to talk

[04:56] about some equipment and common

[04:58] mistakes

[05:00] [Music]

[05:16] [Music]

[05:26] you also have the option to take a Sumo

[05:28] stance which is going to be a wider

[05:30] stance with your toes turned out you'll

[05:33] hear a lot of Jim Bros say that you're

[05:36] cheating if you do Sumo stance this is

[05:39] not the case at all you want to find the

[05:41] stance that's strongest for you one

[05:43] thing to think about is why are you

[05:46] deadlifting if you're deadlifting to

[05:49] lift as heavy as possible you want to

[05:52] just find your strongest stance if

[05:54] you're deadlifting to train your

[05:56] hamstrings train your glutes train your

[05:58] adductors then that's a different story

[06:00] because what we're looking at when you

[06:02] Sumo deadlift is a lot more squatty than

[06:07] when you do a conventional stance so

[06:10] essentially if you're Sumo deadlifting

[06:12] and you're squatting and they looked

[06:14] really similar you're going to end up

[06:17] training the same pattern multiple times

[06:20] so you may want to adjust your exercise

[06:22] selection or your stance based on what

[06:24] your goal is for your deadlift but today

[06:27] we're talking about just lifting as

[06:28] heavy as we can so for the Sumo stance

[06:31] you're going to turn your toes out as

[06:33] much as it's comfortable for you you

[06:35] want to make sure that you can get a

[06:37] good amount of Leverage some people will

[06:38] go real wide some people less wide again

[06:42] a lot of this is just what feels most

[06:43] comfortable for you but all the other

[06:45] cues are going to be the same so your

[06:47] hips are going to go back you're going

[06:48] to bend into your knees you're going to

[06:49] take a big breath in your hands will

[06:52] fall right in front of your shoulders

[06:54] how they naturally hang the difference

[06:56] here is they're going to be inside of

[06:58] your feet instead of outside side of

[06:59] your feet and then from

[07:04] there you're going to pull up all right

[07:07] let's talk about our equipment first

[07:09] thing you need to know is proper

[07:10] Footwear we need a non-compressive sole

[07:14] so any kind of running shoe anything

[07:17] with a thick sole is not going to be

[07:19] ideal for deadlifting a you're adding a

[07:22] deficit you're basically making yourself

[07:24] lift the bar further and you're also not

[07:28] allowing your foot to really feel the

[07:31] floor and generate as much strength and

[07:34] force as you could if you had a flat

[07:36] shoe so I wear Converse you could also

[07:40] wear like a deadlifting slipper you'll

[07:43] see people wear they're like a velcro

[07:44] shoe um any flat so shoe like a metcon

[07:48] or something of that like similar nature

[07:52] that you see people wear for CrossFit

[07:53] will be a good fit as well you could

[07:55] also go barefoot it's entirely up to you

[07:58] other pieces of equipment that you may

[07:59] want to invest in as you get into your

[08:01] deadlifting

[08:03] journey one is great to have no matter

[08:05] what lifting straps these are Versa

[08:08] grips these are a little bit more

[08:09] expensive than your regular lifting

[08:11] straps but the regular ones you can get

[08:13] on Amazon for like 10 or 15 bucks these

[08:16] will help if your grip strength is

[08:18] failing you so if you're doing higher

[08:20] rep ranges or you're going really heavy

[08:22] weight you may want to use some straps

[08:25] because we don't want to be limited by

[08:28] our grip strike so if you're able to

[08:30] lift more with your legs but your grip

[08:33] is limiting you put the straps on it's

[08:35] going to help you get

[08:37] stronger the next thing on that same

[08:40] vein is going to be chalk this is liquid

[08:42] chalk you'll also see like real chalk

[08:45] that's like powdery this you put on your

[08:47] hands and it's going to help you grip

[08:49] the bar easier in a powerlifting

[08:53] competition you are not able to use

[08:56] straps okay so you're going to need to

[08:58] be able ble to lift the bar you can use

[09:01] chalk though so getting in the habit of

[09:02] using chalk as much as you can when that

[09:05] doesn't work for you anymore you can

[09:06] throw the straps on last thing is going

[09:08] to be your weightlifting belt I get so

[09:11] many questions about when should I start

[09:14] using a weightlifting belt what kind

[09:16] should I use and if you're brand new in

[09:19] your finish Journey you don't need a

[09:21] belt you want to get a lot of reps

[09:24] before you even consider putting on a

[09:25] weightlifting belt what this is going to

[09:27] do is it's going to give you some

[09:29] compression around your trunk and when

[09:33] you

[09:35] breathe when this is really tight on

[09:37] your belly when you take a breath in it

