Deadlift Deep Dive
- Beau Bradbury
- Jan 29
- 13 min read
Updated: Jan 31
Welcome! I would like to share my thoughts and insights through years of application on myself and numerous clients the massive benefits of a simple, productive exercise: The Deadlift.
My aim with my new “Deep Dives” is to provide lots of useful information in a long form format. I believe my more intelligent and less distractible students, like you, will absolutely love the Deep Dives on various exercises and exercise science. My hope is that you will always find something useful that will add value to your training.
Let’s begin our journey and learn more about this staple in productive exercise, the Deadlift.
Haven’t you heard? We are in a war! Now before you get too frightened let me assure you this battle is easy to combat. It is true that we are in a war against sitting. Our “advanced” lifestyles have lead to much more time seated for most and drooling over short form videos for others. Cars, airplanes, computers, pads, phones, and other endless attention whores keep us just sitting our lives away.
New cartoon song idea: “Just keep sitting, just keep sitting!” Imagine. We’d need to replace the fish with a giant panda. I think a panda can sit better than a fish. Search “panda sitting” images and you’ll thank me later! I could add slouching.
The casualties in the war on sitting are numerous: tight hip flexors, vanishing butt, poor cardiovascular health, low back pain, general weakness, etc. Enough negatives and let’s focus on the positives. This is a doable fix and I think a little algebra will do…
“Invert, always invert.” -Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi
Ole Carl was a 19th century mathematician and it seems like he was a smart guy. Who really knows, but his quote rings true in regards to many applications and serves as a solid mental model .
Instead of asking, “How can I be happy?” We could invert and ask “How can I avoid being miserable?”
In that same vein let’s get back to our war on sitting. Any bozo could say that to invert sitting we would stand up. Yes, by opening the hips and contracting the glutes our tight hip flexors naturally unwind. The only problem with this is that if we sit for hours on end should we just stand up a zillion times to offset?
We require something much more measurable and defined to acquire the desired result of offsetting sitting.
This is where our best friend that stimulates change comes into play: INTENSITY.
Surely, you have gone out in the sun in January and didn’t see a beautiful tan begin to appear. However, come August and you are seemingly a few minutes away from a sun burn and peeling. A very similar process occurs when we add intensity to our movements.
Intensity, and only intensity, will stimulate muscle strength and growth. By its nature, if something is done at an extremely high intensity it must be of very short duration. A high intensity example, a 5 rep maximum on the barbell squat.
On the total flip side, if something is done at a low intensity it can be done for hours. Example, running a marathon.
HIGH INTENSITY = SHORT DURATION
LOW INTENSITY = LONG DURATION
MUSCLE RESPONDS TO A HIGH INTENSITY STIMULUS BY BECOMING STRONGER ONLY AFTER A FULL RECOVERY AND THEN COMPLETES A SUPER-COMPENSATION PHASE
(Memorize this and you will know more than most!)
Surely you can see that the feeling and exertion of a 5 rep maximum squat is quite a different animal than running 50 steps at marathon pace. Keep in mind it is roughly 50,000 steps to complete a marathon.
In that ALL CAPS SUMMARY above unlocks our answer to win the war on sitting. By adding lots of intensity to standing we will build lean (and strong) muscle in all the right places. Your entire posterior chain gets a massive boost and this helps to unlock our tight hip flexors. As an added bonus, your glutes come roaring back to life and the Deadlift's action is one of the best core exercises known to man.
I call this the "Deadlift Miracle"
Assuming a relatively healthy person with no major back problems, the deadlift can help your lower back to become strong/resilient, balance your core strength, and bring your glutes back from the abyss. Your glutes are supposed to be the largest muscle in your body. I need to tread lightly here as I have heard that those pants suspender cronies can be brutal like the mob.
Please enjoy my technologically advanced drawing…
What is the Deadlift?
Assuming that our readers of the BBB Blog are at least familiar with the gym this may be redundant, but serves as a good foundational knowledge. If you train with us now or have in the past, undoubtably, you have done the Deadlift, in some form, many times.
