Deadlift Analysis – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

This weekend, I finally went to see Metallica: Through the Never, the band’s new 3D movie. Metallica’s been my favorite band since I was 12 years old and I’ve been hooked ever since I first heard the main riff to “Enter Sandman”. The movie had tons of moments that gave me chills, especially right before the show starts when you hear “The Ecstasy of Gold”, a song from the movie The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

Turns out that’s exactly how you could describe my deadlifts over the past few years.

Stick with me after that lousy joke – in celebration of hitting a personal-record 545-pound deadlift last week, I’m about to dive into a brutally honest analysis of my PR deadlifts over the years. I’ve put together a video that directly compares my latest PR to seven different landmark deadlifts from past years.

I’ve always been a “better” squatter and bench presser than deadlift for my body weight, so I’m by no means an expert. These analyses are just my own and others may agree or disagree.

If this post seems completely self-indulgent, you’re missing the point. I truly believe there’s something to learn from all this.

I hope that by breaking down these eight pulls, I’ll uncover some aspects of technique – good AND bad – that will help you improve your own deadlift.

#1 – 545 lbs – 9.29.13  – Gym Lift

This is my heaviest deadlift to date, and, surprisingly, didn’t feel hard at all. It feel smooth and “fast”, which it actually kinda was. From first pull to lockout, the pull took me 3.83 seconds, which is my fastest PR since deadlifting 520 in 3.31 seconds in 2011.

Now this isn’t the prettiest deadlift ever. Max-out lifts rarely are. Here’s the breakdown:

The Good

• Good bar speed

• Short bar path thanks to good hip position (half squat) and good timing for pushing my hips through to lockout

• Relaxed shoulders to shorten range of motion

• Lats are flexed hard, which keeps bar close to my body

The Bad

• Some lower back rounding

• Hips rise faster than chest

• Inconsistent head position (I pack my neck at first, start to throw my head back and then look down again)

Conclusion: This was probably my best deadlift to date. I credit deficit deadlifts for being able to break the floor quickly and block pulls (NOT rack pulls) for maintaining speed through the midway point. If I want to continue to make progress, I need to work on keeping my chest up more.

#2 – 500 lbs – 4.13.13 – APF NY Spring Iron Frenzy Powerlifting Meet

This was actually not a PR. It was my second attempt at my last powerlifting meet, which wasn’t a great showing on my part. It was 40 pounds short of my PR at the time, and as slowly as I broke the floor, the bar faded out in front of me and I needed to maintain complete control to keep from hitching. This was when I knew I was in big trouble.

The Good

• Pretty good starting position

• Good timing with pushing hips forward, especially considering how slow the bar moved and my history of hitching slow deadlifts

• Committing to the damn lift. Would have been easy to bail here.

The Bad

• Never got my lats “down” (like a stiff-arm pulldown) so the bar pulls my shoulders too far over the bar

• Knees crash inward so my glutes can’t contribute and I’m using too much lower back

Conclusion: I was exhausted at this point and struggled to focus. It was at the end of a 13-hour powerlifting meet and I missed a 515 squat and 335 bench earlier in the day, so take that for what it’s worth. My setup position was good, but I didn’t get my lats down or push my knees out, so I paid the price from the initial pull.

#3 – 540 lbs – 11.10.12 – Old School Iron Wars Powerlifting Meet

This capped a stellar day for me as I went 9-for-9 at my third meet and set PRs in everything. I pulled my 485 opener and I was kinda slow, but one of the other lifters told me to “let my traps fall” once the bar passed my knees to shorten the lockout. It worked like a charm and I hit a new PR. It was a grinder (6.79 seconds – the longest of any of my 500-plus pulls), but I knew I needed to control it to avoid hitching.

The Good

• Commitment. This thing was SLOW but I was in the process of fixing a bad hitching habit and needed to wait to push my hips forward.

• Letting my shoulders relax and traps drop to reduce ROM.

The Bad

• In case you didn’t notice, it was SLOW.

• Hips shot up immediately

• Lots of back rounding

• I was really late with locking my knees (check 0:33 of the vid – knees still flexed)

• I turn a ridiculous shade of red

Conclusion: I can’t complain much because this finished a 9-for-9 day while adding in a last-minute technique fix. I rounded over like crazy but it was the hardest I’ve ever had to fight for a PR and I’m proud of it.

#4 – 535 lbs – 2.24.12 – Gym Lift

Just a random 1RM attempt. The only thing I remember about this is that it was an unplanned, impulse attempt because everything felt really easy that day.

The Good

• Hit this without getting overly psyched up (i.e. no ammonia and no dead brain cells)

The Bad

• Hips start too high

• Lats aren’t tight

• Tons of back rounding

• Bad bar speed (5.65 seconds)

• I’m looking up too much at the start

• Slight hitch from pushing hips forward too early

• My left side (overhand side) starts to helicopter

Conclusion: This one was a mess. It’s the definition of just winging it, “grip and rip” style. This was probably the peak of my hitching habit, where I was getting so rounded over off the floor that I couldn’t get my hips “through” at the right time.

