Last updated September 2026
Most people’s conventional deadlift is anything but conventional, so I’ve written this guide to fix your wonky deadlift.
Like our guides on how to low bar squat and bench press, this guide will cover everything you need to know to become a deadlift demigod.
The deadlift has the most carryover to your daily life of any of the barbell lifts, and you must learn to do it well.
There is no reason to be alive if you can’t do deadlift
-Jon Pall Sigmarsson
Yea. It’s that important. Check out this video of Jon Pall Sigmarsson deadlifting for a little extra motivation before continuing.
How to conventional deadlift: the quick version
- Walk up to the bar so it sits over the middle of your feet, feet about hip-width apart.
- Hinge down and grab the bar just outside your legs with a double-overhand grip.
- Bring your shins to the bar, set your back flat and pull your shoulders down to engage your lats.
- Take a big breath, brace your core, and pull the slack out of the bar.
- Push the floor away, keeping the bar against your legs, and drive your hips through to stand tall.
- Lower it the same way: hinge at the hips to your knees, then bend your knees to the floor.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Benefits & Uses
Equipment
Technique
Common Faults & Fixes
General Strength Programs
Variations
Accessory Work
FAQ
Useful Links
Benefits & Uses
History
There’s an excellent write-up on the history of the deadlift.
Most myths surrounding the origin of the deadlift are related to soldiers picking up the dead from an ancient battlefield. Still, realistically people have been picking things up since the beginning of time.
Only in the last 100 years have we switched to the barbell deadlift, and that’s what you’ll learn reading this guide.
Strength
There is no more valid test of raw strength & grit than the conventional deadlift.
Nearly every major muscle in your body works during the deadlift.
The conventional deadlift is a concentric-focused lift that will take your CNS (central nervous system) to over-drive.
Daily Life
The deadlift is picking up a heavy load with good form.
We use a barbell in the gym because it is easy to load, but the way you pick up 315lbs should be the same way you pick up a couch, a pencil, and your girlfriend.
Learning good form in the gym ensures you don’t hurt yourself outside of the gym.
Muscle Growth
I’m going to ruffle some feathers saying this, but the deadlift is not the best move for muscular development.
We tend to neglect the part of the lift that drives hypertrophy (muscle growth)—the down portion (eccentric).
There is an age-old debate about whether to do deadlifts on leg day or back day. I will solve that debate for you right now and say do deadlifts on deadlift day.
Rows build your back better than deadlifts. Squats build your legs far better than deadlifts. Do deadlifts to be better at deadlifts, to develop strength for lifting heavy stuff.
What is Sarcoplasmic & Myofibrillar Muscle Hypertrophy?
Equipment
Gym Equipment
You need four things for conventional barbell deadlifts:
- A barbell
- A rack
- Round Plates (if you only have access to hexagonal plates, switch gyms if possible or do Romanian deadlifts)
- Barbell clips
That’s what you’ll need for serious training, but the actual bare minimum is anything you can pick up. There are a lot of deadlift variations, and you’ll see them in strongman competitions.
For brevity, this article will focus on teaching you how to use a barbell in the gym.
Hexagonal plates make it challenging to learn deadlifts because each time you set the bar down, they will want to shift. Sometimes this shifting drives the bar into your shins and can be painful (or bloody).
Personal Equipment
A quality weightlifting belt is the most useful thing you can buy once you are past the beginner stage. A 10mm, 4″ wide, single-prong belt helps you brace harder, which usually means more weight and more reps. (Not sure if you are ready for one?) It’s basically like the PF Flyers Benny wears in The Sandlot. This brings us to the next piece of equipment: shoes.
The PF Flyers are actually a phenomenal deadlift shoe. So is any flat bottomed shoe like Converse Chuck Taylors. You most likely have good deadlifting shoes sitting in your closet or maybe even already on your feet. This style of shoes is great for deadlifts because they provide a stable platform and a solid connection to the ground. There is minimal cushion, so your feet will not shift as you increase pressure on them (unlike running shoes). They also have the same cushion at the front of the shoe and the back. An even sole is essential because it helps your ankles assume the correct position. Even better than flat shoes is barefoot deadlifts. Most gyms frown on bare feet. If your gym allows it, give it a shot.
Tall socks are required for powerlifting competitions because they save your shins from scrapes and scabs. Say that five times fast. Good deadlifts require the bar to remain incredibly close to your body, and when you are learning the movement, you are guaranteed to bang up your legs with the bar. Tall socks or knee sleeves pulled down to your shins will keep you from bloodying yourself.
Lifting straps are another important piece of deadlifting equipment. Read How to Use Lifting Straps the Correct Way to learn how to use them. Few lifts will tax your grip more than deadlifts, and straps are the answer when you want to keep going beyond grip failure. Interestingly enough, deadlifts alone will not develop great grip strength.
