9 Ways to Break Through Any Deadlift Plateau Once And for All StrongLifts

9 Ways to Break Through Any Deadlift Plateau Once And for All StrongLifts

Apr 20th, 2011 by Mehdi |

The Deadlift is the most important exercise next to the Squat. But nothing is more frustrating than plateauing on the same weight over & over. Worse even is when the weight you Deadlifted past workout for 5 reps suddenly doesn't even want to budge the floor. Maybe you've also experienced this on Deadlifts.

Good news - here are 9 surefire strategies that I've used to break through any Deadlift plateau and pull 500lb raw at 165lb body-weight.

1. Deadlift More. The fastest way to boost your Deadlift is to Deadlift more. You don't need to add assistance exercises, you don't require extra posterior chain work, and you don't have to pull against bands. All those things definitely have their place but not until you reach at least 400lb on Deadlifts.
Why? Because technique is the real secret to gaining strength, on every single exercise. Don't take my word for it, here's a quote from the "Michael Jordan of Powerlifting," world class Deadlifter Ed Coan who pulled 900lb...

The deadlift is the number one technique lift. If you don’t have technique in the deadlift, you just can’t muscle it up.

Deadlifting more does NOT mean that you should now do 5x5 instead of 1x5. It only means don't skip your Deadlifts to do other exercises. Just deload if you get stuck, and use the lighter weights to improve your technique.

2. Master Deadlift Technique. Another quote, this one by elite Powerlifter Dave Tate: "The stronger you get, the more important technique becomes, and one inch can make the biggest difference in the world". Technique is the number one thing you should look at when you get stuck on Deadlifts. Some pointers:

• Don't Pull - Push. You have to use your hip muscles. Deadlift by driving through your heels, push your hips forward once the bar reaches knee level, and lock the weight by squeezing your glutes hard at the top.
• Don't Squat - Deadlift. Deadlifts are NOT Squats, your hips have to be higher to pull big weights and so you don't hit your shins on each rep. Raise your hips so your shoulder-blades end up over the bar.
• Use Your Legs. Your hips should be higher than when your Squat, but not too high otherwise your lower back will be doing all the work. Read this article to find the correct hip position depending on your build.

Don't use the mirror to fix your Deadlift technique - your hips will usually end too low. Instead ask someone for feedback or just tape yourself.

3. Strengthen Your Grip. It doesn't matter if your legs/back have the strength to Deadlift the weight. If your hand can't hold the barbell, it will obviously never leave the floor. The 3 keys to a stronger grip? a) white knuckling b) chalk c) the mixed grip. Read 7 Ways to Build Massive Grip Strength for more tips.

4. Warm-up Properly. Some guys don't warm-up at all which is not only asking for injuries, it also doesn't let you practice Deadlift form. Others are so afraid of getting hurt that they waste energy doing a gazillion of warm-up sets.

• Wrong: 5x135lb - 5x180lb - 5x205lb - 5x215lb - 5x225lb - 5x235lb
• Correct: 5x135lb - 5x180lb - 5x205lb - 5x235lb

Get it? Add 25-50lb on each set until you reach your work weight. Even better is to decrease the reps as your warm-up sets go by (5 -> 4 -> 3 -> 2 -> 1x5). But since some guys can't live with doing only 1x5 Deadlifts, 5 reps on the warm-up sets gives you more volume without messing recovery and causing plateaus.

5. Eat More. David Ricks owns the raw world Deadlift record in the 165lb weight class since 1990 - 672lb. Compare with Konstantinov's 939lb Deadlift record @ 308lb. This 267lb difference illustrates an obvious point: if you want to Deadlift heavy weights, you will have to gain weight. Not just because bigger muscles are stronger but because weighing 161lb at 6'0" is bad leverages. Eat more.

6. Pull Faster. The faster you lift, the more muscles fibers you'll recruit and the more weight you'll pull. Lifting fast is NOT cheating, nor is it dangerous or bad for your joints as long as you control the bar and use proper technique. Proof of this is that all Olympic lifters pull explosively yet they have low rates of injury.

