Barbell Conventional Deadlift

A step-by-step form guide from the Ægir Iron exercise library: how to do the lift, what to watch for, and the muscles it trains.

HOW TO PERFORM

Stand with the bar over mid-foot, feet about hip width, shins almost touching it.
Hinge down and take a grip just outside the knees, then drop the hips until the shins meet the bar.
Pull the slack out of the bar, set the chest up and flatten the back, then brace hard.
Push the floor away and stand, keeping the bar dragging up the legs.
Lock the hips and knees out together at the top, then return it under control along the same path.

Pulling the slack out first is the step people skip. Taking the stretch out of the bar before you pull is what stops the back rounding in the first inch.
The bar stays in contact with the legs. Any gap in front of the shins is leverage working against you and is the commonest reason a pull stalls at the knee.
Do not mirror-watch it. Turning the head to look up extends the neck and pulls the whole back out of position.
The car and hummer tire versions pull from a frame with fixed high handles, so the bar path and the start height are set by the implement rather than by your setup. Everything else about the brace and the finish is the same.

This guide covers these exercises in the Ægir Iron library:

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