In my estimation, the Deadlift is simply picking something off the ground using proper form. Legs engaged, core braced, and lifting the object with the body working in unison. That is a broad stroke definition.
So for our purposes here let us assume from this point forward we are discussing the Barbell Deadlift. Personally, this is my favorite of all exercises. Sure my giraffe-length legs and short torso are advantageous to deadlifting, but hey you gotta play to your strengths right?
Why should you listen to me about the Deadlift? Good question! I have never won a Deadlift competition or spoken at a Deadlift Seminar. I’d like to share with you my journey with the Deadlift and my hopes is that you learn something of value in this short blurb of life experience.
As a freshman in high school, I tore cartilage off my right knee. Yeah it was pretty odd trying to walk around sporting a swollen cantaloupe as a right knee and oh man did it hurt. By the grace of God, I had an extremely successful micro-fracture knee surgery. The micro-fracture procedure is basically the cartilage is toast so they create tiny fractures in your bone in that area to stimulate a clot-like substance that, if allowed to fully cure, turns into a cartilage substance to replace the old. Talk about high intensity!
Afterwards, I got really good at flexing my triceps using crutches and that long rest/recovery gave the new cartilage substance ample time to “to set up” basically. Needless to say I became quite paranoid about putting weight on that leg since the risk of “messing up” the procedure was lurking big time.
Over time, I became more and more confident and decided I was too damn skinny (my triceps weren't too bad) and wanted to put on some serious muscle. Fate would have it that I naturally gravitated to the Deadlift due to less stress on the knee area (I was still was gun shy).
I deadlifted once per week and worked my way up quite quickly. I found that deadlifting too heavy, too frequently completely wiped me out and stalled my progress on all lifts.
315lbs became 405lbs and I started to feel invincible!
It helps being super young and zealous. I had found a good, reliable friend in the Deadlift. Stress from school seemed to melt away after a bar-bending heavy deadlift.
Before I went to college, I could Deadlift 500lbs a big milestone in my mind.
My body and more importantly my mind changed for the better drastically during this time. It feels so dang good to get stronger on a primal lift.
Over time I went from 180lbs (scrawny) to 235lbs (much less scrawny). My full body strength soared on everything: Bench Press, Rows, Curls, Pull-ups, Squats, etc.
To be clear I used a full body routine that focused on the fundamental lifts alongside the Deadlift. I avoided squats early on but added them in later with success. However, the Deadlift was ALWAYS the cornerstone.
It was not just weight room improvements. I could run faster and jump higher. I also acquired a "Can-do" Positive attitude and achieved another level of mental toughness. These improvements opened doors for me that would have never opened if I had just kept sitting on the couch. So yeah I am biased in my belief that the deadlift can change people in a big way. The Deadlift Miracle works in mysterious ways.
After graduating college, Nancy and I decided to open our gym in 2011 and be full-time fitness professionals. There is extreme joy in helping others improve themselves drastically through sound training and lifestyle changes. Roughly 15 years later, we still get up early and tap dance to work together.
A few years went by and I wanted to see if I could Deadlift 600lbs. This was around 2013-14. I had bounced around the 500’s for years, but of course human nature is what it is. I knew from experience that I must focus solely on this endeavor to pull it off.
When you first begin strength training you have what’s called “newbie gains.” Every time you go into the gym you can add a little more weight and lift it no problem for a good, long while. Especially if you have a wise trainer by your side you can keep improvements coming for years without too much trouble.
Like a thief in the night, after you train for years, you start bumping your head into your genetic potential. Adding just 10 pounds can become an extremely difficult time consuming endeavor.
A prime example, is look at Olympic Weightlifters or Elite Powerlifters. They may train for years hoping for just a 5-10 pound increase on the platform at their most important competition.
With this in mind, I doubled down on my deadlift focus and was able to Deadlift 600 pounds on June 1, 2015 with my Dad cheering me on. Hoping you can see this video.
Not only have I obsessed and trained myself on the Deadlift through the years. I first became an ACE Certified Personal Trainer in 2009. To my knowledge, every single client that I have worked with at some point did some form of the Deadlift under my guidance. I have seen all kinds of body types, fitness backgrounds, etc train the Deadlift. I helped them do it right and learn how to progress smartly.