Technique
Setting Up Your Equipment
Setting up equipment for the deadlift is remarkably simple. Put plates on the bar, and put the bar on the ground. Done.
However, there are a few more elements to consider.
Standard barbell height for the conventional deadlift is about 8.9″ (225 mm) off the ground, measured to the center of the bar, but not all plates are standard, and neither are people. Standard 45 lb (20 kg) plates, including bumper plates, are about 17.7″ (450 mm) in diameter. Using metal plates smaller than 45lbs will lower the bar height, and this can make deadlifts challenging to learn. The lower the bar height the more challenging it is to get into a good starting position. Bar height is so important that we begin teaching the deadlift at a starting height of 20″ and then work our way down to the ground.
Taller people or those with body dimensions that do not favor the conventional deadlift may want to start the bar higher than 9″. You can create a higher starting point by deadlifting inside a power rack or on blocks.
In competition, everyone pulls from that standard height of just under 9″. However, there is nothing magical about that height, and for the sake of learning I highly recommend raising the bar higher to learn quality mechanics first.
Setting Up Your Body
Stance
The setup for the deadlift is sequential. Each step relies on the previous step for quality positioning, and it begins with your foot placement.
Always walk up to the bar. Never roll the bar to you. Bring Muhammad to the mountain, okay?
Your feet should be hip-width apart (6-8″ apart) and under the bar. When viewed from the side, the barbell will be over your midfoot. When you’re looking down at the bar, you should not be able to see the knot of your laces.
You can turn your feet out slightly (about 10 degrees) or keep them straight.
Grip
Your deadlift grip should be double overhand (palms facing behind you) and only as wide as is necessary to allow your legs between them.
An overly wide grip forces your body into an artificially lower starting point, and the lower you go, the more challenging good form becomes. The other negative of an overly wide grip means the bar must travel higher, and more distance requires more energy. A wider than necessary grip means less weight in 1RM lifts and fewer reps in training.
Mixed grip (also known as over/under) is for heavy lifts. You should switch the grip each set. Failure to do so will lead to imbalances. It’s best to avoid over/under completely in training and favor the use of straps. If your grip is weak watch this video on how to use a gripper.
The rest of your body
I’ll briefly describe what else needs to happen in your setup, but it’s easiest just to see it below.
With your stance set and grip in place, you need to set your back flat in a neutral position (think “proud chest,” not an exaggerated arch). Your lats must engage fully, and the bar should not move. When you are in place, your shoulder blades will be directly over the bar when viewed from the side, your back will be flat, and your shins will be very close to, if not completely vertical.
Engage your core by acting like someone will punch you in the stomach and begin to put tension on the bar.
Action
Up
With tension on the bar, your focus is on lifting the bar perfectly vertical (eliminate any horizontal motion) by keeping your spine locked in place.
Imagine you are a crane (the heavy machinery, not the bird). Your hands are the hooks. Your arms are the crane cables. Your torso is the crane arm. Your glutes & hamstrings are the engine at the bottom doing the lifting.
Good cranes have a rigid crane arm—if the crane arm gives at all, it is a sign of severe structural failure. Your torso is only a lever used to transfer force from your hips to the load, and it must be rigid.
Your arms aren’t doing any of the lifting. Instead, they are hanging on to the load with maximal grip.
The bar should rise to pass your knees, and then your hips should drive forward to complete the lift.
Down
Brace your core and set your shoulders hard(squeezed down and back).
Next, begin the hip hinge pattern to lower the bar to your knees, and after passing the top of your kneecap, your entire body should descend as a unit.
Do not relax until the bar is entirely on the ground. Never lose rigidity in your spine. Keep the bar close.
Common Faults & Fixes
The most common indicator of poor deadlift form is an overly sore low back. If these muscles go through too much motion during your deadlift, you will feel a terrible low back pump and soreness that lasts for days. You also risk back injury or back pain.
Poor Setup
Getting your setup right is the most crucial part of your deadlift. Before attempting deadlifts, you must master the Romanian deadlift and hip hinge pattern. It is also helpful to learn the deadlift from blocks first.
If you start with garbage, you will most certainly end with garbage.
Review videos & pictures of a quality setup. Record a video of yourself to compare. If all of that fails, ask an expert for help.
Sloppy Start
A sloppy start stems from a poor setup, and recording a video can help you identify any issues.
The first thing to watch for is horizontal movement in the bar. If the bar moves toward you, it’s because you started with it too far away. If the bar moves away, then your lats were not fully engaged.
The second thing to watch for is the loss of the arch in the spine. Your back should stay flat and neutral: not rounded, and not over-arched. Any loss of arch means your core needs strengthening, or you need to brace harder (a weightlifting belt works wonders here).
