deadlift form Archives | Redefining Strength

Stop Demonizing Exercises! 4 Myths DEBUNKED

by Cori Lefkowith | Apr 28, 2024 | Blog, Exercises, Functional Fitness

The comment section can be…interesting to say the least.

If you spend too much time there, you’ll find out there is only one way to do every move…but no one truly agrees on what that one way is…

But everyone definitely has an opinion. And only THEIR way is the right one.

There are lots of things we’re told will basically destroy us if we do them.

Lots of moves that are demonized and blamed for aches and pains.

But honestly…there really are no “bad” moves…just improper usage and implementation of them.

So often we include moves not right for our specific needs or goals. Moves we haven’t earned.

And then we get injured doing them and demonize them…completely avoiding them.

But what we don’t realize is that by doing this, we put ourselves at greater risk for injury in every day life.

So many moves we do in the gym can be a great way to strengthen muscles and movement patterns essential for everyday life.

It’s why instead of simply avoiding moves, we need to regress to progress and learn to retrain as many movement patterns as possible.

We need to understand why aches and pains and the issues occurred in the first place to find variations of moves we can use to move and feel our best.

The gym should be a place to learn to move well and become functionally fitter so we can be strong and independent till our final day on this planet.

That’s why I want to address some exercises I see demonized and break down how to include them and retrain them, such as deadlifts being bad for your back or squats and lunges being bad for your knees…

Or even jumping and high impact being dangerous for us as we get older!

So first…

#1: Deadlifts Are Bad For Your Back.

Deadlifts are a weighted hip hinge often blamed for lower back pain.

But they are an essential movement pattern we need to all know how to control if we want to avoid throwing out our backs when lifting something up off the ground.

They are often blamed for lower back pain because we aren’t properly engaging our lats to support the weight as we use our glutes and hamstrings to drive the lift.

We aren’t properly bracing and recruiting muscles so our lower back becomes overworked and tries to carry more of the load to lift than it should.

Part of this tendency to overuse and recruit the muscles of our lower back instead of our glutes is due to the fact that far too many of us spend too much time seated at a computer or driving in a car.

Tight hip flexors can result in postural distortions that lead to underactive glutes and synergistic dominance of our hamstrings and anterior pelvic tilt. Which leads to our lower back wanting to work when it shouldn’t.

But it isn’t just tight hips that lead to lower back overload and changes in our recruitment patterns.

It’s also our hunched over posture that can perpetuate the issue.

When we don’t have proper thoracic extension, we are going to seek out mobility from other areas.

In trying to straighten our spine for deadlifts and press our chest out, we may notice we compensate by arching our lower backs. This arch may contribute to more anterior pelvic tilt and perpetuate us not only overusing our lower back but also our hamstrings over our glutes.

So it is key we note our daily postures to address in our mobility work before we needed so we can better activate the correct muscles.

But this is also why we have to notice we are simply leaning forward and not correctly pushing our butt back as we hinge.

And we may especially struggle with a BARBELL deadlift of any kind.

With a barbell deadlift you have to keep the bar basically up against your body as you lift. This means engaging your lats and really pushing the ground away as you drive up to standing.

If you notice the bar drifting away or your butt coming up first as you go to drive up, you’re going to be shifting the load more to your lower back.

Starting out, to change this recruitment pattern and overload, a kettlebell or dumbbell works well as you can hold the weight in the center of your legs and even lower it down and back toward your heels.

But you won’t need to scrape your shins to keep it close and this lowering of the weight down and back can help us remember to hinge over and push our butt back as we lower.

So if you’ve been fearing or avoiding deadlifts due to feeling your lower back, try using a weight you can hold center instead and focus on lowering back toward your heels to help yourself feel your glutes and hamstrings loading!

#2: Sit Ups And Crunches Are Bad For Your Spine.

Your abs power spinal flexion.

Crunches and sit ups are simply that when done correctly – spinal flexion.

