[Music]

okay welcome everyone to a new episode

of technique Tuesday this week we're

gonna be looking at how to perform the

conventional deadlift with perfect

technique now there's going to be a good

chunk of overlap between this video in

my last video on the sumo deadlift just

because these two

deadlift variations are quite similar

but I wanted to make them separate

videos so that you guys can just watch

the video for the variation that you

want to use you know exactly how to do

it from start to finish now so first

you'll want to remember that the

biomechanics and muscle activation

patterns for the sumo and conventional

deadlift are actually quite similar with

the main difference being that sumo

deadlifts are harder on your quads and

conventional deadlifts are harder on

your spinal erectors now in terms of

setup the main difference between the

two is that the sumo deadlift will have

your hands inside your legs whereas the

conventional deadlift just gonna have

your hands outside your legs this is a

few important biomechanical implications

where we can see that the conventional

deadlift is a bit more hip dominant with

the torso leaning further forward

whereas the sumo deadlift has the hips

closer to the bar and a more upright

lifting posture but notice that in both

examples the knees aren't nearly as bent

as they would be in the bottom of a

squat so I think it's wrong to think of

the sumo deadlift is more of a squat

style deadlift because regardless of

what stance you take the deadlift is a

more hip dominant movement and in my

coaching experience I would say that on

average shorter lighter guys tend to be

a bit stronger with sumo and taller

heavier guys tend to be a bit better

with conventional but the only way to

figure out which variation is better for

you is to give both a solid shot learn

the form over time and give one a good

honest effort for one training cycle and

come to your own conclusion so like with

the sumo deadlift here we're performing

simultaneous hip extension and knee

extension we're hip extension is handled

by the glutes and hamstrings and knee

extension is handled by the quadriceps

also the spinal erectors will be taxed

to a more significant degree with the

conventional deadlift as they perform a

stronger isometric spinal extension

contraction and in the lats and traps

will also be involved here again as they

isometric contractions to stabilize the

shoulder and the scapula and you should

load the deadlift just in general with

relatively heavy weight in a low rep

zone something around five to ten reps

if your main goal is hypertrophy and 1

to 5 reps if your main goal is size

since its capacity for overload is

extremely high and I wouldn't recommend

training the deadlift more than once or

twice a week even for advanced lifters

because it just is one of the most

physically and mentally draining

exercises out there and it does have a

pretty high recovery cost so you want to

lift in a flat-soled shoe like Chuck

Taylors or deadlift slippers use high

socks to avoid shin scrapes and a ten

millimeter lever belt to increase torso

rigidity and force transfer as you pull

now none of these things are required

per se they're just going to help out

with your performance on the lift you

want to stand where your shins are about

half an inch behind the bar with the bar

roughly centered over the tongue of your

shoes and in general you want to use a

stance slightly closer than

shoulder-width which is gonna minimize

the distance the bar has to travel and

prevent your hands from moving out too

wide just to stay outside your shins and

unlike the sumo deadlift there's no need

to flare your toes out your feet should

be pointing straight ahead so get down

to take your grip by setting your hips

and back as you would in a stiff leg

deadlift and once you can't get your

hips back any further allow your knees

to come forward slightly until your

shins make light contact with the bar

without knocking it forward you want to

grip the bar with your arms hanging

straight down right at shoulder width so

that when you grip the bar your hands

are just outside your shins again you

have the option of using an alternate or

over-under grip which will allow you to

pull more weight however it may lead to

imbalances if you don't periodically

alternate the overhand and the underhand

and even though the double overhand grip

is probably the safest it will also

limit your true strength potential

because your grip generally won't be as

strong this way now you also can give

the hook grip a shot how about wedging

your thumb between your fingers in the

bar but it does have a pretty painful

adjustment period and straps are also an

option so you can go double overhand and

avoid that alternate grip but I would

make sure that you do at least one

he said per workout without straps so

your raw grip strength doesn't suffer so

none of these grips are perfect but

personally I go with the alternate grip

so you want to dig the bar into the base

of your hand and you should drive your

pinky into the bar I'm just gonna

prevent and grip fatigue and once your

grip is set you want to pack your lats