Failure to Finish
Failure to finish can be due to a loss of tightness in the low back on the ascent or simply a lack of understanding of proper deadlift finish.
A good deadlift finishes with the shoulders fully back, behind the bar, a natural S-curve in the spine, knees at or near lockout, and hips under the shoulders.
If you find yourself getting to the top of the deadlift but unable to extend entirely through your body, you may have some weaknesses to improve. Read this article on the six best exercises to improve your deadlift.
Lazy Lowering
Lazy lowering occurs when you try to set the bar down by rounding your back. Never do this!
You must treat the eccentric (lowering) portion with as much deference as the concentric (lifting) portion.
Before you begin to lower the bar, take a big breath, brace your core, push out on your belt (if wearing one), and hinge from the hips. When the bar passes your knee, it is time to squat the rest of the way but do not relax yet. Keep your back locked in a flat, neutral position until the bar is safely on the ground.
General Strength Programs
BEGINNER PROGRAM
Every good strength program incorporates deadlifts, and the Seriously Strong Beginner Program is one of those. In the beginner program, you will deadlift every other workout for 5 sets of 5 reps.
One to two deadlift sessions per week is a good frequency for learning the movement, and the program also incorporates your other big lifts.
INTERMEDIATE PROGRAM
Instead of deadlifting every other workout, you will now deadlift once weekly. So for 12 weeks of the Seriously Strong Intermediate Program, you will know what every deadlift workout will be. That’s both fun and frightening.
On Wednesdays, you will work up to a heavy set of 5 reps in addition to the other programmed work.
Deadlifts can be incredibly taxing, and for most people, one deadlift workout per week is plenty for strength development.
ADVANCED PROGRAM
Congratulations. You’ve made it to the Seriously Strong Advanced Program.
You’ve unlocked DEADLIFT DAY.
Once per week, you will work up to an AMRAP set on deadlifts. And then you will do more deadlifts.
AMRAP deadlifts are the most fun you will have in the gym. You will be pushed to your limits and even further the following week.
Enjoy my Padawan.
Variations
The Five Best Conventional Deadlift Variations to Increase your 1RM
Boom. Done.
Almost.
I’ll also mention:
- trap bar deadlifts
- suitcase deadlifts
- farmers walk deadlifts
Most of these exercises have the name deadlift in them, but they begin to stray from the core mechanic of the deadlift: the hip hinge.
You can do those variations with a hip hinge pattern, but it isn’t necessary because there is no bar path to worry about.
They are closer to a squat pattern. All will increase your leg & posterior chain strength, but not all will have as much carryover as the variations listed in the article above.
Accessory Work
Any exercise that will improve your posterior chain strength (back, glutes, hamstrings) or grip will improve your deadlift.
Romanian deadlifts are the single best accessory exercise you can do. It will cause massive hypertrophy in the hamstrings and develop incredible strength that carries over nicely to your deadlift.
The 6 Best Accessory Exercises for The Conventional Deadlift
Frequently asked questions
How high should the bar be for a deadlift?
With standard 45 lb (20 kg) plates, which are 450 mm (17.7″) across, the center of the bar sits about 8.9″ (225 mm) off the floor. That’s competition height. Smaller plates put the bar lower, so beginners should raise it on blocks or plates until they can pull from the floor with good form.
What muscles does the conventional deadlift work?
Mainly your glutes and hamstrings, with a big assist from your quads off the floor and your adductors. Your spinal erectors, lats and upper back work hard to hold your position, and your grip holds everything together. See Are Deadlifts a Back or Leg Exercise?
Conventional or sumo deadlift?
Both are legitimate. Conventional uses a narrow stance and puts a bit more demand on your back and hamstrings. Sumo uses a wide stance with a more upright torso and more quad and adductor work. Learn conventional first, then try both and see which suits your build.
How often should I deadlift?
Once or twice a week is plenty for most people. Deadlifts are very taxing, so quality beats frequency.
Why does my lower back hurt after deadlifts?
Usually because your back rounded or over-arched and your hips didn’t do the work. Lower the weight, film your sets, raise the bar on blocks, and revisit the setup section above. If pain is sharp, lingers, or radiates down your leg, see a doctor.
Want a coach to check your deadlift in person? Book a free strategy session at our Tallahassee, St. Petersburg, or Tampa gym.
Useful Links
The Serious Guide to the Low Bar Squat
The Serious Guide to the Bench Press
The Serious Guide to Nutrition
The Serious Guide to Core Training
The Serious Guide to Glute Training
The Seriously Strong YouTube Channel
The Seriously Strong Beginner Program
The Seriously Strong Intermediate Program
The Seriously Strong Advanced Program