Learning to control this move so you can easily sit up from lying down is honestly essential.

So you want to train not only a spinal motion but the muscles that control it.

And these two moves are often great ways to really break down and control this movement without loads as they are more isolated movements, especially the crunch!

Only once you’ve mastered them do you want to move on to more advanced exercises.

Yet so often with sit ups you see people arching their back and relying on their hip flexors alone to sit up and do 100s of reps quickly.

It’s why those ab mats have become so popular.

Use this mat as a band aid to be able to do more reps than you can control properly and use the correct muscles to power.

And THIS is why sit ups end up backfiring in back pain.

NOT the spinal flexion.

But the lack of true ab engagement and ability to even posteriorly pelvic tilt.

The key is making sure you’re actually rounding using your abs to lift in a crunch or sit up.

When you think of doing crunches or sit ups, you should think about exhaling as you roll vertebrae by vertebrae up.

Feel your abs PULLING you up.

And don’t rush it to get in more reps.

If you find yourself struggling to not arch your lower back as you sit up or really use momentum, go back to that basic crunch or even consider a seated hinge.

Learning to control that c curve to your spine as you round back, can help you focus on that spine flexion to engage those abs.

#3: Squats And Lunges Are Bad For Your Knees.

Your knees are MEANT to bend.

And yes, sometimes reducing knee flexion to start is key based on our injuries and aches and pains.

But unless you never plan to sit down again, go up stairs, get into your car or put something in a low cabinet or shelf, you need to learn how to control knee flexion.

Because these are ALL knee flexion!

Practicing squats and lunges in your workouts can help you do just that.

RETRAIN that knee flexion and improve your range of motion in an environment where you can fully control the movement.

It’s why we need to start recognizing our workouts are a chance to learn to move well NOT just burn more calories!

Often squats and lunges cause knee pain because we lack the proper hip or ankle mobility to load muscles correctly and ultimately the knee bares the brunt of it.

While addressing both ankle mobility and hip mobility in our warm ups is key, we can also help avoid this overload by tweaking our form.

This is often why people use the cue, “Don’t let your knees go past your toes.”

A more vertical shin angle on lunging, can help you better load your glutes.

However, it is NOT bad for your knees to go forward and may even be necessary in deep squats based on tibial length.

The key is the loading during this and having the necessary ankle mobility to keep your heels down.

Even purposely having your knee go forward as you lunge can help you really target your quads.

You just need to be able to control this and build up.

So starting with that more vertical shin angle and even limiting your range of motion and instability can be key with both squats and lunges starting out.
If you can’t control the front lunge and keep your weight more centered and knee over your ankle as you are building back from knee pain, try a split squat. This stationary movement reduces the control needed and can help you also improve your hip mobility.

You can also easily control the range of motion you work through and really learn balance.

Same thing can go for the squat. You can control how much knee flexion you work through and the stability demands by just adding a box.

As you can load correctly and control the range of motion, you can always lower the height of the box or fully remove it.

The key is starting with the stability demands and range of motion you can truly CONTROL and then building up.

This brings me to the last thing I often hear demonized especially as we get older….

And that’s #4: High Impact And Jumping.

I’ve even heard clients say they were told not to lift heavy, which is in this same sort of exercise myth vein…

I call them the myths that actually lead to us getting old fast and moving old.

Because exercise is about ability.

You need to meet yourself where you are at due to fitness level, goals, injuries…

But just being a certain age shouldn’t stop you.

And honestly, often when we stop doing the things we did to get strong in the first place, we see decline happen faster.

USE IT OR LOSE IT!

While high impact is not right for everyone, learning to control landing mechanics while also working on power is essential.

There are so many ways to do this.

It is also key we realize where the risk really lies…

It isn’t in jumping up on the box…it’s jumping off of it.

So even just a tweak to include box jumps as part of your explosive work could be to jump up to a low box and STEP off to start.

