When it comes to finding exercise that focus on building strength and mass in the most effective way, it’s hard to top the king of all weightlifting exercises: the good ol’ deadlift.

“Strong people are harder to kill than weak people and more useful in general” – Mark Rippetoe

Beautifully simplistic in the execution – you just pick the bar off the floor – the deadlift is a compound exercise which engages an insane number of muscle groups, including:

• Core
• Back
• Quads
• Hamstrings
• Biceps
• Forearms
• Hips
• and everything in between

There are very few exercises you can do that engages that many muscle groups. The squat can be a contender but that lift is more focused on lower body with minimal upper body engagement.

The exercise itself, though, can easily be measured if you know how much you can handle. Many people are put off by using this exercise through fear they’ll over do it and hurt themselves.

Many newbies to the gym prefer to work isolation exercises like bicep curls and tricep push downs when they should be focusing on the big lifts like deadlifting to build a strong strength base.

Benefits of deadlifting

• It helps to work such a wide array of muscles. From improving your grip in your hands to the tension your calves can take, everything will feel heightened. This works your whole body, more or less, due to the immense pressure deadlifting has on us.
• Those with back and hip pain can notice a big benefit in mobility and solidity within these muscles in the future. deadlifting helps to work these out, too, strengthening that core and your general stamina.
• The weighted effect of using a deadlift means your body is likely to feel more explosive afterward. You might feel powered up and cumbersome, but remove the deadlift and your agility will surprise you!
• Provides your bones with a great workout for improving strength and adding resistance. If you feel weakened or brittle in just about any part of the body, training to become an effective deadlifting expert can assist.

One of the main challenges in successful deadlift movements is likely to be getting the movement right. You’ll have to appreciate that to be good at such a technique, you have to hold a clear understanding of muscular balance, and using your hips as a key pivot point.

If you are interested in attaining access to this piece of fitness royalty, keep in mind the learning curve involved beforehand.

Deadlifting with safety

Of course, all exercises have to be managed and cared for in the right way. Some of the most common problems that you wish to avoid include;

• Holding your hips too high as you begin your lift, causing your back to curve.
• Relying on your knees to do the initial lifting, caused by your hips being too low instead.
• Starting with a rounded back.

Instead, always make sure that you keep your chest up strong, and our heels doing most of the pushing. Drive with your heels, as it forces your hips into the hinging maneuver that we need. This allows you to get the strength you need when starting out to push through.

Deadlifts are a challenge, but they are a challenge well worth persevering with. If your aim is to get stronger and bigger, it doesn’t get any better than deadlifts.