Written by Sam Coleman | Co-founder
Fact checked by Kirsten Yovino, CPT Brookbush Institute
FACT CHECKED
When you are deadlifting, little technical hitches can appear. But if you are only pulling submaximal weights those little technical hitches aren't very apparent. Now, when the weight is above 85% of your 1RM, technical hitches and weaknesses become apparent. It may be that you are pulling too slowly from the floor or you lack adequate lower back strength...and this is when the deficit deadlift comes into play.
The deficit deadlift is an advanced variation of the deadlift that has you performing a deadlift with your feet on a raised surface. This will increase the range of motion, so when you go back to the regular deadlift, your strength and technique will be greater. It's really a great way to blast past sticking points.
In this article, you are going to learn everything you need to know about the deficit deadlift:
- What a deficit deadlift exactly is
- Set ups for deficit deadlifts
- Proper form for deficit deadlifts
- Deficit deadlift muscles worked
- Benefits of deficit deadlifts
- Things to look out for when performing deficit deadlifts
- Programming tips
Let’s get ready to pull heavy baby.
WHAT IS THE DEFICIT DEADLIFT?
This deadlift variation has you pulling from a raised surface to increase the range of motion, increase your speed from the floor and improve your lower back strength. The thinking is when you go back to regular deadlifts, they’ll feel ‘easier’ because of this increase in ROM with the deficit deadlift.
Everything about this deadlift is like the conventional barbell deadlift except the raised surface. But this increase in ROM demands more from your upper back lower back and hip mobility, making this an advanced variation. Approach with caution.
HOW TO SET UP THE DEFICIT DEADLIFT
Although the deficit deadlift exercise is performed similarly to the conventional deadlift, you need to pay attention to a couple of things to get the best out of this exercise. First is the surface to deadlift from.
1) Elevated Surface:
When finding an elevated surface to deadlift from, more is not better. More is dangerous for your lower back. The ideal surface to deadlift from should be 2-4 inches from the ground. This includes 45-pound plates either metal or bumper or low wooden boxes. Make sure you screw your feet into the surface to create tension and stability.
2) Loading:
Due to the increase in ROM and the increased demand on your posterior muscles the resistance used for deficit deadlifts needs to be lighter than the conventional deadlift. A good rule of thumb is to use 10-25% less weight compared to your deadlifts.
3) Assume Your Conventional Deadlift Setup:
Set up as you would for your conventional deadlift. You will assume a slightly narrower stance if you’re deadlifting from weight plates. The position of your hips shouldn’t be altered to a large degree but a little more is demanded of your hip mobility. Hinge down to the bar, take a deep breath in, engage your upper back and pull the slack out of the bar. Keeping the bar tight will avoid the hips shooting up to quickly seeing they’re higher than normal.
4) Focus And Perform as Normal:
Pull from the floor as you would for the traditional deadlift and lower the same way too. Focus on controlling the barbell, keeping it close to the body, ensuring your hip hinging correctly and your hips are not shooting up too quickly and the spine is neutral the entire lift.
HOW TO DO THE DEFICIT DEADLIFT
- Stand on a weight plate or wooden box with the loaded barbell right in front on this surface. Set up as would for the conventional deadlift with your feet hip-width apart and barbell close to your shins.
- Perform a hip hinge to lower down to the barbell. Because you’re elevated you may need to bend your knees a little more than a normal deadlift to maintain a neutral spine.
- Grip the bar with your grip of choice. Keep your chest up, squeeze your armpits together to create tension, and keep a neutral spine. Keep engaging your upper back so your hips don’t shoot up too quickly and press your feet into the raised surface pull the barbell in a straight line.
- Keep pulling until your knee is extended and your glutes are locked out. Slowly lower back down keeping a neutral spine, then reset and repeat.
MUSCLES TRAINED BY THE DEFICIT DEADLIFT
- Glutes: A powerful hip extension is needed from the glutes at lockout to finish this lift.
- Hamstrings: The hamstrings are going to have even more stretching tension with the deficit deadlift, and as usual will assist the glutes with hip extension.
- Erector Spinae: These three spinal erector muscles that run up the back along the spine work extra hard to keep the spine neutral. The extra range of motion really helps to strengthen the entire lower back area for a faster pull from the floor.
- Upper Back: Engaging the upper back muscles pulls the slack out of the bar, keeps the spine neutral, and prevents the hips from shooting up to quickly. The extra ROM here will strengthen this entire area too.
- Quads: Your quads will be activated more than with a regular deadlift too, due to the increase range of motion at the knees.
- Forearms & Grip: As with any deadlift, your grip will be strengthened as you need to hold onto the heavy bar. No straps, and a overhand grip rather than a mix grip (which is more common) will increase the demand on your grip strength.
8 BENEFITS OF DEFICIT DEADLIFTS
This is an advanced deadlift variation with SEVERAL important benefits including:
1. IMPROVES STRENGTH IN THE BOTTOM POSITION:
It doesn’t go without saying that if you can’t pull from the floor or you’re slow from the floor, your deadlifting heavy days are numbered. The first third of the deadlift is the most difficult and by making it more difficult the hope is it will be easier when you go back to your conventional deadlift.
