Deadlifting is a movement involving almost your entire body, Most importantly this lift uses your back. This is where our first proper deadlift form comes into play.

Step one to proper form is figuring out what is more comfortable. There are two ways to deadlift: sumo or conventional. Sumo deadlift is where your legs are spread and your hands are in between your legs gripping the bar. A conventional deadlift is when your legs are about shoulder width from each other and your hands are on the outside of your legs gripping the bar. Proper form is the same for both of these lifts.

After you pick sumo or conventional you’ll size your feet under the bar to where the bar is about in the middle of your foot. After this, you’ll slightly bend your knees and grip the bar.

This is when you do what’s called loading. Lowering your glutes a little closer to the floor and tightening the muscles in your body so you can explode off the floor.

After you’ve loaded, you begin to ascend while doing this you should feel like you’re trying to push your feet through the floor. Still engaging all of your muscles when you get to the top of the lift you tighten your glutes, pull your shoulders back and lock out then lower the bar to the floor. After this, you’ve completed a full rep.

Now form is a huge part of lifting but other things come into play when trying to increase your numbers. Another thing to help numbers is equipment. The first piece of equipment is a lifting belt, the purpose of this is to keep your back aligned and have something to brace your core into.

The next piece would be socks, socks are more for safety so long socks would do. This is so you don’t cut your shins on the barbell. Another piece is shoes any shoe with a flat bottom would do for this. A7 has specifically made deadlift shoes but other shoes like vans, converse, or even Nike blazers would do just fine.

The last piece of equipment is wrist straps. These help take the weight off your hands. The straps hold a lot of the weight for you. Lastly, other workouts can help you increase your deadlift numbers such as hip thrusts, RDLs, and barbell rows.