Accelerate the bar from the floor as fast as you can. Way down should be under control but not slow. Don't worry if the bar speed decreases as the weight goes up - just apply as much force to the barbell as you can. You have to pull your warm-up sets fast to be quick on your work sets, so don't be lazy about this.

7. Sleep More. Nothing wrong with sleeping 6h/night if it happens only once in a while, plenty of StrongLifts Members have set Deadlift PRs on little sleep. But chronic sleep deprivation is obviously terrible. One, it hurts recovery (your body releases strength building hormones when you sleep). Two, it kills motivation.

An average of 8 hours of sleep per night is vital for optimal strength gains, and many people believe the hours before midnight count double. If you got trouble falling asleep: stop watching TV and working on your computer the hour before you go to bed, and wake up consistently at the same time every day.

8. Stretch Your Hips. Spending 8h/day or more behind a computer like I do will tighten your hips. You'll have a hard time engaging your glutes during Deadlifts which can turn you weak at lockout and hurt your lower back. Stretch your hip flexors with warrior lunges and do supine bridges to activate your glutes.

9. Wear a Belt. Breathing into your belly and pushing against the belt with your abs increases intra-abdominal pressure. This is why you can easily break your Deadlift plateau and add 30lb to your max almost instantly by wearing a belt.

Get a 4" wide, 10mm thick, single prong belt like the Inzer Forever version that I own (don't be a cheapskate, you only buy this once). Just don't start wearing it on every single set, I only start wearing it from my last warm-up set onwards.

Finally, do not let it become mental. If you keep hitting the same plateau - stop. Deload, add weight slowly but steady, and focus on technique and speed until you're back at your past plateau. Just don't get lost with advanced techniques, you can achieve a 400lb Deadlift by Deadlifting solely. Always keep it simple.

More Free Deadlift Tips. Sign-up to my free Deadlift newsletter with free tips to double your Deadlift without injuring your lower back. You'll receive a Deadlift video as a free welcome gift and then free Deadlift tips by email every couple of days. To get the free video and tips, click here.

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13 Deadlift Mistakes - StrongLifts

13 Deadlift Mistakes That Make You Look Really Stupid StrongLifts

Mar 23rd, 2011 by Mehdi |

Proper technique on Deadlifts is crucial to lift big weights, gain muscle and avoid injuries. Yet there are guys who have been Deadlifting for 5 years and who are still making dumb mistakes, waiting for an injury to happen. Worse, these guys pass on bad Deadlift advice to new lifters who don't know the difference.

Here are 13 Deadlift mistakes, including many I made when I began Deadlifting a decade ago, that you better avoid.

1. Doing Deadlifts Top-Down. By walking the weight back out of the Rack, and doing each rep top-down as it was a Squat or Bench Press. Why do you think it's called a DEADlift? Because you're supposed to start from the floor.

2. Not Hitting The Floor on Each Rep. By doing Deadlifts from the safety pins of your Power Rack (these are Rack Pulls) or by not touching the floor on each rep (Romanian Deadlift-style). Either way, this mistake is like not hitting parallel on Squats or not touching your chest on the Bench Press: you're doing partials.
Some Deadlift bouncing the weight up, others let it rest for a second, but the bar should always touch the floor between reps. Again, it's called DEADlifts.

3. Wearing Gloves. Gloves add inches to the bar which kills your grip strength. Worse, they don't prevent callus formation anyway. What will: Deadlifting with a correct grip - bar NOT in the middle of your hand, but close to your fingers - and using chalk (if your gym doesn't allow it, get an eco ball).

4. Rolling Your Shoulders. Guaranteed way to wreck your shoulders. Never roll them at the top of your Deadlifts. Just pull the weight from the floor, lock your hips & knees, and keep your shoulders back & down. If you want bigger traps, increase your Deadlift and eat more so you actually gain weight.

5. Standing Too Wide. Deadlifts are NOT Squats. If your stance is too wide, your legs will get in the way of your arms on each rep. You could Deadlift with a wider grip, but then you'll have to pull the bar higher which makes the same weight more challenging. Simply narrow your stance to give your arms room.