2. MORE TIME UNDER TENSION:
The increased range of motion results in better time under tension due to the starting position. This leads to increases in strength and mass in the lower back, upper back, and hamstrings. The disadvantaged position will make you more aware of your hip hinge form too.
3. IMPROVED LOWER BACK STRENGTH:
One of the reasons lifters are slow from the floor is they lack lower back strength. Because of the elevated surface, you sit deeper in the starting position, and this creates a greater torso lean. More is demanded from the lower back to avoid excessive rounding of the lower spine. The increased ROM increasing forces you to create maximal tension and strength in the bottom position which develops lower and middle back strength.
4. IMPROVED POSTERIOR STRENGTH:
The posterior chain is every muscle from your upper back to your calves. Strengthening these muscles has a huge bearing on improving your athletic performance as a lot of movements need a powerful hip extension. Plus, it will improve your overall hip stability and strengthen the muscles that are important for good posture. The deficit deadlift with its increased ROM will strengthen your posterior from back of neck to heel.
5. BUILDS QUAD STRENGTH:
Due to the increased range of motion the greater the need for joint flexion from your ankles, knees, and hips. Because you need to bend your knees more to reach the barbell, you use more of your legs and hips. This means the quads are more involved in the deficit deadlift than the conventional deadlift. If you pull sumo-style, the deficit deadlift has great carry-over to this movement because sumo deadlifts requires more quads.
6. GREAT CARRYOVER TO OTHER PULL LIFTS:
There are other lifts from the floor that require a powerful pull like explosive Olympic movements, such as the power clean, snatch and clean and jerk. When you have trouble pulling from the floor in any of these lifts incorporate the deficit deadlift. Increasing the ROM from which you pull may help improve your ability to pull from the floor.
7. IMPROVES YOUR REGULAR DEADLIFT:
Even if you don’t have any weakness in your pull the deficit deadlift is a great accessory exercise for the deadlift. The greater ROM from the starting position teaches the lifter the need for more power right out of the gate to get a heavier load up. Obviously, this has great carryover to your regular deadlift.
8. EXPOSES DEADLIFT WEAKNESSES:
You might know about your weak point pulling from the floor but there are other deadlifts ‘weaknesses’ that include:
- Rounding of the spine due to hip mobility.
- The barbell is too far away from the body due to the lack of upper back tightness.
- Locking out your glutes once the barbell passes your knee because of a lack of hip extension strength.
The increased range of motion may expose this weakness and performing the deficit deadlift at sub-maximal loads may help you iron out weaknesses for when you return to your regular deadlifts.
Interested in learning more about deadlifting benefits? Check out our article on the surprising benefits of deadlifting!
THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR WITH THE DEFICIT DEADLIFT
The increased range of motion means everything about your deadlift needs to be good to avoid injury and to get the most out of this lift. Here are a few things to look out for when doing the deficit deadlift:
- Higher Is Not Better: All you need to make this exercise effective is a two-four-inch box. Any more than that you’ll put your back at risk of injury and turn the exercise into a circus trick and not strength training.
- Be Careful of Your Lower Back: If you’re suffering from low back pain or coming back from injury, it’s best to avoid this exercise until you can hip hinge without pain.
- Upper Back Strength Is Important: An engaged upper back keeps the bar close, spine neutral, and stops your hips from shooting up too quickly. This area needs to be locked in the entire time.
- It’s Okay to Bend Your Knees: This is a hip-dominant movement and not a squat, but as with the regular deadlift, knee flexion is necessary. With the extra ROM of the deficit deadlift, bending your knees properly is even more important as it will keep the spine in neutral and take a little pressure off the low back.
- Perform In Four to Six Week Blocks: As it is a technically demanding lift that requires a lot of focus it’s best to perform in a four to six-week block to improve your performance for your regular deadlift. Any more than this, the risk of burnout and injury is higher.
PROGRAMMING SUGGESTIONS
The deficit deadlift is an advanced deadlift variation that stresses your posterior strength and the ability to keep a neutral spine under load. Therefore, it is best to perform early in your workout as a main strength exercise. Starting with a weight between 65-80% of your 1RM deadlift is a great starting point in any case.
When performing as a main strength exercise for the day, 3-4 sets of 3-6 reps work well. Performing a mobility and recovery exercise after that reinforces good deadlift form works well.
If you’re doing it as an accessory exercise, it is best done on the upper body prominent days after your big strength moves for the day. Aim for around 3 sets of 8-10 reps with around 65-75% of your 1RM.
Note: There are also variations of the deficit deadlift such as deficit sumo deadlifts and deficit stiff-leg deadlifts that you can implement into your routine.
Prepare to maximize your strength with our exclusive 13-week strength training program. 3, 4, and 5 day per week programming options.
WRAPPING UP
The deficit deadlift is a great exercise to improve posterior strength, strengthen your power from the floor, and expose weaknesses in your pulling technique. When performed for four to six weeks your regular deadlift will feel like magic. Poof, your 1RM just went up.
Related:
- The 11 Best Deadlift Variations
- The 4 Best Deadlift Alternatives
- How To Do The Dumbbell Deadlift Correctly
- Sumo Deadlift vs. Conventional: What's the Difference?
Sam Coleman
Author