And to work on landing mechanics to start, we don’t even have to leave the ground.

It can simply be doing a squat to quickly moving up onto our toes to lowering back down.

This learning to absorb impact through that foot motion and knee bend is key.

It can help us avoid injury, especially if you’re ever on a hike and having to step down off a big rock! Or if you slightly trip to catch yourself on a curb or stair.

The more we learn to correctly handle impact and our body mechanics for it, the more we help ourselves avoid risk of injury in every day life!

And that explosive work only further improves our mind-body connection to be able to react and respond quickly.

Stop demonizing moves and just avoiding exercises and movement patterns. Instead see opportunity in modifications to rebuild and retrain as many movements as possible.

Regress to progress and use your workouts as a chance to learn to move your best and develop that functional strength!

For more on form and modifications for these moves, check out the links below…

–> Deadlift Form

–> Squat Form

–> Lunge Form

–> Crunch Form

–> 7 Big Lies About Exercise And Aging

And if this was helpful, I’d love to cover other moves you want to learn more about in a future video. Comment with some moves you’re worried about or have heard people demonize so we can break them down and learn to retrain those movement and recruitment patterns!

The BIGGEST Deadlift Mistakes (No One Talks About)

by Cori Lefkowith | Mar 18, 2021 | Blog, Exercises

The Deadlift – This is personally one of my favorite exercises.

It is a challenging hip hinge movement that works your entire posterior chain or backside.

It is a move that is often demonized and feared for causing lower back aches and pains.

But while this move can be misused and end up resulting in lower back injury, it is actually a key movement pattern to learn to perform correctly if we want to avoid long term back, hip and even knee issues.

That’s why I want to share not only 3 tips to improve your deadlift but also one of the biggest problems I see people encountering when trying to recruit muscles correctly to perform this posterior chain move…

They think of this move as a PULL instead of focusing on the PUSH to initiate the lift.

And that focus on the deadlift as a pull is often what results in us overloading our lower backs instead of correctly bracing our abs and using our hamstrings and glutes to initiate the movement of the bar off the ground.

Instead of thinking about pulling the bar up off the ground, next time you set up to deadlift, think about PUSHING the ground away with your legs.

While a seemingly simply change in how we cue ourselves to do this move, this can change the entire sequencing of how we recruit muscles to perform the movement.

Think about it this way…

When you step up to the bar and think, “I have to pull this off the ground,” you may hinge at the hips to sink down to the bar and grab it, but your innate response is to then start to tug with your upper body and arms.

This often results in mistakes like the bar drifting away from our shins, us not engaging our lats to lock everything in, rounding of the thoracic and lumbar spine, not to mention our butt rising up far too quickly, resulting in what is often called the stripper deadlift.

This can all lead to over use of our back instead of our glutes being a driver of the lift.

This simple miscue in how to initiate the move can be the culprit of our improper recruitment patterns and result in compensations and injury,

When we instead focus first on this move as a PUSH, our attention shifts to our foot’s connection with the ground and the use of our legs to initiate the movement.

It allows us to create and maintain the upper body tension we need to hold the bar while focusing on the movement coming from our lower body.

So next time you step up to the bar, don’t think about pulling the bar off the ground. Focus instead on PUSHING the ground away with your legs!

Now what are 3 other tips to improve your deadlift so you can rock this amazing lift?

Tip #1: Don’t be married to one deadlift variation.

I LOVE….did I say LOVE!? The barbell sumo deadlift. Honestly if I could only do one move the rest of my life, that move would be it.

BUT as much as I love the barbell sumo deadlift, this is not the only deadlift variation I use personally or with all of my clients.

Not every deadlift variation will be right for us and our build and previous injuries.

And different variations may suit our needs and goals as they change over time.

Not only may we use different stances, different amounts of knee flexion and even different starting positions to activate muscles to different extents, but we may change up the equipment we use to load the moves down and provide resistance.

