How To Perfect Your Deadlift | Form Check | Men's Health

[00:00] Hey guys, I'm Ebenezer Samuel, fitness director for Men's Health. I'm Brett Williams, associate fitness editor at Men's Health. Today we're going to teach you guys the deadlift. The deadlift is one of the most badass moves in the gym. Once you master it, you're going to move more weight on this exercise than you do on any exercise in the gym.

[00:15] I guarantee you that. The key to doing the deadlift though, you have to do it right. A lot of people mess this lift up, but we're going to show you all the things you need to know about it right now. So Brett let's get right into it.

[00:28] So he's going to step up to the bar, feet shoulder width apart, toes are across the bar. You should be able to count your toes on the other side of that bar. Now Brett, go down, let's go get that bar. Using a nice overhand grip here, you want to stay in that overhand grip.

[00:42] You're going to see a lot of people use what's called a mixed grip. That's fine. When you get very heavy and weight, it's going to let you move larger weight, but you don't want to do that to start out. You want to train from this overhand position as much as you possibly can.

[00:56] Now know also his back position. His hips are lower than his shoulders. The one thing you're going to see a lot of people do, you're going to see their hips higher than their shoulders. Then you're lifting with your lower back. Remember we never want to do that.

[01:08] You want to really use your hamstrings to get this lift to happen. Now he's going to set his lats. Think about squeezing your shoulder blades together. He's going to pull the slack out of the bar next. This is another little way to help set your lats.

[01:20] Keep your back involved in this because remember, you don't want your shoulders hanging out to dry to lift this weight. You want everything nice and tight. Your core needs to be hugely involved in this lift. Again, you want to protect your lower back. So he's got that nice core position,

[01:33] and now lift that weight right up. Squeeze his glutes at the top. Note that you're going to see a lot of people over extend. Show them what that looks like, Brett. You don't want to do that. You want to stay nice and smooth.

[01:45] Just squeeze your glutes at the top. Stand up in a good position. That's a deadlift. Put it right back down, Brett. Also, he comes down. He sets that bar. We're not doing touch-and-go deadlifts.

[01:57] We're trying to teach you a nice, fundamental deadlift that you can use to lift heavy weight. This is the kind of exercise you can get a lot out of it. If you're just doing one, two, three rep sets because you can go real heavy, build that power on your back side,

[02:09] build a lot of strength. There you have it, the basics of the deadlift. As you progress in this move, as you start to learn more, you're going to see people starting to use belts and straps. Try to avoid belts in particular. You really want to create that force by yourself.

[02:22] Let your core be its own belt instead of trying to go down that road with the belt straps. As you start to use more resistance, you're going to want some of that. That can help you. It is going to take a little bit away from your grip.

[02:34] So again, try to train with that overhand grip without the straps as long as possible. Start to integrate the mixed grip. And then as you get really heavy, you can start using straps a little bit as well. We'd love to see you guys doing six to eight rep sets,

[02:46] three or four sets. This is also a move that, as you get better at it, you can get a lot of benefit out of one, two, three rep sets going really heavy. So work towards that. But again, start with three sets of six to eight for now.