Top
Top 10
10 Deadlift
Deadlift Cues
Cues For
For
Stronger
Stronger Pulls
Pulls (With
(With Pictures)
Pictures)
Avi
Avi Silverberg
Silverberg
Top 10 Deadlift Cues For Stronger Pulls (With Pictures)
When teaching the deadlift, I always instruct my athletes to have one or two cues in mind
that help them execute the movement more e ectively.
A more e ective deadlift means a stronger and safer pull.
The main deadlift cues are:
Breathe & brace
Pull your hips down
Take the slack out of the barbell
Flex your armpits
Hands as hooks – arms as chains
Shoulder blades over barbell
Shins to barbell
Push the oor away
Hips through
Lock the hips & knees together
It’s important to recognize that you shouldn’t implement all of these deadlift cues at once.
This is because not all of them are going to apply to you based on your deadlift technique.
Notwithstanding, the brain can only think about one cue at a time when lifting.
Therefore, you need to know when to use a certain cue over another and which ones are
going to work the best for you.
In this article, I’ll break down each of these deadlift cues for you step-by-step. These cues will
apply whether you’re deadlifting conventional or sumo.
Let’s get started.
Top 10 Deadlift Cues For Stronger Pulls (With Pictures)
Top 10 Deadlift Cues For Stronger Pulls (With Pictures)
Deadlift Cue #1: Breathe & Brace
The goal of “breathe and brace” is to stabilize your spine.
Prior to initiating the deadlift, you want to breathe deep into your belly and think about
forcefully exhaling without letting out any air.
You would typically perform this cue while your hands are on the barbell and your hips are
still high up in the air – prior to dropping them down into the start position.
Like this:
Deadlift Cue: Breathe & brace
Top 10 Deadlift Cues For Stronger Pulls (With Pictures)
Top 10 Deadlift Cues For Stronger Pulls (With Pictures)
This process will create intraabdominal pressure, which stabilizes your spine throughout the
deadlift.
In fact, this technique has been shown to take hundreds of pounds of pressure o
spine while lifting.
your
When performing this cue, you engage your entire trunk, creating 360 degrees of tension
around your stomach, which helps keep your spine sti and in alignment under load.
When to use this cue?
If you have a hard time maintaining your back neutral throughout the lift
If your low or mid back starts to round prior to the barbell lifting from the oor
You lack strength o the oor from the start position
If you want to learn more, we wrote an entire article covering this topic called HOW TO
BREATHE PROPERLY IN THE DEADLIFT.
Deadlift Cue #2: Pull Your Hips Down
The goal of pulling your hips down is to create tension in your lower body before starting.
When you bring your hips down to the barbell for the ‘start position’, you want to make sure
that you’re accumulating tension in your glutes and hamstrings.
This can be achieved by thinking about ‘pulling your hips down’ to the barbell versus just
bending your hips and knees softly into position.
As I bring my hips down to the barbell, I’m thinking about squeezing my glutes and
hamstrings as hard as possible:
Top 10 Deadlift Cues For Stronger Pulls (With Pictures)
Top 10 Deadlift Cues For Stronger Pulls (With Pictures)
Deadlift cue: pull your hips down
Remember, the deadlift doesn’t have an eccentric range of motion when starting. You’re
literally pulling from a dead stop and your muscles don’t get the opportunity to create
tension.
Therefore, you are required to actively create lower body tension in your deadlift set up.
Without it, you’ll struggle to get the weight o the oor.
When to use this cue?
If the weight feels ‘heavy’ o the oor
If you have no ‘driving power’ when you initiate the pull
If your hips rise up before the barbell leaves the ground after you pull
If your knees collapse inward o the oor
Top 10 Deadlift Cues For Stronger Pulls (With Pictures)
Top 10 Deadlift Cues For Stronger Pulls (With Pictures)
Deadlift Cue #3: Take The Slack Out Of The
Barbell
The goal of taking the slack out of the barbell is to make sure there’s no separation between
the barbell and plates before starting.
A barbell at rest has ‘slack’.
What does this mean? The simplest way to conceptualize it is that…
There is a tiny amount of space between where the barbell sits on the
plates sit on the bar.
oor, and where the
Deadlift cue: Take the slack out of the barbell
Top 10 Deadlift Cues For Stronger Pulls (With Pictures)
Top 10 Deadlift Cues For Stronger Pulls (With Pictures)
This gap between the bar and the plates creates a lack of tension or ‘slack’ when you pull the
bar.
Therefore, you want to pull this slack out prior to initiating the lift.
In order to do that, it relies on the rst two deadlift cues already discussed: “breathing and
bracing” and “engaging your glutes and hamstrings as you pull your hips down” into
position.
After that, the most critical step is pulling your upper body “up” on the barbell.
As you do this, your back will atten and your lats will engage. If you do this correctly, you
should hear a ‘clang’ of the barbell against the plates.
The absolute best demonstration of how to pull the slack out of the barbell is by Australian
coach, JP Cauchi:
When to use this cue?