The key is using the hip hinge movement in a way that addresses our needs and goals instead of getting caught up in one version being the “best” or “right” way to do things.

If you have slightly longer legs?

You may find the sumo stance works better for you.

Whereas if you want to target your back in general a bit more? You may choose to do the conventional deadlift.

Or if you want to place an emphasis on working your hamstrings?

Maybe you do a Romanian Deadlift.

If you’re just starting out with deadlifting?

Maybe you use a kettlebell instead of a barbell. The kettlebell can be a great tool to use to learn how to hip hinge correctly.

It’s easier to set the kettlebell back between your feet to properly load your glutes during the deadlift whereas there is more risk with the barbell variation of it drifting forward in your efforts to protect your shins, which can lead to lower back overload.

You can even do band deadlifts or unilaterally loaded deadlifts to create more tension at the top of the move where the glutes are stronger or focus more on your core strength, creating an even anti-rotational element to the move.

The point is, there are so many different variations of this amazing hip hinge movement you can use to get the most out of the exercise and even use the move as its own accessory lift!

Tip #2: Create tension before you lift.

Bracing is key if you want to protect your lower back.

But it’s not just about bracing your abs and creating tension there when it comes to the deadlift.

While you want to engage your abs as if you’re about to be punched in the gut to help protect your lower back as well as exhale during exertion in the lift, you want to make sure you create tension in a few different places BEFORE you even attempt to move the bar off the ground.

This helps make sure that muscles work efficiently together.

Too often we see rounding of our back occurring because we lose tension or haven’t properly engaged before starting the lift.

Next time you set up to deadlift, think about your foot placement on the ground. Think about driving the two points in the ball of your foot and one in your heel down hard into the ground.

As you hinge and grab the bar, engage your lats and depress your shoulder blades so your shoulders feel locked in.

Even think about both hands fully wrapping around to grab the bar so that each finger has that connection.

Then create that tension not only down into the ground but also through the bar. While you won’t lift the bar, you want to think about removing any “slack” from your arms so that everything is locked in.

By creating this tension, you can then use your body as a lever to lift by driving the ground away.

While this sounds like a lot of things to focus on, the engagement will become natural over time.

But using this little checklist to set up when you’re learning can help you make sure you’re creating tension in the right areas to use muscles efficiently to lift.

Part of strength is using muscles efficiently together.

Tip #3: Remember every lift is PRACTICE.

Every time we deadlift, we are practicing the movement pattern.

And what we do consistently becomes habit.

Therefore improper form during our “practice” will lead to us consistently implementing improper form and recruitment patterns as we progress.

That can result in us not only not progressing as far as we’d like in terms of lifting more with this amazing move, but it can also result in overload which eventually results in injury.

It’s why, as hard as it is to check our ego, at points we need to regress to progress.

While there will be some form break down when you’re an experienced lifter testing those limits and attempting one rep max work, you need to remember that when you hit that compensation point, it’s key to then address those weak links.

Sometimes you have to lower the loads and go back to basics. You have to use accessory lifts to work on strengthening muscles or components of the movement.

Sometimes you even need to use other deadlift variations to help you build up.

Progress is never linear, and we have to remember that no matter how advanced we are, each lift is practice and teaches us things we need to go back and work on.

SUMMARY:

The deadlift is an amazing hip hinge movement to strengthen your entire backside.

Learning how to perform this movement correctly and control it can often be the key to even avoiding back aches and pains in the future.

Start focusing on that push away to drive the movement while using these 3 tips to help tailor this amazing move to fit your needs and goals!

What is your favorite deadlift variation?

How To Deadlift With Proper Form And The Right Variation For You!

by Cori Lefkowith | Sep 5, 2017 | Blog, Butt, Core, Exercises, Functional Fitness

I LOVE the deadlift. It is an amazing compound movement to target your posterior chain aka your entire backside.

But it is also a more complicated move than we give it credit for. And there are a ton of variations to choose from.

