by Boris Sheiko

translated by Alexei Tarnopolski

From August 12th to 24th I was taking part in a tour of seminars in five US cities: Atlanta GA, Ashland OH, Columbia SC, Boston MA and New York. All seminars had theory and practice parts. We also carried out 4 group training sessions. During practice parts and training sessions we defined the most common mistakes in competition exercises technique.

You can also read  articles about Squat and Bench press. Part 1 and Part 2

 

Deadlift mistakes:

• Lowering of the head.
• Suboptimal starting position.
• Incorrect breathing.
• Abruptly tearing the barbell off the platform – “grip and rip.”
• Premature straightening of the legs.

 

• Lowering of the head.

Holding the head in a lowered position often results in increased rounding of the back.

Recommendation.

The head should always be raised. Select a point on a wall that you may comfortably fixate on with proper head position. Fixating your gaze will aid retaining your head in the correct position.

• Suboptimal starting position.

Holding your hips overly low or overly high. An overly low hip position increases the difficulty of breaking the floor, an overly high hip position causes the majority of the load to be shifted to the back muscles. Optimal hip position is slightly above parallel.

Shoulder position in relation to the barbell:

• Shoulders being positioned more than 2-3cm in front of the barbell results in system’s centre of mass being shifted towards the lifter’s toes.
• Shoulders being positioned behind the barbell results in the system’s centre of mass being shifted towards the lifter’s heels. The centre of mass should be in line with the lifter’s midfoot.

 

• Incorrect breathing.

Some athletes perform 3-4 deadlift repetitions on one large breath. Movements relating power and speed are most effective when the breath is held for a short period of time (i.e. “tightening”) (I.M. Seropegin, 1965). Furthermore, it was found that deadlift strength was maximized during the athlete tightening themselves with their lungs filled to ¾ of vital capacity.

Recommendation.

In the starting position, prior to lifting the barbell, perform a shallow breath, and perform the movement while holding it. Release the air as the movement is being completed. A shallow breath is to be taken prior to every single repetition.

• Abrupt tearing of the barbell off the platform.

Breaking the floor with an abrupt jerk lead to a loss of control over the barbell. The barbell may lead the lifter forward, shifting the centre of mass of the system towards the lifter’s toes, resulting in relative relaxation of the back muscles which may lead to injury. On a deadlift bar this mistake may lead to more grievous effects.

Recommendation.

The deadlift must be performed as a uniformly accelerated motion. The lifter should try to complete the movement as fast as possible, but without jerks or stalls, or variations in acceleration. The barbell should be accelerated, thus, initially it should be pulled slowly, then slowly accelerated towards the middle of its amplitude.

 

• Premature straightening of the legs.

Premature straightening of the legs leads to the barbell moving forward away from the lifter, and shifting the system’s centre of mass towards the lifter’s toes.

Recommendation.

To fix this mistake, I recommend the following two exercises:

• Paused competition deadlift, with the pause 5-10cm below and above the knees.
• Competition deadlift, with each repetition stopping several centimetres above the floor.