4 WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR DEADLIFT OFF THE FLOOR
Many people consider the deadlift to be the purest test of strength. The deadlift tests the strength of your entire body, but especially your posterior chain. If you find you are moving the bar slowly off the floor, read on for some tips and tricks on improving this first motion of the deadlift.
Many people consider the deadlift to be the purest test of strength. With no eccentric phase, there is no stretch reflex to help you move the weight through the concentric phase. It's simply a test of strength and of willpower. The deadlift tests the strength of your entire body, but especially your posterior chain. The deadlift appears deceptively simple. You're just picking up weight from the floor, right? It is actually a complex symphony of movement and leverages. While a thorough breakdown of the deadlift's technical aspects is outside the scope of today's article, I do hope to help you develop one particular part of the deadlift. While I covered weak lockout in another article, today we will be looking at trouble moving the bar from the floor. If you find you are moving the bar slowly off the floor, read on for some tips and tricks on improving this first motion of the deadlift.
If you are weak off the floor, there are 2 main culprits
1. Strength
2. Mental preparation
We will look at each in turn.
Strength
Assuming that you are more or less technically sound in your movement, the first thing we will want to consider is how to strengthen our deadlift. If we are slow off the floor, we will want to consider three main types of assistance work: deficit deadlifts, upper back work, and speed deadlifts.
1. Deficit Deadlifts
To incorporate deficit deadlifts into your training program, you'll need some rubber mats to stand on. If you don't have access to rubber mats, you can use 45lbs plates though this is less ideal. I would recommend starting with a 2" deficit though personally, I have used up to a 4" deficit in training. The deficit deadlift over emphasizes the bottom portion of the lift and puts the lifter at a disadvantageous angle to begin the lift. Essentially you are making the bottom portion of the lift harder than it usually is when performing your competition lift. By performing deficit deadlifts, you are explicitly targeting the weak part of your lift, thereby putting increased stress on the muscle groups responsible for this portion of the lift.
2. Develop the Upper Back
You may be having a hard time breaking the weight off the floor due to a lack of development in the upper back. This is easy to diagnose. Take a video of yourself performing near your 1 rep max weight (90%+); if you notice your back rounding on the lift, this signals a lack of upper back development. My favorite exercise for upper back development is the chest-supported row. Though barbell rows and dumbbell rows are also great for developing the upper back.
3. Speed Deadlifts
Last but certainly not least is the development of speed-strength. That is one's ability to create optimal levels of force quickly. To move an object against gravity, one must be able to exert an equal and opposite force to gravity. That is to say, if one is attempting to deadlift 600lbs, then 600lbs or more of force must be applied to the bar to move it in the opposite direction. In physics, force is equal to mass times acceleration ( F=MA). Therefore when we are developing speed-strength, we are working on the acceleration side of the equation. Speed deadlifts are performed at submaximal weights for maximal speed. Bar weights of 45%-55% of one's 1rm are optimal for the development of speed-strength.
Mental Preparation
One of the most challenging elements of the deadlift is that it always hurts. I don't mean hurts in the sense of an injury, but it taxes the body to such an extent that working at or near one's 1 rep max is always going to be uncomfortable. This fact needs to be accepted and embraced. Some lifters do their best work from a heightened state of arousal. They use smelling salts, slaps on the backs, and loud music to get in the right headspace to perform a lift. While other lifters do their best work from a much more relaxed state of arousal. You need to determine which one you are and act accordingly. One thing cannot be argued, however. You need to be in the right mindset to pull off a new PR in the deadlift.
See you in the gym,
Rob Campbell
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