What’s the difference between a squat and a deadlift? It’s all in the hips.
A deadlift should be simple – it’s basically just picking a weight up off the floor. However, it’s actually one of the most technical lifts. Given that it’s a compound exercise, you have to think about controlling every muscle in your body to get the barbell off the ground.
First and foremost, you should be working your posterior chain. That’s the back of the body, such as the hamstrings, glutes, lower back, lats and back of the shoulders. The reason these muscles are the primary drivers in a deadlift is because it is a hinge movement, which means you drive through your hips.
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How to do a deadlift correctly to work your entire body
But according to two personal trainers, it’s common for people to turn the exercise into more of a knee driver than a hip movement. Coaches Sohee Lee and Sam McGowan have both dubbed this the ‘squatty deadlift’ in separate reels on their Instagram. Essentially, it means that all of the work is coming from bending your knees – like in a squat – rather than pushing your hips back and forward.
Signs you’re doing a squatty deadlift
The best way to check if you’re squatting your deadlift is to film it or watch your form in a mirror. Look out for these signs:
Your hips are too low
Set up is key: you need to think about your lift before you’ve even touched the bar. It might feel natural to lower down as close to the bar as possible to get a good grip. But getting your hips down low means that the knees have to bend – a lot. As you know, a lot of knee flexion means you’ll end up squatting.
Instead: keep the hamstrings stretched and straight as you extend the arms to reach the bar by hinging at the hips first, then bending the knees to give you the extra depth needed to grab the weight.
The bar is too far forwards
Are you starting with your arms extending away from the body, the bar under your chin and over your toes? According to Lee, this means you’re going to end up with a torso that’s too upright. We should be aiming for a body that’s close to horizontal to signify that the hips are hinged and the glutes and hamstrings are about to be utilised.
Instead: ensure the bar is over your midfoot, underneath your armpits and your shoulders are over the bar.
You lower with your knees first
Once you’ve got the bar up, you need to get it back down with the right form. A common thing that goes wrong at this stage is that people bend their knees and place the weight down, say McGowan and Lee. That not only means you’re squatting the weight, but also that your knees get in the way of the bar, meaning you could risk an injury as you have to awkwardly push the barbell over your knees.
Instead: hinge at the hips by pushing them behind you until the bar reaches your knees, then bend until the bar is at the floor.
Images: Getty
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