#5 – 520 lbs – 5.29.11 – Gym Lift (Mock Meet)

Wow, I had hair! This was a “practice” powerlifting meet in the gym after my first experiments with a Sheiko routine. It’s also the beginning of my hitching habit and a long road of deadlift frustrations.

The Good

• I keep the bar directly under my shoulders despite a pretty bad starting position overall

• Speed wasn’t bad (3.31 seconds)

The Bad

• Terrible low back position at the start. I’m not even arching at all.

• Zero upper back tightness

• Hips shoot forward too fast

Conclusion: At this point I think my strength simply outran my technique. In other words, I pulled this one fast because I’d gained a lot of new strength so it flew up in spite of my bad technique. If I had set up properly, maybe I could have pulled a lot more weight.

#6 – 510 lbs – 7.2.10 – Gym Lift

I’m pretty sure this was after my first 8-week cycle of the 5/3/1 program, so I was deadlifting every week with smart volume and intensity for the first time ever. This lift was an absolute breeze, as evidenced by the snappy speed (2.81 seconds).

The Good

• Very fast and smooth

• Good starting position

The Bad

• Started from a dead stop with no countermovement

• Lots of back rounding

• Grip is too wide

• What the hell is the stupid shimmy I do with my knees at lockout?

Conclusion: As much as I feel I’m still learning how to deadlift, it’s pretty clear I was just learning at this point. From the get-go, my stance is probably a bit too wide and my grip is definitely too wide. A conventional deadlift grip should always be just outside your legs so you can actually push your knees out against your elbows at the starting position. I also hadn’t learned to “dip” into the initial pull like I do in my more recent deadlifts, which is fine. At this point I was such a rookie that I didn’t need to mess with advanced techniques like that. It’s more important to learn to get a good starting position and get as tight as possible. When you’ve mastered that, then move on to more fancy stuff.

#7 – 505 lbs – 12.26.09 – Gym Lift

The day after Christmas – sounds like a good excuse to max out on the deadlift!

The Good

• Head position. That’s about it.

The Bad

• Hips start way too low

• Lower back is completely rounded from hips being too low

• Arms are bent at the start

• Hips shoot straight up at the start

• Back rounds like a rainbow

• Hitch city

Conclusion: This is what happens when you’re young, cocky and think you’re tough shit cuz you just deadlifted 500 a few weeks ago. What’s another five pounds? It’s no big deal and not worth getting a good setup or worrying about form, right? It’s hard to believe I used to think this was a great lift.

#8 – 500 lbs – 10.23.09 – Gym Lift

Ah, my first 500-pound deadlift. I can’t believe it’s been almost four years already. It’s a little scary to watch, not just because of the sketchy form, but because of how I got to this point.

The Good

• I still had hair

• I set a goal and reached it

The Bad

• Almost everything

Conclusion: While you can’t fault the enthusiasm, this was a downright ugly deadlift. In fact, if you went out and deadlifted heavy with that form on a regular basis, you’d almost certainly get hurt. Completely stiff-legged, round-backed, no tightness, big hitch, all-around ugly-ass lift.

The funny thing is that I hit my first 500 deadlift without really training for it. What do I mean by that? I mean that I had just read about Westside Barbell and the conjugate method of powerlifting, so I was training like a 300-pound geared powerlifter – dynamic box squats, every bench press variation except the regular one, and no deadlifting more than once a month. Sounds like a good plan for someone pretty new to lifting who needs a lot more deadlifting practice, right?

The lesson from this rep – and the lesson from this entire post – is that YOU NEED TO PRACTICE STRENGTH. Becoming a great lifter is equal parts building muscle and technique mastery. My deadlift struggles between 540 and 545 are living proof that eventually, you can’t outrun subpar form with your strength alone.

WHAT I’VE LEARNED FOUR YEARS LATER

Here’s the cliff notes version of what I’ve learned from re-watching all my PR deadlifts:

• I’m strongest when I pull my lats down, arch my lower back hard and keep my chest up at least a little.
• I round my back too much. Good powerlifters can relax their shoulders and round their upper backs a bit to reduce ROM, but I usually take it too far.
• Sometimes I rush my setup and forget to get tight in lieu of gripping and ripping.
• I have to keep the bar close to my body from the start so I can properly time my “hip thrust” to lock out the weight once the bar clears my knees.
• I make exponentially better progress when I deadlift twice a week.
• Heavy deadlifts feel so much easier when I never pull heavier than 85% of my 1RM during training and never for more than 5 reps. Submaximal training works.
• Speed is king. The faster I pull, the less time there is for things to break down, so it’s important to set up perfectly and hold it before ripping the bar off the floor.
• To continue to get stronger, my form has to get better. Period.

Watching this almost four years later helps me realize how far I’ve come. It’s important to reflect and re-evaluate: Have I improved my form? Have I gotten stronger? Have I reached old goals and set new ones? I’m happy to answer ‘yes’ to all those questions.

If you haven’t already recorded videos of your best lifts, start now. The ability to go back, reflect and critique is invaluable and can help you smash PRs for years to come.