[09:40] allows you to increase that

[09:41] intraabdominal pressure it almost acts

[09:44] like a surrogate AB almost so you'll

[09:47] find that when you put the belt on

[09:49] you're going to be able to lift a lot

[09:51] more weight but like I said if you're

[09:53] newer to your fitness journey throwing

[09:56] on a belt right away is actually going

[09:58] to be a disservice you so a general rule

[10:00] of thumb is if you can't deadlift more

[10:02] than your body weight don't put a belt

[10:04] on yet but the way we're going to use

[10:07] this is when you take that breath when

[10:10] we're here he going to take a big inhale

[10:12] you'll feel your belly expand all the

[10:15] way around like a balloon and you want

[10:17] to hold that there so I'm going to take

[10:19] a big breath

[10:24] in and being able to push against that

[10:27] belt is going to allow me to lift a

[10:28] little bit heavier here this is a lever

[10:30] belt there's also velcro belts there's

[10:32] also ones that you just Buckle like a

[10:35] normal belt and you kind of just have to

[10:38] find the one that you like the best I

[10:39] prefer the lever um but you want to make

[10:42] sure that there is a level of thickness

[10:44] to it a really thin belt is not going to

[10:47] give you much help let's talk about

[10:49] common mistakes I see in the deadlift

[10:51] the first one is going to be not

[10:53] extending at the knee and the hip at the

[10:55] same time or early knee extension and

[10:58] what that looks like

[10:59] is coming up from the bottom the first

[11:02] thing that's going to happen is your

[11:04] butt's going to stick up in the air so

[11:07] when I try and pull this bar up I get

[11:09] here and then I basically just turn it

[11:11] into an RDL okay the goal with a

[11:15] deadlift it's not going to be perfect

[11:17] every time but your goal should be to

[11:19] stand up to the point where your knees

[11:22] and your hips extend at the same time

[11:25] okay so what that looks like in practice

[11:27] is driving

[11:29] straight up to a stand that's really all

[11:32] you need to think about you don't have

[11:34] to over complicate it just think about

[11:36] standing straight up and sending your

[11:37] head through the

[11:39] ceiling second mistake I see is people

[11:42] don't accelerate through the lift so you

[11:44] feel the bar come off the ground and

[11:45] you're like oh I did it and you quit

[11:49] this is something that will as you get

[11:51] heavier cause you to fail more and more

[11:53] lifts especially a one rep max so you

[11:56] want to think about accelerating all the

[11:58] way through the lift okay so if the bar

[12:01] is sticky on the ground give it a second

[12:04] keep pulling don't quit on it and once

[12:07] it lifts then you really have to

[12:10] accelerate and push as fast as you can

[12:14] every single deadlift you do on the way

[12:17] up outside of tempo work you're going to

[12:19] want to push as fast as you can

[12:22] regardless of how heavy the weight is

[12:24] the last one is starting in a LAX

[12:27] position this is like one of the worst

[12:29] things you can do not only is it going

[12:31] to limit you with how much weight you

[12:32] can lift but you're going to end up

[12:34] probably with some sore joints so what

[12:37] that looks like is starting here with no

[12:41] tension in my upper body not thinking

[12:43] about my breath and just like yanking

[12:46] like this before you start you want to

[12:49] take the

[12:51] tension you want to put some tension

[12:53] into the bar so there's a little space

[12:56] between the plate and the bar so it

[12:59] doesn't you know slide on there

[13:00] completely snug so the the bar can move

[13:03] around what you want to do is take that

[13:06] movement out before you

[13:09] start so here I'm almost acting like I'm

[13:12] going to lift it before I start so

[13:14] you'll see that bar gets really tight

[13:17] with the plates and that will just allow

[13:19] you to start in a much stronger position

[13:22] and you're not going to like jam up your

[13:24] shoulders and get stuck on the ground if

[13:27] you ever decide to do a power lifting

[13:29] meat the one thing you need to know is

[13:31] the judges are just going to judge when

[13:34] you get to full lockout at the top so as

[13:37] soon as they give you the go-ahead you

[13:38] can lift anytime you want you're going

[13:40] to come all the way up lock your knees

[13:42] out lock your hips out they'll say

[13:44] down bring the bar down to the floor and

[13:47] that's it all right y'all that's it for

[13:48] the deadlift today I hope you had fun I

[13:50] know I did if you want to see more

[13:52] Fitness content from me please subscribe

[13:54] to my Channel or you can find me on

[13:56] Instagram and Tik Tok @ Kelly Matthews

[13:59] I'll see you guys

[14:00] [Music]

[14:14] soon