Hips to the Bar

We are seeing a lot of athletes rising their butts first when they begin the deadlift. This is not uncommon, lots of athletes struggle with this pitfall. We as humans are SO quad dominant that even on a deadlift we are trying to use our quads. When you rise your butt up first you’re trying to take the load off your hamstrings and put it on your quads. However, when you do this you are putting a tremendous amount of pressure on your sacral joint. We want you moving safely so lets correct this now!

To fix this problem lets focus on one thing… our hip!!! Easy enough right? Our hips generate all of our power and they allow us to lift heavy weight. So, lets use them to our advantage! The trick to all weight lifting is getting your hips underneath the weight. Once your hips are underneath the bar, the weight becomes much lighter. If that is a true statement (and it is) then why would we rise our butt up first? What we are doing is moving our hips higher up, therefore we have to carry the weight a little bit farther before getting our hips underneath the bar. Why work harder than you have to? Lets be smart about the deadlift for the next 5 weeks and focus on one thing. If you don’t PR after this cycle or don’t hit a number you are striving for, at least you have corrected your technique. KEEP YOUR HIPS AS CLOSE TO THE BAR AS YOU CAN AT ALL TIMES!

Drive through your feet and try to “push” the weight off the ground by using your legs, not your lower back. Before you begin your lift remind your self “I need to get my hips underneath the bar,” and if you don’t one of the coaches will remind you!