The "Deadlift Miracle” is simple. People flat out change mentally and physically when they begin training with the deadlift. It may be my biased illusion, but they seem to walk taller, have better attitudes, and their body changes for the better. Sure, a sound diet helps too.
Nancy also effectively utilizes the Deadlift with her clients and the same results appear over time. She, herself, can also run a 5K race faster than most. She won top overall female at about every race she attended last year. The deadlift is a top-shelf exercise for distance runners too. It truly is a universal winner!
The Deadlift changes people for the better. Sitting does the opposite.
Sitting destroys your posture - the Deadlift improves your posture.
Sitting makes your butt disappear - the Deadlift builds your glutes.
Sitting causes low back pain - the Deadlift helps many people feel less low back pain.
Sitting slows your metabolism - the Deadlift boosts your metabolism by increasing lean muscle.
I could go on and on. I warned you this Deep Dive was a long form format!
MOST IMPORTANT: THE DEADLIFT ALLOWS YOU TO COMPLETELY INVERT SITTING AT A VERY HIGH INTENSITY
When you invert sitting with intensity you are helping offset the damages of prolonged sitting. “Sitting is the new smoking don't ya know?”
Now before you go all Deadlift crazy from your skyrocketing motivation from this blog post let me caution you on a few things...
MASTER TECHNIQUE
First, you need to learn how to Deadlift with correct form. This is vital.
Many times what we “feel” we are doing is very different from what we are actually doing. I will not try to teach you how to deadlift correctly by writing here. I believe that is a fool’s errand.
In my estimation, the ONLY way someone can teach the deadlift properly is in person. The reason being that when you are in person you can see exactly what is going on and can tell what the person is feeling and their exertion level.
Using a video camera brings in many unknowns. Camera lenses can distort vision due to oblique lenses and you have no feel of what is really going on. Would you want a brain surgeon to walk your best friend through your surgery using a video chat?
If you have been taught how to deadlift by a knowledgable coach in the past and have much experience you will probably be good to go, but it is still a good idea to have your form checked out periodically if you are serious about improving. Like changing the oil in your car is a good idea.
You can easily drift away from sound fundamentals and not even realize it. This is because it “feels” correct and when in fact it is not.
So learn the deadlift technique and practice with light loads. Master it!
PROPER LOADING & RECOVERY
Second, you need to understand how to load the deadlift. Aforementioned, a beginner with correct exercise programming should see strength improvements every workout for a good, long while. These are the “newbie gains.” Enjoy!
As you progress on the deadlift and the weights get bigger, bigger, & BIGGER! You are putting a massive DEMAND / STRESS on your system.
You must understand that your body is very efficient at getting stronger, but not so good at recovering quickly after high intensity training. Let that sink in. In other words, your recovery time must increase as you get stronger.
Let’s say a person deadlifts the 45lb bar for 1 rep. If the person is of reasonably good health this will have little to no impact on their body’s ability to recover from it.
Now let’s say that same person down the road trains the deadlift and can deadlift 500lbs and this is their true 1 Rep Maximum. When they do the 1RM at 500lbs at 100% intensity of effort they are absolutely stressing their body’s reserves and will need A LOT more time to recover and super-compensate. They may even feel tired and hungry for days afterwards.
Due to the MASSIVE STIMULUS from the max effort deadlift they have a MASSIVE RECOVERY hole to dig out of.
So what does all this mean?
Well it’s the polar opposite of what most people think they should do when they start to plateau. We have been pre-programmed to think that “more must be better.” So when most people plateau they believe they must “do more” to finally breakthrough. They erroneously add more frequent workouts, more deadlifts, more “specialty” exercises, more protein, more supplements, more, more, more! More pulling straws! …and they get worse. They go off the cliff into overtraining.
When in fact the only logical thing to do is to ALLOW your body MORE TIME TO FULLY RECOVER & SUPER-COMPENSATE BY DOING LESS!!!
This means deadlift less often, deload, take a targeted recovery break, etc. This allows your body to fully recover it’s reserves and you will be back to progressing like magic.