First let’s discuss WHY you should use the deadlift. Then we’ll review form and breakdown the conventional deadlift before explaining what variations to use and how to use them!

So Why Use The Deadlift In Your Workouts?

Deadlifts are ESSENTIAL to include because they:

Are a compound move that works numerous muscle groups at once.
Are a hip hinge exercise to train a functional movement pattern
Work your backside to reverse the constant flexion we sit in or walk in as we text all day.
Work on hip extension to strengthen our glutes to help us run faster and lift more.

Because deadlifts are a compound exercise, you work more muscles at once.

This not only helps you build functional strength because muscles have to work together to perform a movement, but it also helps you burn more calories in less time because more muscles are working at once. And compound moves that use the large muscles of our body, also allow us to lift MORE weight!

And on top of being a compound movement, the deadlift is a hip hinge exercise that works our posterior chain AKA our BACKSIDE!

What is a hip hinge?

It is a movement that loads your posterior chain when you hinge, aka flex your hips, to push your butt back then extend your hips to stand tall using your glutes. It is a functional move we need to do every day to reach down to the ground to pick things up…like a DEADLIFT!

The problem with this functional hip hinge exercise?

All too many people do incorrectly.

They simply lean forward without loading their posterior chain. Or they turn it into a squat.

Or they recruit their low back and hamstrings to do work their GLUTES should be doing.

So how do you deadlift properly to get the benefits of the deadlift and really work your backside?

How To Deadlift With Proper Form:

The most important thing you can ask someone is, “Where do you feel working?”

And with the deadlift, they can answer “upper back.” Or “glutes.” Or even “hamstring.” Actually all of the above. Especially their glutes.

However, the one place they shouldn’t feel acting as the prime mover is their low back. Which honestly too often is!

So how do you do the deadlift properly?

There are three things I think are key:

Think about pushing the ground away with your feet INSTEAD of lifting the bar off the ground.
Push your butt back to hinge over don’t just lean forward.
Squeeze your butt hard at the top!

Thinking about these 3 things, here’s how to break down the Conventional Barbell Deadlift or the traditional or main deadlift variation.

To do a Conventional Barbell Deadlift, set a barbell up in front of you. Walk up to the center of the bar with your feet parallel and about hip-width apart. Set up so your shins are right up against the bar. You do not want the bar to drift away from your legs or you risk loading your low back.

Hinge at the hips, pushing your butt back as you reach to grab the bar just outside your shins. Your knees should be soft as you push your butt back to grab the bar, keeping your back flat.

Think about engaging your lats and upper back to keep your spine flat. Traditional form will tell you to keep your head in line with your spine and look out on the ground in front of you. Powerlifting form will often tell you to look up to help you pull up. Choose the one that feels most comfortable without straining anything weird.

With your arms straight and core engaged, put tension on the bar. Then drive through your feet, pushing the ground away to lift the bar up off the ground. Exhale as you lift, “dragging” the bar up your shins to stand up.

At the top, stand tall and squeeze your glutes to fully extend your hips. Don’t lean back at the top or arch your back. Squeeze your butt, then lower back down. Keep the bar close to your body as you lower. Control the decent so you don’t drop the bar, but don’t eccentrically lower.

Once you touch the ground, you can either perform a quick rep without pausing or you can completely release at the bottom and repeat.

The key is really to keep that bar close to your shin, drive the ground away and even use your breathing to engage your core. Do NOT try to squat or simply lean or round over. Keep tension through your upper back and engage your lats. And sit your butt back, hinging at the hips.

Your knees should be soft, but your exact knee bend will be dependent on your mobility. Do NOT actively bend your knees and turn this into a squat though!

So what if you aren’t comfortable with the barbell? What if you’re a beginner? Or what if you want to target different muscles and challenge your body with a new variation?

Check out these deadlift variations below!

