How to Deadlift With Proper Form

Conventional vs. sumo: which to pull

This guide covers the conventional deadlift — feet hip-width, hands outside the legs. Sumo (wide stance, hands inside the legs) is a great lift but a different setup; for most lifters, learn conventional first.

Conventional emphasizes the posterior chain — glutes, hamstrings, upper back. Sumo emphasizes the quads and adductors and is easier on the lower back at the same loads. Many strong lifters pull both.

Setup: the part that matters most

Foot position

Feet hip-width apart — narrower than a squat. Toes pointed out 10 to 15 degrees, just enough to let your knees track over your toes. Stand close enough to the bar that it's directly over the middle of your foot. That usually puts the bar about an inch from your shins.

Common mistake: standing too far from the bar. The further the bar starts from your body, the more it tries to pull your hips up and your chest down. If the bar isn't over mid-foot, reset.

The hinge

Don't squat down to the bar. Hinge. Push your hips back, keep your back flat, and lower your shoulders until your hands can reach the bar just outside your shins. Your hips should still be higher than your knees at this point.

Grip the bar

Take a double-overhand grip just outside your shins — both palms facing you. This grip gets weak around 80% of 1RM for most lifters. Options when it does:

• Hook grip: thumb against the bar, fingers over the thumb. Uncomfortable for the first few sessions but secures hundreds of pounds without straps. Standard in Olympic lifting.
• Mixed grip: one palm forward, one palm back. Strong but slightly asymmetric and historically associated with biceps tears on the supinated side (rare, but real). Alternate which side does which.
• Straps: for volume work and accessories, not for testing your max. Don't strap up until you've actually trained the grip.

Set the back and shins

Now the critical part. With your hands on the bar, drop your hips down until your shins touch the bar. Chest up, shoulders slightly ahead of the bar, back neutral (not rounded, not hyperextended). Engage your lats — imagine you're trying to crush oranges in your armpits, or trying to bend the bar around your shins.

If your hips are too high, the lift becomes a stiff-leg deadlift and your back will round. Too low and it becomes a squat — your chest folds forward and your hips shoot up first.

Brace and pull the slack

Take a big breath into your belly. Brace as if someone is about to punch you. Then "pull the slack out of the bar" by pulling up gently until you hear the plates click against the bar. Now you're wedged: bar against legs, lats engaged, feet rooted to the floor, full-body tension. The wedge is what makes heavy deadlifts feel light.

The pull itself

Off the floor

"Push the floor away with your feet" is the best cue. You're not pulling the bar up — you're pushing the planet down. The bar rises straight up, glued to your shins. Hips and shoulders rise at the same rate. If your hips shoot up first, your shoulders are too far behind the bar — reset.

Past the knees

Once the bar clears your knees, drive your hips forward aggressively. This is where the glutes do their work. The bar should still be against your legs — drag it up your thighs.

Lockout

Stand fully erect with shoulders pulled back (don't shrug or hyperextend), knees locked, glutes squeezed. The rep is done. Don't lean back — neutral spine, vertical torso, finished.

Lowering

Reverse the hip hinge. Push your hips back first, keeping your knees soft, until the bar passes your knees. Then bend your knees to lower the bar to the floor. Keep the bar against your body the whole way down.

For working sets, you can drop the bar from the top — that's what bumper plates are for. Reset between every rep. The deadlift is not a touch-and-go lift; every rep should start from a dead stop.

Common mistakes

Bar drifts away from the body

Number one mistake. Caused by weak lats, not pulling the slack out, or just bad cue. Fix: cue "crush oranges in your armpits" before every pull. Add lat pulldowns or barbell rows twice a week.

Rounded lower back

Caused by weak lats and erectors, or hips set too high. Fix the setup first: shins touching the bar, lats engaged, chest up. If your back still rounds, the weight is too heavy for your current strength — drop 10–15% and rebuild.

Hips shoot up first

Means your starting position has hips too high and shoulders too far over the bar — the leg drive can't engage so the bar starts as a stiff-leg deadlift. Drop your hips, get your chest up, and push the floor away rather than pulling.

Hyperextending at the top

Don't lean back at lockout. It compresses the spine and accomplishes nothing. Finish vertical with glutes tight.

Yanking the bar off the floor

If you jerk the bar off the floor without pulling the slack out first, you'll get pulled forward, lose your back position, and miss the rep. Take an extra second to wedge into the bar before the pull.

How to program the deadlift

Deadlift once a week for most lifters — it's the most fatiguing of the big three. Higher-frequency deadlifting (twice a week) can work, but the second day should be a variation (Romanian deadlift, deficit, paused) rather than another heavy conventional session.

For strength

Singles, doubles, and triples at 80–90% of 1RM, RPE 7–9. Examples: 5 × 2 @ 85%, or work up to 1 @ 8 then 3 × 3 at 90% of that. Use the RPE calculator to dial the weights in.

For hypertrophy / general strength

Sets of 5 to 8 at 70–80%. Examples: 4 × 6 @ 75%, or top set of 5 then 3 × 5 at 90% of that. Hypertrophy work on the deadlift is a quick way to lower-back tendinitis — go easier than you think.

Romanian deadlift as the accessory

The RDL is the best assistance lift for the conventional deadlift. Same hinge pattern, lower spinal compression, builds the hamstrings and glutes that finish the lockout. Use 3 × 8–10 @ RPE 7–8 once a week.

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