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Conventional Deadlift
- Set up: Stand with feet ~hip width apart, with the middle of your foot under the bar. The bar should be close to your shins but not touching them.
- Grip: Bend slightly through the knees, so hands reach can reach the bar (spine should remain neutral throughout). Using either a double-overhand or a mixed grip, grip the bar ~ shoulder-width apart. Arms should hang straight down (no slack) and run outside the knees.
- Motion/Pull: From this slight knee bent position, grip the bar tightly (arms must remain rigid), take a big breath, tense your entire body (particularly core, forearm, lats, glutes and hamstrings), and drive up from mid-foot/heels. Bar must remain in close proximity to your body (almost touching your shins) as you lift up.
- Straighten your back but don’t shrug or lean back (hyperextend) at the top.
- Return: Slowly reverse the motion, paying particularly attention to use a hingeing of the hips/hamstrings to lower the weight (and not a squatting pattern). Once the bar clears the knees, then you can employ more knee bend to bring the load down to the ground.
Variations
- Romanian Deadlift: In this variation, you start standing erect and hinge down without letting the weight touch the floor.
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