Deadlift Variations And When To Use Them:

There are so many great variations of the deadlift you can use to regress and progress the movement and even change up exactly what you’re working or use different tools that you may have available.

Yes, it will always be posterior chain, but you can isolate each glute, add in more adductor or even engage your hamstrings or core more.

Because the deadlift is a more technical move, there are a few ways I like to teach the deadlift and hip hinge movement WITHOUT the barbell.

Three versions of the deadlift I like to use with beginners are:

The Bodyweight Wall Hinge
The Band Hinge
The Kettlebell Conventional Deadlift

I’ve found these three deadlift variations to be an easier way to teach and train the hip hinge movement so that people learn to load their glutes and posterior chain instead of just leaning forward or engaging their low backs.

Here’s how to perform each and why each can be a great training tool.

The Bodyweight Wall Hinge – When you are first learning a movement, it is key to start with your own bodyweight. If you can’t do the move without a load, you haven’t earned adding a weight. Remember you need to EARN the weight and more advanced variations. No point in doing something if it won’t be quality. Hard for hard sake won’t get you results!

So the Bodyweight Wall Hinge is great for beginners because it helps them learn the hip hinge and deadlift movement without any weight. This allows them to focus on feeling the right muscles working. And by using the wall as a guide, you can learn to load your glutes and push your butt back.

To do the Bodyweight Wall Hinge, stand in front of a wall facing away. You want to stand between 3-6 inches away from the wall so as you hinge over, you can use the wall as a guide to help you push your butt back. AKA you want to hinge over and touch your butt to the wall. This will prevent you from simply leaning forward.

Stand nice and tall facing away from the wall. Then hinge at the hips, pushing your butt back to touch the wall. Keep your knees soft as you hinge over and your back flat. Then drive through your feel to come back up to standing tall. Squeeze your glutes at the top to extend your hips. Don’t lean or arch back though.

Then hinge back over again, pushing your butt back to touch the wall. The wall is a great training tool to teach yourself to push your butt back and load your posterior chain. I even sometimes use it as a reminder with clients as they add a load, especially with Good Mornings.

The Band Hinge – A resistance band is another great training tool to help you remember to load your glutes. And it also adds some resistance to really get those glutes burning. This variation, while a great way to regress for the beginner, is also still an important move for advanced lifters because it really activates those glutes.

It’s great for glute activation, teaching the hip hinge for deadlift and reminding people that, while the Conventional Deadlift means some knee bend, it is NOT a squat! It also teaches you to “push the ground away” to power the hip extension against the band.

To do the Band Hinge, anchor a band or loop behind you and step into the band, bringing it right up below your hips. Walk away from the anchor point so that there is tension in the band and stand with your feet about hip-width to shoulder-width apart. The more the band tries to pull you back (aka the further out you walk), the harder the move will be.

Then hinge over, allowing the band to pull your butt back toward the anchor point. Bend your knees slightly as you push your butt back to help load your glutes and keep you from flying back with the band.

Then explosively drive your hips forward to come back up to standing. You may lean slightly forward against the band, but you want to explosively stand up and drive your hips forward against the band, contracting your glutes as you do.

Stand up tall and squeeze your glutes then quickly hinge back over before repeating. This should be a quicker move and you should really focus on loading your glutes as you hinge over and then on quickly driving your hips into extension as you stand back up, squeezing your glutes hard at the top.

Do not lean back or arch your back as you stand up. Also, make sure you don’t lock out your legs OR squat to much as you hinge over. Make sure there is tension in the band even as you hinge over.

The Kettlebell Conventional Deadlift – The third deadlift variation I like to use to help teach the deadlift is the single kettlebell Conventional Deadlift. This is a great way to load down the hip hinge, but teach people to really sit their butt back instead of just squatting down.

With the barbell Conventional Deadlift, we can often struggle with keeping the bar back against our shins and legs. And this can cause us to load our low back. Because we can have a tendency to let the bar drift away, it can be a struggle to sit back and load our glutes and even drive the ground away when we are first learning.

