A big deadlift not only looks badass, but can help you add huge mass to pretty much your entire body. But whether you are looking for information on how to deadlift more weight because you are stalled in your deadlift progress or simply want venture into the realm of the unknown and deadlift massive numbers, we can hook you up with some tips that can help you increase your max and reps!
Snatch Grip Deadlifts
Utilizing a snatch grip for your deadlifts can allow you to keep your back straight and aligned properly for deadlifts. You will most likely not be able to deadlift as much weight with this grip, but trust me it will feel great when you do it. The first time I used a snatch grip on my deadlift, I felt so solid pulling the weight off the ground.
As you do more snatch grip deadlifts, you body will learn how to keep your back and spine neutral when you do other deadlifts, like conventional, sumo and American among others.
Focus On Form
Now this may be obvious and a deadlift with good form really comes with doing it over and over again, just like anything else, the more you do it the better you get at it. So first off don’t skip out on deadlift days, do them consistently.
But when I say focus on form, I mean creating a body that is formed to deadlift and do other compound lifts. Which this can be done by creating muscle imbalances.
Most of us sit A LOT during the day, whether it be at the office, school, dinner table etc, we are all sitting for hours at a time throughout the day. This act alone creates very tight hip flexors, which create tension in the Lumbo Pelvic Hip Complex.
Seeing that this is the case, we need to target our hip flexor and stretch them back to optimal length.
Drive From Your Heels
I want you to focus on driving your heels into the ground like you are going to push them through the floor. Pushing though your heels will create better form right off the bat. If you find yourself shifting to the front of your feet with your deadlifts, remember to push from the heel throughout the entire lift.
Lock The Deadlift Out
A lot of people at the top of their deadlift will lean back a bit which is called hitching. This is not only dangerous and putting your lower back at risk, it is also not allowing you to complete the deadlift. If you don’t complete the full lift you will see your results stall as you are leaving out muscles you need to build in order to deadlift more.
When you down lock out your glutes at the top of the deadlift, you are leaving out glute development which is one of the biggest muscle groups in our entire body and are known for either making or breaking a big deadlift.
Time Off
This tip is written for those who like to deadlift A LOT, like myself! If I had to pick one lift to do for the rest of my life, it would be the deadlift! But if you do it too much your body will naturally fatigue. My progress stalled hard for a while as I was deadlifting around 335 – 365 for reps at least twice a week. I took a week off from deadlifts, came back and my PR went up from 455 to 475 that day.
Proof is in the pudding, and seeing that my deadlift increased with time off, I am now forcing myself to deadlift less, and/or do a light day and a heavy day.
Pull the Tension out of the Bar
You want to grab the bar and engage your lats, don’t try to pull the bar up to yank the tension out of it. This will allow you to not only pull more weight, but pull you towards the bar aligning you up better for the lift as well as keep tight starting your lift, which you need to stay tight in order to move big weight.
Foam Rolling
Foam rolling can get rid of adhesion build ups in the muscle, allowing the length tension relationships to righten themselves. Relieving tight muscles will allow them to generate more force as well as allow weak/inactive muscles to activate better generating power from muscles that you haven’t been using to their full potential.
Believe You Can Pull The Weight
More often than not, achieving a new PR is mostly mental. If you walk up to the bar and are negative and are doubting your ability to pull the weight, chances are you won’t do so. Walk up and act like its going to be cake! Act like you are just pulling 135 off the ground, don’t even think about the number.
This tactic has helped me not only attain bigger PR’s but also do so without hurting myself as often times when you go into a big lift with doubt, you aren’t focused on good form, you are only worried about whether you can move the weight or not. When this happens you lift the weight differently than you would when you know you can smash a lift.
Stay Tight
This goes without saying. Stay tight throughout your entire body when you deadlift. Being loose won’t allow you to deadlift more weight and can lead to injury.
Hip Thrusts
I know you are thinking that hip thrusts are a girly exercise, but they can create great glute strength and create better hip mobility and alignment, which is a must for deadlifting more weight. If you really care about what they look like do them when the gym is slow, but at the end of the day if you do them your deadlift will go up, and those who afraid to do them because they are worried about what people are thinking about them will have a stalled deadlift. In other words you will be the one laughing all the way to bigger PR’s!
5×5’s
Doing 5 sets of 5 reps at weight where you gassing out during the last rep is where you will create massive brute strength as well as creating a bigger max. The higher rep range can cause hypertrophy and thicken your waist, but if you want to deadlift more weight for your one rep max, then lower reps and higher weight will do just this.
Finding Weak Points in Your Deadlift
We all have weak points in a deadlift. Correcting those weak points will 100 percent lead to a heavier deadlift as well as allow you to deadlift with better form in general. I found an excellent video created by powerlifter Elliot Hulse that I posted below that is VERY helpful for finding your weak points in your form and how correct them!
