Starting Strength

and knee movement and a consequent reduction in the time the lift actually takes. A correct pull that results from a correct setup will show no change in back angle as the pull starts and for at least the first couple of inches of bar path off the floor.
    One of the most common technique errors in the deadlift is using a starting position that attempts to hold the back in a too-vertical position. The method detailed earlier for learning the deadlift eliminates this problem, but hard-headed folks may require further explanation. This misunderstanding of the correct starting position may have several possible causes. One cause might be confusion about the actual role of the back muscles in the deadlift. Some resources on deadlift instruction available in the mainstream certification agency material – intended for fitness/wellness audiences that are not interested in strength – advocate a more vertical back angle than is actually possible for a lifter to use in a deadlift of any significant weight. According to these sources, in an attempt to reduce shear , or sliding forces, between the vertebral segments, you should make the back as vertical as possible so that most of the force on the vertebrae becomes compressive rather than shear. However, shearing cannot occur because the vertebral segments overlap at the facet joints, and sliding between the segments is not anatomically possible. When the erectors and abdominal muscles do their job of maintaining intervertebral rigidity, no movement takes place, and when the load gets heavy enough that the erectors cannot hold rigid extension, spinal flexion occurs, not shear. The back functions as a rigid segment, and its job is to stay flat. Sometimes this is hard, and this is why the deadlift is a back exercise.
    Another cause of the confusion might be the idea that the deadlift is somehow just a squat with the barbell in the hands, and that driving with the legs is best accomplished with a more squat-like starting position. But the deadlift is not a squat with the bar in the hands – it is a pull, a completely different piece of mechanics. And if it were a squat, you’d want your hips to be as high as you could get them because you can half-squat more weight than you can squat from a deep position since you don’t have to travel as far.
    Confusion about the correct starting position might also be due to the idea that the weight on the bar should not be allowed to pull you forward, and back is therefore the direction the bar should be pulled. But it should be obvious that the bar cannot be pulled back through the legs. Or the problem might be that an observation of the sumo-style deadlift as performed by competitive powerlifters has created an incorrect impression of the proper back angle in the conventional deadlift. Sumo technique employs a much wider stance, which produces the correct pulling position with a more vertical back angle. When a lifter tries to assume this position and back angle with a close stance, he lowers his hips to a point where he achieves the angle, but only at the expense of placing his shoulders behind the bar. Since the bar cannot leave the floor in this position, when the pull starts, the lifter’s hips will rise and the back angle will adjust itself to the point where the shoulders are in front the bar, and only then will the plates break off the floor.

    Figure 4-37. The correct starting position (A), and the position that often gets used instead (B). The correct position reflects proper pulling mechanics; from this position, the bar can leave the ground and travel in a straight path up to lockout. From the incorrect position, the bar cannot leave the ground with a heavy weight, yet many people think it is the correct position from which to pull. What actually happens is that the lifter “sets up” in position B, thinking that the bar leaves the ground from there, but he then raises his hips into position A before the bar leaves the ground. Even a cursory video analysis of any heavy deadlift clearly shows that this is always the case. This shift from setup to pull leaves the bar out in front of the shins as the knees pull back, producing a bar path that curves back toward the legs before it becomes vertical. The most efficient pull is a straight vertical line over the mid-foot, with the shoulders just in front of the bar. The closer to this model your setup position allows you to be, the better.

    It is an error in understanding the