This is why I like to often use the kettlebell instead of the barbell when someone is first starting out. The fact that you can place the kettlebell back between your legs and toward your heels can really help ingrain the proper hip hinge movement and proper loading of the glutes.(BONUS: I even find that often the height of the kettlebell can help prevent people from wanting to squat as much.)

To do the Kettlebell Conventional Deadlift, place a kettlebell in between your feet as you stand with your feet about hip-width to shoulder-width apart. Your feet should be parallel and the kettlebell should be back by your heels.

Then sit your butt back and hinge at the hips so you can reach and grab the kettlebell handle. Your knees will be soft so you can load your glutes. Engage your lats as you grab the weight and keep your back flat.

Then drive the ground away as you lift the weight up. Stand up nice and tall and squeeze your glutes at the top. Then sit your butt back as you hinge at the hips to drop the weight back toward your heels.

Make sure you don’t reach out or lower the weight out in front of you. Really make sure to lower the kettlebell back down toward your heels. You don’t want to just lean over or let your back round. Load your glutes and sit your butt back, bending your knees to allow yourself to load your glutes. Do not lock out your legs.

Along with these three basic variations to really learn the hip hinge movement and even return to basics to make sure your foundation is strong (yes I LOVE using the Band Hinge even with my most advanced lifters), there are a variety of deadlift variations you can use to target your posterior chain in different ways and even work your core and balance.

Single Leg Deadlift – The Single Leg Deadlift is a must-do move for beginners and advanced lifters alike. It is an essential move to include because it will not only work your posterior chain and train the hip hinge, but it will also improve your core stability and balance.

It is also key because it is a unilateral exercise, which means it will work each side individually and help correct any imbalances. Aka if you have a stronger and weaker side, this allows you to make sure both sides are working and strong!

Beginners can start by doing more of a staggered stance deadlift or even a deadlift with one foot down on a slider. Once your balance improves, you’ll want to do the full Single Leg Deadlift.

To do the Single Leg Deadlift, you can use kettlebells, dumbbells or a barbell. You can even unilaterally load the move down to make it even more challenging for your core and your balance.

To do the basic move with bodyweight, start standing on both legs. Lightly touch one toe on the ground as you shift your weight onto the other leg. Begin to then hinge over, lifting your raised leg toward the wall behind you. Push your butt back and even slightly bend the knee of the standing leg to load your glutes.

You do not want to squat, but you want to soften your knee to push your butt back and load your glutes. As you hinge at the hips, don’t let your raised leg swing way open and don’t simply lean forward. Really focus on loading that standing glute as you feel your hamstring as well.

Keep your back flat and hips as square to the ground as possible. Do not worry about straightening the raised leg if it makes your hips rotate open.

Then driving through your standing foot, come back up to standing tall. You may tap your toe at the top, but do not use your other leg to help you come back up to standing. Stand tall and straighten your standing leg as you contract and squeeze your glute at the top. Really feel your hamstring and glute work to help you come back up to standing.

Then hinge back over and repeat. Make sure you don’t round toward the ground. When you add weights, you’ll want to think about dropping the weights down and back toward your standing heel to help you sit back. You’ll also need to engage your lats and upper back to support the weights.

Do not let your low back take over and make sure to brace your core. Complete all reps on one side before switching. Remember if you are starting out and balance is an issue, use a staggered stance, slider or even no weight to start.

Good Mornings and Straight Leg Deadlifts – The Deadlift is a posterior chain exercise and your glutes are definitely the prime mover, HOWEVER, you can make the deadlift focus and work different muscles to different extents. One great Deadlift Variation to really work your hamstrings, is the Straight Leg Deadlift. And when you make it a front-loaded move like the Good Morning, you force your abs and core to work even harder!