6. Starting With Your Hips Too Low. You'll keep hitting your shins and the bar will end up too much in front of your body (which is more stressful on your lower back and less effective for strength). Again, Deadlifts are NOT Squats - start with your hips higher so your shoulder-blades are directly over the bar.

7. Hitting Your Knees. If you break your knees too early on the way down, you will hit them (which obviously hurts) and the bar will end up too far in front of your body for your next rep (see #6). Lower the weight by pushing your hips back first and only bend your legs once the bar reaches knee level.

8. Curling The Weight. Starting with flexed elbows and then straightening them right before you pull is useless - there's no way you're ever going to curl what you can Deadlift unless your work weight is too light. Keep your elbows locked by squeezing your triceps so you don't end up ripping your biceps tendon.

9. Deadlifting In Running Shoes. Any shoe with air or gel filling doesn't work for Deadlifts because its sole is compressible - it's unstable, causes power loss, and messes with your technique. Get shoes with hard soles like Chuck Taylor's or Deadlift barefoot like I do (closer to the ground = more weight).

10. Looking Up. Usually to check your Deadlift technique in the front mirror. Problems: your hips will end up too low (see #6), you can twist your neck, and the mirror only gives info about the front plane. Stop looking in the mirror, keep your head inline with your torso and check your technique by taping yourself.

11. Pulling Instead of Pushing. Deadlifts are a pull, but since you have to use your hip muscles it's better to think of them as a push. So instead of pulling all the weight with your back, push through your heels, force your hips forward once the bar reaches knee level, and squeeze your glutes at the top.

12. Hyperextending Your Back. Repeatedly leaning back at the top is as bad as Deadlifting with a round lower back - you will get a hernia. And unless you're competing and want to make sure that the judges see you locked the weights, there's no need to lean back. Just stand tall with locked hips and knees, done.

13. Stiff-legging The Weight. Starting with your hips sky-high, the opposite of mistake #6. This, a Stiff-legged Deadlift, is more stressful on your lower back and less effective for strength because you're not using your legs. Deadlift with your hips lower so your shoulder-blades end up over the bar.
Finally, do not waste your energy worrying about what other guys in your gym are doing. If they ask you for advice, give it. If not, mind your own business and lead by example by making sure that you're Deadlifting with proper technique.

More Free Deadlift Tips. Sign-up to my free Deadlift newsletter with free tips to double your Deadlift without injuring your lower back. You'll receive a Deadlift video as a free welcome gift and then free Deadlift tips by email every couple of days. To get the free video and tips, click here.

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Best Lift for Weight Gain : Deadlift

king Lift for Weight Gain : Deadlift

Benefits of Deadlifting

Muscle Efficiency. The beauty of deadlifting is that it provides maximum muscle stimulation with minimum movement.


Releases Growth Hormones and Testosterone. Like the squat, this exercise releases growth hormones and testosterone when done because of its incredible intensity. There is no other exercise better than the deadlift when it comes to releasing these beneficial hormones.

Building the Core. The deadlift directly stimulates all of the major muscle groups responsible for core strength, core stability, and good posture. Core strength and stability is important in all terms because it provides maintenance for your balance, and weight transference which is crucial in everyday life and your fitness life.

Injury Prevention. Building a strong back and hamstrings provides protection against many workout-related injuries.

Real Life Application. There is no doubt that the dead has real life application. It aids in lifting heavy objects off the ground, like furniture, by providing you with strength and a knowledge of proper form on how to do so.

True Measure Of Strength. It can be argued that the deadlift is the absolute true measure of one’s strength as it uses more muscle group than any other exercise and as it is such a simple movement.

Grip Strength. If you deadlift without wraps, your grip strength will increase like no other exercise movement due to the large amount of weight you are lifting off the floor.

How To Do the Deadlift Correctly

In the following video Mark Rippetoe demonstrate proper squat technique:

50k-fitness: Deadlift technique - Mark Rippetoe (youtube)

Key Points to Remember!!!