If you nd the barbell drifting away from your body after you initiate the pull
If your upper or mid-back starts to round throughout the bottom portion of the lift
If you generally feel like the weight is ‘heavy’ o the ground
If you want to learn more, we wrote an entire article covering this topic called PULLING THE
SLACK OUT OF THE BARBELL.
Deadlift Cue #4: Flex Your Armpits
The goal of “ exing your armpits” is to engage your lats.
You could use other cues to accomplish this such as “tight lats” or “pull your lats down”.
However, for lifters who really struggle with creating lat tightness in the deadlift, I nd “ ex
your armpits” to work very e ectively.
When exing your lats, it should feel like you’re trying to “break the bar in half” with your
hands.
Top 10 Deadlift Cues For Stronger Pulls (With Pictures)
Top 10 Deadlift Cues For Stronger Pulls (With Pictures)
Deadlift cue: Flex your armpits
Engaging your lats prior to starting the movement helps take the slack out of the barbell as
previously discussed.
However, it also has one more important role.
Having tight lats allows you to keep the barbell on your body throughout the entire
movement.
If you nd the barbell ‘drifting away from you’, then one of the main reasons is because you
didn’t generate enough lat tightness in your deadlift set up (or you generally have weak lats).
Top 10 Deadlift Cues For Stronger Pulls (With Pictures)
Top 10 Deadlift Cues For Stronger Pulls (With Pictures)
When to use this cue?
If your upper back rounds as you initiate the pull o the oor
If you can’t keep the barbell on your shins and thighs as you drive up
If your shoulders are rounded at the top and you can’t achieve the ‘erect’ posture
needed for full lock-out
If you want to learn more, we wrote an entire article covering HOW TO KEEP YOUR BACK
STRAIGHT WHILE DEADLIFTING (CAUSES AND CORRECTIONS)
Deadlift Cue #5: Hands As Hooks – Arms As
Chains
The goal of seeing your hands as hooks, and your arms as chains, is to make sure your arms
are straight throughout the entire range of motion.
The reason why this is important is that any bending of the arm will create a longer range of
motion. If you can keep your arms long, then the barbell travels less overall distance, which
means less work.
As well, you should have no bicep contraction throughout the deadlift. If you do, you risk
tearing your bicep.
This is where I nd the metaphor of having your “hands as hooks” and your “arms as chains”
to be helpful.
Your hands should be clamping down as strong as possible on the barbell. Think of big,
industrial hooks grabbing onto the barbell.
Then, as you take the slack out of the barbell (as previously discussed), you will lengthen
your arms as you pull your upper body up on the barbell.
When you think of your arms as chains, one end is attached to the hands (the hooks), the
other is attached to the shoulder. The shoulder is pulling the chain up, while the hands are
pulling the chain down. This keeps the chain holding tension and prevents your arms (the
chain) from bending.
Top 10 Deadlift Cues For Stronger Pulls (With Pictures)
Top 10 Deadlift Cues For Stronger Pulls (With Pictures)
When to use this cue?
If you have a hard time keeping your arms straight in the deadlift
If you feel like you’re deadlifting from your upper body vs. lower body
If you need another cue to help with ‘pulling the slack out of the barbell”
Check out my article on the SEMI-SUMO DEADLIFT, which might allow you to
start position based on your individual leverages.
nd a better
Deadlift Cue #6: Shoulder Blades Over Barbell
The goal of keeping your shoulder blades over the barbell is to ensure you’re in the most
balanced and mechanically advantageous position prior to initiating the movement.
What you’re looking for is a straight line down from the scapula to the
intersects with the barbell, then you’ve accomplished this cue successfully.
oor. If that line
Top 10 Deadlift Cues For Stronger Pulls (With Pictures)
Top 10 Deadlift Cues For Stronger Pulls (With Pictures)
Deadlift cue: shoulder blades over barbell
Depending on your individual leverages, this may mean one person could look ‘bent over’
more compared with someone else who is more ‘upright’.
Don’t worry necessarily about the angle of your back so much as keeping that vertical line
from the scapula to the barbell straight.
By doing this, you’ll feel more balanced over the mid-part of the foot. You won’t feel like the
weight is pulling you forward or backward throughout the range of motion.
When to use this cue?
If you feel o -balance when you begin the pull
If you’re unaware of where your hips should be when starting the pull
If you lack consistency in your start position generally
If you want to learn more, we wrote an entire article covering this topic called BEST DEADLIFT
BACK ANGLE FOR YOUR SIZE AND BUILD.
Deadlift Cue #7: Shins To Barbell
The goal of bringing the shins to the barbell is to reduce the distance between the load and
your hip joint.
The greater the distance between the load and your hips, the harder your glutes and low-mid
back need to work to complete the movement.
Top 10 Deadlift Cues For Stronger Pulls (With Pictures)
Top 10 Deadlift Cues For Stronger Pulls (With Pictures)
Deadlift cue: Shins to barbell
In addition, there are some other issues that arise if the barbell is not on your shins prior to
lifting.