To do the Straight Leg Deadlift, you can use barbells, kettlebells, sandbags, dumbbells or even resistance bands. I even like front-loading it down for the Good Morning variation. If you front-load the movement, hold a sandbag up at your chest cradled in your arms. You’ll wrap your arms around the bag and then pull it into your chest engaging your upper back to support it. Stand tall with your feet about hip-width apart.

Then, bracing your abs, hinge over at the hips, pushing your butt back as you keep your back flat. Feel your hamstrings and glutes loading as you hinge over. You will want to very slightly bend or soften your knees to help you push your butt back, but do not turn this into a squat.

After hinging over, drive back up to standing, pushing through your feet as you squeeze your glutes at the top. Do not rock forward, but instead drive straight up. Keep your abs engaged and do not round over.

Stand up nice and tall and squeeze your glutes, then hinge back over and repeat. Do not simply lean forward. You will want to keep your legs straighter but NOT lock out your knees.

Sumo – The Sumo Deadlift is another great variation if you want to target your legs a bit more and even get your adductors working. For some, this deadlift variation even allows them to lift heavier weights than the other variations. However, because of the wide stance, you will want to make sure to take care of your hips as the external rotation and wide stance can occasionally be hard on them.

To the Sumo Deadlift, beginners can start with a kettlebell just like they did for the Conventional Deadlift. You can also use a sandbag, dumbbells or even a barbell.

For the Barbell Sumo Deadlift, set your feet wider than shoulder-width with your toes turned out slightly and your shins against the barbell. Reach down and grab the bar between your legs about hip-width apart. Hinge at the hips as you bend your knees to sit your butt back and grab the bar. Keep your back flat and engage your lats and upper back to support the tension on the bar. Make sure your knees are in line with your ankles and hips. You do not want your knees caving in with the wide stance.

Then driving up through your heels, come back up to standing. Think more about pushing the ground away than on picking the bar up. You won’t want to lose tension in your upper body as you initiate the pull so it can help to think about pushing the ground away. This can also help you focus on using your legs and glutes.

Drive all the way up to standing tall and squeeze your glutes at the top. You do not want to lean back, but you do fully want to extend your hips. Then begin to lower the bar back down, siting your butt back as you hinge over to return it to the ground. Stay in control of the bar, but do not turn this into a slow eccentric lower down.

Make sure to keep the bar close to your body the entire time to make sure you are using your posterior chain to lift!

Unilateral Loads – With all of these great deadlift variations, you can also change how you load the move. From making the Conventional Deadlift a bit easier for beginners by using kettlebells to even making moves harder and more core intense by front loading OR even adding a unilateral load.

Unilateral loading is a great way to work on anti-rotational core strength and stability. It allows you to add weight, but make your core work even harder to stay balanced. Because you are adding weight on only one side though, make sure your core is ready for the challenge of fighting your body’s urge to compensate and rotate or you risk injury.

To unilaterally load down any variation, you can simply hold a kettlebell, sandbag or dumbbell in one hand. For the Single Leg Deadlift, you can hold it in the same or the opposite hand from your standing leg and for the conventional, you can hold it like a suitcase outside one side. Just make sure to do reps holding the weight on each side.

All of these moves can be used in your programming to work your posterior chain and strengthen those glutes. Make sure to pick variations that target your specific goals and don’t hesitate to mix things over progressions to not only challenge your body, but even focus on your weaker areas!

For even more coaching cues, tips and variations, check out my Mastery Series – Deadlift Edition!

Squats Vs. Deadlift – What’s the Difference and Which is Better?

by Cori Lefkowith | May 1, 2015 | Blog, Exercises, Vs.

Chances are you’ve heard you need to include the Squat or the Deadlift, or maybe even both, in your workout routine if you want to develop strong legs and glutes.

And both are truly great compound moves that not only strengthen your legs and glutes but also your entire core.

But what is the difference between the Squat and the Deadlift?

Should you use one over the other or can both be included in your workout routine? And if you include both when do you use them?

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