Deadlift Form Critique (Video)

Bigger Stronger Leaner
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Hey everyone, old lifter here (47) and i’ve been working out since age 10 but never did deadlifts until a year or so ago. I started working with hexbar deads, then tried conventional and started getting hurt (bad form). It feels like its starting to come around and wanted to see what yall thought of the form. This is only 335 so not TOO heavy but enough to strain some. Seeing hte video it seems like thers a lot of movement in the knees but I’m not sure. Be gentle haha

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I like your form for the most part, but my main area of critique would be that you seem to be kind of squatting the weight up with your quads. You could eliminate this by starting with your butt a little higher. I tend to start from an almost flat-backed position, I engage my lats to keep the bar tight to me, then raise only my chest until the bar is about at knee level and then I shoot my hips through. This weight looked so easy for you by the way, I think you have a ton of strength potential.

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awesome thank you for that!! I have always wondered if I was using a little more legs than I should. I think I’m stim still a little gun shy NOT using them as much since I always used to get hurt doing deadlift, but again, that was when I had really bad form. And thanks for the kind words. I’ve ALWAYS loved working my back out, but never did DL’s before. My goal before 48 (in july) is to at least get 1500 combined for bench, squat, and DL. Thats kind of my mid-life goal, but thank you again for the tip and kind words and I’ll give that a try net week

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You got this bro !

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Thanks, I’m not sure if 1500 is a lot for a combined but I’ll take it! I really wish I would have gotten more in to the power stuff earlier

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Few quick comments:

  1. The #1 priority when deadlifting is keeping the bar over the middle of your foot both going up and going down. You are starting with the bar too far in front of mid foot and when you “finish” you are dropping the bar out of position setting yourself up poorly for the next rep.
  2. You are “ramping” your knees going down, again forcing you out of position for the next pull. You are not dropping the weight which is very helpful but keep the legs straight until the bar passes your knees to keep the bar in a good position for the next pull is very helpful. I also find it helpful to look down a bit more and look where you want the bar to land.
  3. You are not getting everything you could out of your legs. First 6 - 8" of a deadlift is all legs. Initiate with the legs, use the lats to keep the bar against the shins (over mid foot) and then engage the hamstrings as the bar passes your knees.
  4. Don’t get in the habit of rolling the bar around at the start. Folks think it’s cool because a lot of “strongmen” do it but it just causes problems. You want to start with the bar over mid foot. Rolling the bar then “jerking” it off the floor when it’s in just the right position…well hopefully you can see how that can and does go bad.
    Good Luck!
    Edit - just for clarity the “middle of your foot” is the middle of your entire foot not the the “front” of your foot. So basically over your shoe laces.
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Awesome thank you for that!! I’ve made some changes since then. I’ll see if I can get a video of it. Thanks again for everyone’s help!

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Good work for someone who has just deadlifted. Not sure I am qualified enough to comment, but as I have deadlifted and clean &jerked reasonable weight, I’ll pass on some tips I’ve got from a few pros (including some of the coaches here):

  • Best tip I got to increase strength fast was to drop the straps and belt and stick to double overhand until you get to double body weight. Think it was Brian Shaw on YouTube I got that from. This will build up all your weaknesses. Especially the grip. I now no longer use any straps or a belt and regularly pull 220kg (and maxed at 260kg), just raw. before that tip I used to get stuck at 200kg. Curiously my back injuries also evaporated. Probably because everything else got stronger

  • Your general form is pretty good although I agree with the comments above. However, you pulled 4 reps in 10s. Another sure fire way of getting stronger faster is to slow the eccentric and perhaps do regular pause rep training. Christian Thibadeau recently wrote a great article about this and I’ve had some good results from following his advice on this (and many other things). Or your can take inspiration from Dimitri Klokov’s 210kg 10s pause snatch at the world championship training hall at Antalya a few years ago. Mind boggling but great advert for pause reps/ controlled eccentrics

Best of luck!

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Back angle will vary a great deal depending on height and build. I think it looks right for you.

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Hey thank you for that! When you say pulled 4 reps in 10’s, can you tell me what that is? Also I really wish I didn’t have to use straps but I had to have surgery on one of my fingers and can’t get a complete grip. I’m somewhat resting now with heavy DL’s, I pulled my hamstring going heavy. I pulled 405 for a real solid 4 reps (felt fine), then tried 425 and my form got REAL bad and raised with my hips too fast. I’ve gone back to hex bar DL’s for now and was able to get about 515 for 4 reps. Anyway thanks again for everyones help!! Gonna try for 1500 but that seems pretty far off haha

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You did 4 deadlifts in 10s. I was watching that and was thinking that could result in a pulled hamstring…but too late. Try slower eccentrics to build back up your strength.

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ahhh I gotcha, sorry I had a dummy moment. Sounds good I’ll see if I can slow it down some