This is where experience can be an excellent teacher. Personally, I can tell by looking at someone’s face, talking with them, and observing their actions in the gym if they are starting to suffer from staleness and/or overtraining and I make the needed adjustments. This ability was learned from years of working with clients in person. Keep in mind too that life stressors away from the gym can contribute to staleness and overtraining.
Here are some common overtraining symptoms: general tiredness, trouble sleeping, crankiness, loss of enthusiasm for everything, mood swings, performance declines, nagging injuries, frequent infections, etc. Sounds fun doesn't it?
YES, UNLIKE THE EASTER BUNNY, OVERTRAINING IS 100% REAL!!!
Right now, there are some morons on the internet claiming overtraining doesn't exist. I’d like to challenge their thesis by having them do max effort deadlifts every single day as heavy as possible for 5 reps and if overtraining isn’t “real” then they should not suffer one iota! Good luck internet "influencer" gurus… Go knock yourself out!
Side note: I choose not to have any social media for this exact reason! Back on track…
In fact, our number one job is to AVOID OVERTRAINING at all costs! This is because overtraining is the exact opposite of productive training. So we need to invert overtraining as well.
With this said, you must understand that the deadlift packs a major punch to your body. This is great, but if overused can become very dangerous rapidly. As you get stronger, you must deadlift infrequently with ample recovery built in. If you don’t, you invite overtraining and you will go back-ass-wards on your progress. Turns out more is not always better.
DEADLIFT TYPES & STYLES
At this point, I’d like to point out that if you are ready to invert sitting, feel stronger, smile more, and just be plain better at most things and you’d like to start deadlifting I wanted to share some different types and styles you can feel free to explore. As previously stated, I would strongly recommend working with a knowledgeable trainer to teach you these moves.
Conventional Barbell Deadlift - Normal Stance
Sumo Barbell Deadlift - Wide Stance
Rack Deadlift - Various Heights from Power Rack
Kettlebell Deadlift - Wide-ish stance with KB in center
Dumbbell Deadlift - Normal Stance with DBs outside the legs
There are two more movements that I am going to put into the “Pseudo-Deadlift” category. I believe they are more akin to a “dynamic” version of the deadlift. My argument is that these two moves are also a hip-hinge movement and they work the posterior chain extremely well. Some find these to be extremely effective alternatives to the deadlift. However, I think the good ole fashioned deadlift reigns supreme!
The proven Pseudo-Deadlifts are…
Kettlebell Swing
Reverse Hyper Machine
We have used every one of these variations in our programming through the years and all of them have strong merit. Five Stars!
Some body types will prefer one over the other, but all are in the same vein as the deadlift. You can be rest assured that, done correctly, you will unlock many benefits from any of these high quality movements.
SUMMARY
You may already be a Deadlift Disciple and are like, “Heck yeah! Right on!” Or you may be pondering a change to the Deadlift Lifestyle Cult.
To be blunt, the deadlift changed my life. It has the ability to change yours too. It’s simple and it works. Now it's your time to drink the kool-aid.
You MUST be wise with your technique and your management of intensity/stimulation and recovery. I’d also recommend a high quality lifting belt for the heavier sets to help stabilize your core during your biggest lifts.
Also, I think it’s best to focus on a single Deadlift style and maximize it. I think as people’s attention spans have shrunk dramatically since the invention of the internet, it is a common flaw to change exercises far too often seeking entertainment. A targeted change can be warranted, but variety for variety’s sake is folly. To get really good at something you have to do it over and over and over again. Ideally anchoring your repetitions on the timeless fundamentals.
My Public Service Announcement: Never, ever just blindly follow this advice or any advice from others without applying your own logic and reason. Praying, is a proven winner too. I believe in today's society we face a crisis of a lack of thought. People are programmed to conform to, rather than challenge, the prevailing narrative. ALWAYS THINK FOR YOURSELF! Ask hard questions and come up with your very own conclusion. My hope is that after your pondering and contemplation you will find this information in this blog very useful.
Thank you for reading!
Please share with your friends in hopes that it may help somebody to take the leap and better their lives.
Until next time!
Beau
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