Lifters will nd keeping their mid-back in a neutral position throughout the movement to be
much harder. The combination of your mid-back rounding, and the barbell being o of your
shins, will cause you to feel like you’re falling forward.
Therefore, instead of simply worrying about lifting the barbell to lock-out, you now have to
work harder to nd your balance. This is no easy task under a heavy load.
The cue “shins to barbell” should occur as you bring your hips down into the start position.
As the hips come down, the shins meet and touch the barbell.
Top 10 Deadlift Cues For Stronger Pulls (With Pictures)
Top 10 Deadlift Cues For Stronger Pulls (With Pictures)
When to use this cue?
If the barbell is starting o your body
If you’re feeling like you’re ‘falling forward’ in the bottom-end range of motion
If you have a hard to keeping your lats engaged throughout the movement
Deadlift Cue #8: Push The Floor Away
The goal of “pushing the
hip extension.
oor away” is to initiate the movement with a knee extension vs.
This means that you want to use the muscles in your quads to get the barbell o the ground
rst. This will ensure your torso angle remains unchanged when the barbell is traveling from
the oor to the knee.
Deadlift cue: push the
oor away
Top 10 Deadlift Cues For Stronger Pulls (With Pictures)
Top 10 Deadlift Cues For Stronger Pulls (With Pictures)
Pushing the oor away will allow your hips to be patient in the start position.
You might notice that some lifters have their hips rise up quickly o the oor. You’ll know
this is the case if their torso angle begins to look more ‘horizontal’ to the oor as they drive
up. This type of movement pattern shifts the loading demand from the knees to the hips too
early in the range of motion.
In other words, they’re using their glutes too much o the bottom, and as a result, they
don’t get the bene t of using their quads to start the movement.
When to use this cue?
If your hips start to rise up faster than the barbell in the early stages of the movement
If you never feel like your quads are engaged in the deadlift
If you have a hard time generating speed o the oor
If you want to learn more, we wrote an entire article covering THE MUSCLES USED IN THE
DEADLIFT
Deadlift Cue #9: Hips Through
The goal of cueing your “hips through” is to rapidly bring your hips to the barbell as soon as
the bar travels above the knee.
The greater the distance between the load and the barbell, the harder you have to work.
Therefore, as soon as you can start closing this distance, the more e cient the movement
pattern will be.
Top 10 Deadlift Cues For Stronger Pulls (With Pictures)
Top 10 Deadlift Cues For Stronger Pulls (With Pictures)
Deadlift cue: Hips through
While the previous cue of ‘pushing’ o the oor was to engage your quads, when you get to
the knees, you want to switch to think of the deadlift as a “pull” to engage your glutes and
back extensors.
Some lifters implement the cue “hips through” ine ectively though. They start ‘leaning back’
too much as the barbell travels over the thigh.
You never want to think about leaning back or else you risk ‘hitching’ the barbell, which is
when the barbell rests on the thighs (a technical fault for competitive powerlifters).
When to use this cue?
As the barbell travels above the knee
If you struggle in the lock-out phase of the deadlift
Top 10 Deadlift Cues For Stronger Pulls (With Pictures)
Top 10 Deadlift Cues For Stronger Pulls (With Pictures)
Deadlift Cue #10: Lock The Hips & Knees
Together
The goal of locking the hips and knees together at the same time is to ensure you’re
balanced at the top of the lift and that you’re in the correct mechanical position.
If you lock your knees too early, you’ll feel like you’re falling forward.
If you lock your knees too late, you’ll start leaning back too much, either doing more range of
motion than required or hitching the barbell.
Deadlift cue: Locking hips and knees together
For most people, the timing of the hips and knees locking in the deadlift should be
simultaneous.
Top 10 Deadlift Cues For Stronger Pulls (With Pictures)
Top 10 Deadlift Cues For Stronger Pulls (With Pictures)
Here is a great example (the same principle applies whether pulling conventional or sumo):
If your knees are locking too early, use the cue “hips through” to generate more force with
your glutes.
If your knees are locking too late, you’ll want to use the cue “snap the knees” or “ ex the
quads” to initiate a forceful knee extension.
When to use this cue?
At the nal phase of your deadlift
If you haven’t perfected the timing of your lock-out
If you struggle to lock the weight out
If you want to learn more about the deadlift lockout, we wrote an entire article called 10 TIPS
TO IMPROVE YOUR DEADLIFT LOCKOUT (THAT ACTUALLY WORK).
Final Thoughts
This guide covered the most common deadlift cues.
It’s important to recognize that not all of these cues will apply to your speci c situation. The
brain can only think about one or two things at a time.
So, what you need to do is identify which of these deadlift cues will make the most
meaningful impact on your strength and technique, and then only use that single cue until
the movement pattern becomes automatic.
Top 10 Deadlift Cues For Stronger Pulls (With Pictures)