The deadlift lockout is perhaps one of the most botched things we see, particularly for the sport of Powerlifting where the rules stipulate the knees and hips must be locked out and the shoulders in a neutral position.
But does it matter for training? We think so!
Technically sound lifting means your body is being used the way it was intended, you create efficiencies and you minimise/mitigate injury.
So yea, it matters.
As you know we are big advocates of quality over quantity and with the deadlift it applies more than ever. Time and time again we see people attempting weight that they are just not ready for and as a result they compromise the quality and thus put themselves in high risk positions, all for the sake of some weight on a bar.
With the conventional deadlift, your knees and hips should lockout together in one synergistic movement. Lifters sometimes tend to lean back and use their bodyweight as leverage placing them in a position where the hips/knees are not locked out and the bar is hitched on to the thighs. Immediate red lights on the platform and in training it means you are not taking your joints (hips and knees) through a full range of motion to lockout.
Remember, you only get stronger in the ranges you train so you want to lock the knees and hips out and get strong through the full range.
To get this right, we recommend dropping the weight on the bar before adding weight. Progression is a good thing but only when you master the technical aspects of the lift. Of course that's in a perfect world and we don't live there but remember to take your time with intensity progression and make smart, calculated jumps in weight.
To help you think about perfecting the lockout we like to use this analogy:
Think of yourself as a puppet with a string attached to the top of your head. Imagine someone pulling the string until you were standing tall and erect. What would it look like? Well, it should be perfect with knees and hips locked out with a nice neutral spine.
STAND TALL is the queue we often use with lifters to remind them of this.
Give it a go and don't neglect your lockout!
