Why deadlifts hurt people

Does warming up, doing a tonne of mobility work, being more flexible or bracing more guarantee you won’t get hurt on the deadlift.

The deadlift, especially the barbell deadlift that emphasises the concentric or the portion that the bar travels from the floor to your mid-thigh, has a reputation. It can be a source of strained muscles and ligaments around the back. More so than squats, lunges, hip thrusts etc.

The most common mistakes I see:

1. People don’t start the movement by extending their knees and hips. They start by shooting the hips up. One of my favourite cues, be it for squats or hinge patterns, is to ask clients to prioritise straightening their knees and hips simultaneously, everything above the hip through object being lifted needs to remain steady.

2. A weak grip. Your grip is almost always a constraint while deadlifting. A weak grip leads to an upper back that is not as firmly braced. The popular conception is bracing is for the core. But my thinking is every muscle from the fingers through the toes needs to be engaged. And a firm, braced upper back (even if rounded) can ensure you can control how the bar travels. The bar path is crucial. Gloves or straps can help. But don’t make up fully.

3. The bar, tbell, trapbar or any implement really needs to travel in as straight a line as possible. A ‘wonky’ or shaky bar path places a greater demand on your body to stabilise the object. And this demand falls on your back since your legs are busy trying to straighten.

4. No amount of mobilisation, flexibility or warm up can prep you for the shit that happens when you fatigue or there is a momentary lapse of focus. When you lose focus or are tired, you might lose tension, not maintain a steady bar path, not extend with as much control or extend far too much. And none of those things necessarily strains your muscles or ligaments. But sometimes it can. Biological tissue behaves less predictably than a steel bar.

5. Poor tolerance for a position. I know very strong people who cannot lift in or from certain positions. I also know it’s not from a lack of strength, prep or trying. They just don’t have tolerance for the position. They might be fine lifting relatively lighter loads or sub-maximal loads, but when they’re closer to failing (grip or legs or stabilisers), they risk straining or aggravating old aches.

6. Commit to the starting position. This ties into point 1 and 3.The deadlift has to ideally start with the knees and hips simultaneously straightening from a bent position to an extended position. People tend to start the movement by yanking the weight up. Combine this with a jarring or disjointed movement that calls for your spine and hips to stabilise a bar that is travelling in a less than straight line and you have a movement that requires your spine to work hard to complete a movement. This is not always a problem. But it could be based on load, volume and fatigue.

The takeaway is why you get hurt is complicated.

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