• Look straight ahead
• Keep your back straight.
• Chest up at all times
• Squat down untill your legs are slightly above parallel.
• Feet and shoulder should be the same width apart.
• Arms should be just slightly outside your knees.
• The bar, when going up and down, should be roughly 1-2 inches from your shins.
• Do not shrug at the top.
• Do not bend your arms.

Common Deadlift Mistakes

• Rounding the back – This is the most common mistake. People have a tendency to round their back when starting. Rounding the back is a major mistake and can lead to serious injury. See picture for Explanation.

• Pulling with the arms – The deadlift should not involve your arms pulling at all. The arms merely stay connected to the bar, while the legs and the back do all of the lifting.

• Butt too low when starting – Many people make the mistake of putting their legs and butt in a low squat position. When starting your butt and hips should be higher than your knees.

Finally, the deadlift should be the single most important exercise for skinny hardgainers trying to gain weight. Simply put, there is no other exercise that works out more muscles in one movement than the deadlift. It is so simple, hardcore and beneficial, I’m amazed how so many skinny guys who are trying to get big completely ignore this exercise. Start light and make sure your body is warmed up beforehand with some light cardio and you will drastically reduce your chances of injury. You will notice rapid change in strength over the first few weeks but remember to play close attention to your form.

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Deadlift technique - Mark Rippetoe (youtube)

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Resistance Cardio With Elliott Hulse

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Cardio is boring. No two ways about it. OK, I know there are some people who like to job, run or take to the road on their bike. But I don't and most of the people I know don't either.

But cardio IS good for you in a lot of ways. You'll build better lung capacity, more horsepower in the old ticker, and better circulation. But if you go the traditional route you'll also suffer some unfortunate side effects.

Excessive slow cardio can increase cortisol and cause you to lose muscle. The repetitive nature of conventional cardio can also cause injury and overtraining. But not to worry, you can get the best of cardio and avoid the pitfalls with a change of approach.

In this video, our guest coach Elliott Hulse demonstrates his unique form of "resistance cardio". Enjoy! Give it a try. You'll unleash the Kraken within.

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Ditch Old Slow & Dull Cardio Forever

by Ryan Murdock on February 3, 2011

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I don’t know many people who truly LIKE “cardio”. Yeah, I know a couple guys who enjoy going out for the occasional run or hitting the road on a bike. But as far as I can tell, they’re part of a small minority — and I am not among them.

I’d love to trash talk dull obligation cardio until the Snuffleupagus finally makes a public appearance… But despite my total disdain, there actually ARE health benefits to grinding it out. If you can overcome the tedium, you’ll build better lung capacity. Your ticker will get a boost in horsepower. And your circulation will improve. And yes, you’ll burn a little of fat.

Sounds good, right?

Sure. But it ain’t all sunshine and roses…


Cardio also has a dark side. Doing too much can raise cortisol, which causes you to hold on to fat stores. The repeated two dimensional pounding of cardio can also result in repetitive stress injuries. Oh, and did I mention that it’s mind-numbingly boring?

But don’t worry! There is a solution…

You can get all the benefits of conventional cardio without the pitfalls. And you can even throw in an extra element of muscular development or toning while doing so.

What is this miracle cure of which I speak? It’s called Resistance Cardio.

Our friend and BodyweightCoach.com guest coach Elliott Hulse is a huge proponent — both literally and figuratively. I mean, he’s really really big. And he really likes training this way. Check out the video and you’ll see what I mean.

If you enjoyed this post, we’ve got a ton of FREE workout and diet tips, articles and videos we’d like to share with you. Just sign up below.

Don’t you just love that old school gym? We stumbled across it in sunny Key West, Florida. We immediately dragged in Elliot and his biz partner Mike Westerdal and “strongly encouraged” them to share some of their methods with us. These guys KNOW strength training, and we weren’t about to miss an opportunity for some edu-mu-cation!

So what the heck IS resistance cardio?

Grab some form of moderate resistance — in the video we’re using a barbell — and move that resistance through a circuit of full-body exercises. The exercises should be carefully chosen to take you through every possible range of human movement.

The benefits? Your muscles receive some stimulation. You build muscular endurance. And by stringing the exercises together into a circuit, you push your cardiovascular system into top gear.

