The deadlift is the ultimate test of raw strength, engaging nearly every muscle in your body. But without proper technique, it’s also one of the easiest lifts to get wrong—leading to lower back pain, stalled progress, and even serious injuries.
Whether you’re a beginner learning how to deadlift with perfect form or an experienced lifter looking to fine-tune your technique, following a step-by-step deadlift checklist ensures maximum power, efficiency, and safety.
💡 Lets Go Over:
✔️ The perfect setup for conventional deadlifts.
✔️ How to engage your lats, core, and hips for a stronger pull.
✔️ The most common deadlift mistakes and how to fix them.
4 Major steps:
The setup
Approach the bar feet shoulder width apart directly underneath the bar. Your shins should be about one inch from the bar and vertical. Now roll your shoulders back to engage the lats and reach directly down trying to stay as upright as possible. Now puff your chest out and grip the bar tightly, switch grip is highly recommended as it improves most lifters grip strength.
Slack pull
This is the most important step new lifters may forget, pulling out the slack. Depending on which barbell type you are using (deadlift bar or power bar) the slack pull may look different. Engage your lats and hamstrings while raising the hips up as high as possible, you want to start the lift as upright as you can. At this stage you should be feeling all the weight in your hands, ready to explosively start the lift.
The pull/press
A common misconception with the deadlift is that it is a pulling exercise when it is more accurately a pressing exercise. Once all the slack is pulled, explosively press through the ground with your feet attempting to keep your upper and lower back as straight as possible. The lift should look like opening a book, where your hips are the spine. The hips need to shoot forward and the chest and back should follow until upright.
finishing the lift
Once your hips have come forward, locking out the lift can be a struggle. Rolling the shoulders back can help activate the traps and upper back muscles aiding the finish. You will know when the lift is complete when you are standing fully upright with both arms by your side.
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Common Mistakes
Everyone can improve their form, here are some of the most common mistakes we see in the gym
- Squatting Down To Grab The Bar: When setting up your deadlift, avoid squatting down low to grab the barbell. The conventional deadlift is all about staying as tight as possible and limiting movement, squatting down will put the hips too low and now allow the lifter to stay tight.
- Rounding The Back: When beginning the deadlift many lifters round their back, which may lead to spinal and disc injuries. A common cause of this is neglecting the pull the slack properly before you begin the lift. Another cause of this may be the lifters hips coming forwards too late.
- Trying To Curl The Bar: Although this seems like the easiest way to get the bar from point A to point B, attempting to curl up the bar will not aid in the lift only cause bicep injuries.
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