Hinge exercise
Conventional Deadlift
Build maximal posterior chain and whole-body pulling strength.
- Equipment
- Barbell, plates
- Sides
- Both sides together
- Positions
- All positions
- Tempo
- 30X0
Setup
Barbell on the floor over your mid-foot, feet hip-width, hands just outside the knees.
How to do it
- Set your back, lock your lats and take the slack out of the bar before you pull.
- Push the floor away keeping the bar close to your body, hips and chest rising at the same rate, and lock out tall.
- Reset your position on every rep rather than bouncing off the floor.
- Keep the reps low and stop the set the moment your back position changes.
Coaching cues
- Bar over the mid-foot, lats locked
- Take the slack out before you pull
- Push the floor away, keep the bar close
Common mistakes
- Lumbar flexion at the breakaway, which is the injury position
- Hips rising ahead of the chest so the bar drifts forward
Sets and reps by goal
| Goal | Load | Sets | Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strength | 80 to 95% of 1RM | 3 to 5 | 1 to 5 | 5 min |
| Size | 65 to 80% of 1RM | 3 to 4 | 5 to 8 | 2.5 min |
Tempo 30X0: Take 3 seconds to lower it, no pause, lift it as fast as you can, no pause before the next rep.
Related exercises
- Trap Bar DeadliftBuild whole-body pulling strength with a shorter learning curve than the conventional deadlift.
- Back SquatBuild maximal bilateral lower-body strength, the foundation of scrum drive and contact.
- Front SquatBuild quad and trunk strength in the upright posture the clean catch demands.
- Box SquatTeach the squat pattern and standardise depth across a squad.
- Rear-Foot-Elevated Split SquatBuild heavy single-leg strength with almost no spinal load.
- Split SquatLearn the single-leg pattern and expose side-to-side differences.