Perform 10-12 reps of each exercise, and do them without rest. Then take a short breather and start again. You choose your own exercises, or try the movements Elliott shows in the video.

As you progress with the workout, try to reduce the amount of time it takes you to do each circuit, making them more “dense.” You can also increase the number of circuits that you perform in a session.
Use your imagination and create your own Resistance Cardio workouts! You’ll have fun, and you’ll get fitter in the process.

Let us know in the comments if you have any questions for Elliott, and we’ll ask him to swing by…

You may also enjoy:

1. Your One-Stop Cardio Solution
2. 3 Weird But Powerful Bodyweight Supersets
3. Can One Exercise Really Meet All Your Cardio Needs?

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The Future of Fat Loss — Meet The “New Cardio”

by Mike Whitfield on March 27, 2013

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by Mike Whitfield, CTT

A few weeks ago, I was cleaning up my office closet and I came across some old textbooks from when I first got started as a trainer. I did a quick browse through a couple of them and many of them had the same theme for people wanting to lose weight.

Do more.


If you were doing 30 minutes of cardio, then add another 10 minutes. If you were doing 40 minutes, than you go up to 50 minutes. I kid you not, one textbook even recommended going up to 90 minutes!

Who has time for that? And since when is longer better?

It’s no wonder we’re confused, fatigued and not getting the results we deserve.
With some focused, hard work, you can smash a plateau or accelerate your fat loss with the new breakthrough research we have access to today. It doesn’t take forever and you can have fun doing it.
If you think about it, that’s how interval training came along. Interval training replaced long, boring cardio and took a fraction of the time. You can get the same results in 25 minutes as you would in 60 minutes. It was a big hit.

Then in 2012, Craig Ballantyne said something simple, yet profound and funny at the Turbulence Training Summit.

“Intervals are so 2010”.

He’s right. Fitness is a lot like the evolution of music. In the 80’s, there were cassette tapes. Then in the 90’s, we had cds. Now we get instant access with Itunes and other means. We don’t have to go to a store to get our favorite music. It’s right there for the taking and we save time.

We see that trend in fitness – it was all about the long cardio… even into the 90’s. Then we were introduced to interval training to replace boring cardio (thank goodness, right?). Now we have at our disposal a new and innovative way to replace intervals and these are called “Workout Finishers”.
This is a combination of density, short rest periods and compound movements with a fast tempo. The good news is that they take just a fraction of the time that intervals do.

But like I said, it does take hard work (there’s a reason they are short).

So today, you’ll get a taste of how these finishers work. You’ll complete a lower body finisher called “Always Swinging” and it contains what’s called a “static exercise”.

You’ll perform a “ladder” with two exercises while doing 10 reps for the Swings in each circuit.

Confused? That’s what videos are for:

So, it looks like this:

Do the following circuit 8 times, resting only when needed. In the first circuit, you’ll perform 8 reps of 1A and 1C. In the next circuit, you’ll perform 7 reps. Continue in this fashion until you complete 1 rep of each exercise. For 1B and 1D, you’ll complete 10 reps every time.

• Narrow Stance Goblet Squat (8…1)
• KB or DB Swings (10)
• Bodyweight Sumo Squat (8…1)
• KB or DB Swings (10)

Just some friendly advice – the first time you do this finisher, I strongly recommend you start with 6 reps. Your glutes will be sore (but in a good way).

Welcome to the next breakthrough,
Mike Whitfield, Creator of the brand new Workout Finishers 2.0 system

Next ==> Go get 51 brand new finishers here
-

Mike Whitfield, CTT has lost 105 pounds, propelling his passion into the fitness industry. His effective approach of using unique metabolic workout finishers has helped thousands of people lose fat and improve their conditioning through his online and offline, programs and bringing a new addiction to working out. He is known across the industry for his Finishers and his work has been seen in Men’s Health, Turbulence Training, the AJC and more.

You may also enjoy:

1. Can One Exercise Really Meet All Your Cardio Needs?
2. Resistance Cardio — Ditch The Old Low & Slow Cardio Conundrum
3. Your One-Stop Cardio Solution

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