by thinking about pulling the bar in

close to you which is gonna prevent the

bar from drifting out in front of you as

you lift now at this point you want to

pull your lower back into a neutral

position creating a stretch in your

hamstrings and you'll want to maintain

this flat lower back position throughout

the rest of the lift a little bit of

thoracic or upper back rounding is more

acceptable and less dangerous however if

you pull with a slightly rounded

thoracic spine
just don't allow it to round further

throughout the lift with your hips still

high and anteriorly tilted you want to

take a deep breath into your gut and at

this point you have the lift fully set

up and you're ready to initiate the pole

and exactly the same as with sumo you

should be able to draw a straight line

connecting your scapula the middle of

the bar in the middle of your foot at

this point you want to initiate the pole

by pulling the slack out of the bar so

it's slightly bends under your grip just

before the plates actually leave the

floor you don't want to grip and rip the

bar or you just immediately yank it up

because you'll come up solid against the

weight of the plates before they leave

the ground which can deplete energy and

throw you out of position as one quick

aside here I would say that in

powerlifting circles it's pretty common

knowledge that the sumo pole tends to be

slower off the ground while the

conventional pole tends to be fast off

the ground but tougher at lockout as for

this reason coaches will often encourage

lifters to be patient off the floor with

sumo as it can take longer for the

plates to actually get moving but she

can be more explosive off the ground

with conventional since you want to take

advantage of that sort of rubber band

effect off the floor and then carry that

momentum off the ground all the way up

to lock out so as soon as you've pulled

the slack out of the bar explode up with

the weight leading with your chest up

and similar to sumo you want to focus

mainly on driving your hips forward

while holding a isometric contraction in

your lumbar spine to prevent lower back

rounding in your shoulder blades to

prevent upper back rounding

at your shoulder to keep the bar in

tight against your legs the bar should

be moving up in a perfectly straight

line centered over in the middle of the

foot and it should be dragging straight

up against your shins finishing the

lockout tends to be the most difficult

part of the conventional pull because

the bar needs to travel a further

distance off the ground so to break

through the sticking point you want to

really force your hips forward and get

your chest up since often you'll need to

sort of unroll the upper back to get the

shoulders fully locked and at the top

you know you've truly locked the lift

out if your knees and hips are straight

and your chest is lifted up with your

shoulders slightly back no need to

overdo the lockout by leaning backward

excessively hyper extending your lower

back or squeezing your shoulder blades

together shrugging the weight up again

when it comes to the negative you can

either let the bar fall more freely with

your hands simply guiding it back into

position or you can slightly resist the

negative having the last for about one

second which is gonna ensure that the

plates land in the right spot is the bar

tracks back down against your legs and

you want to make sure you set your hips

back first then as the bar is clearing

the knees let the knees Bend and drop

the bar straight down because it moves

against your shins don't make the common

mistake of forcing the bar out in front

of you just to clear your knees on the

way down which will totally throw you

out of position but the conventional

pole in particular I would say it's

absolutely crucial that you set your

hips back first with straight knees just

like you would in a stiff leg deadlift

so you can maintain that perfectly

straight bar path centered over the

middle of the foot but the plates come

to a full and complete reset on the

ground after each rep without bouncing

the plates off the ground and then begin

the pull again by taking a deep breath

in

pulling the slack out of the bar driving

your hips forward locking the bar out

setting your hips back and following the

bar back down in a straight line so guys

that's all that I have for the

conventional deadlift if you didn't

catch the sumo deadlift tutorial from

last week and really recommend giving

that one to watch as well so you can

make sure you've got both of these lifts

mastered and next week I'm gonna be

covering all the common errors with both

of these deadlift variations I want to

make sure you stay tuned for that and

I've also decided I'm gonna extend the

sale on my fundamentals and push-pull

legs hypertrophy programs that's

for the next week they're both going to

be $29.99 and then I'll go back to

$39.99 after that and I'll have both of

those links down in the description box

as well that's thank you so much guys

for watching the video I really

appreciate it

I don't forget to leave me a like if you

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you guys all here in the next one