General pain versus severe pain
First, it is important to distinguish between pain and pain that may signal an injury. Since deadlifts put a lot of stress on the area between your ribs and hips (the lumbar spine), it’s normal for your back to hurt a bit after lifting, especially when starting out or after you increase your weights. You may also feel discomfort in your quads, hamstrings, and glutes, which is likely just delayed onset muscle soreness, or DOMS. DOMS is temporary and comes from inflammation in the muscles after you’ve worked them hard.
But understand, this is different from pain. “If you feel pain during the lift, you should stop the movement, realign and make sure your technique is correct,” says Long. Lower the weights or just use body weight and see if that helps, he suggests.
After your lift, if you feel pain that is sharp, sharp, or burning, see a doctor for evaluation. Some red flags for pain that should also be checked: a sharp pain that comes from a single point. pain that comes on suddenly and does not improve after about 72 hours. pain that affects the way you walk or your balance. and pain that wakes you up at night, radiates down your legs, or causes weakness, numbness, or tingling.
Training on the spot
If you have determined that what you are feeling is severe pain, refocus your training preparation. Always do a dynamic total body warm-up, focusing on activating and contracting the areas you are going to use. Buttock bridges and basic exercises such as planking and side boards it will help you activate the glutes, core and sides of the body you want to use in your lifts. (The core is crucial for lower-body movement; properly activating your abs helps with stability and proper energy transfer, says Long.)
An exercise called a deadlift—essentially the hip joint portion of a deadlift—can also help activate the entire posterior chain (the muscles along the back of the body).
Then try a warm-up set of deadlifts using light weights (or even just your body weight) to help you focus on form and technique. Once you know your muscles are contracting properly, you can move on to something heavier, Long says.
The last step is to make sure you are using the correct technique, no matter what movement you are doing.
How to do a proper deadlift
- Start with your feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent, weight evenly distributed between the ball and heel of your foot. Your weights (dumbbells, kettlebells or barbell) should be on the floor just in front of your feet.
- Engage your core (imagine someone is about to punch you in the stomach). Roll your hips back as if you’re hitting a wall behind you with your butt as your chest and head reach forward. Your gaze should follow this movement to keep your head aligned with your spine. Make sure your ribs stay stacked over your hips and you don’t arch your back.
- When you get to the point where you can no longer hinge because your hamstrings won’t allow it, bend your knees and continue to lower your body with your hips back until your hands reach the weights sitting on the floor.
- Inhale to prepare to lift the weights or barbell. Grab the weights in both hands while squeezing your shoulders together and drop down your back (imagine there’s a pencil between them that you don’t want to drop). Keep your spine straight.
- Exhale and squeeze your glutes to start the hips moving up and forward as you stand with the weights in your hands, pushing the ground away from you.
- At the top of the pose, the front of your hips should be completely straight and your glutes tight, glutes fully engaged underneath, quads tight, core engaged. This is a key step that will protect your back.
- Swing your hips back, head and chest reaching forward with the weights close to your body as you lower them back to the ground and repeat.
If you are attempting a Romanian deadlift, your overall form should be similar. The main difference between these two movements is that in a Romanian deadlift, you start by holding the weight in your hands. These work slightly different muscles. Standard deadlifts are easier for people with more limited hamstring flexibility.
How to do a proper Romanian Deadlift
- Start with your feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent, weight evenly distributed between the ball and heel of your foot. Hold two dumbbells, a kettlebell, or a barbell in your hands in front of your upper thighs.
- Engage your core (imagine someone is about to punch you in the stomach). Swing your hips back as if you want to hit a wall behind you with your butt, as your chest and head reach forward. Your gaze should follow this movement to keep your head aligned with your spine. Make sure your ribs are stacked over your hips and your back doesn’t arch.
- Keep the weights tight to the front of your feet as they move down, which will keep your lats engaged and help stabilize the spine. Press your shoulder blades together.
- When you reach a point where your hamstrings are preventing you from going down any further, pause. Don’t round your spine to try to get down.
- Exhale as you squeeze your butt and drive your hips forward as you push the ground away from you with your feet. Your pelvis, hips and shoulders should hinge as one unit as you return to the starting position.
Always finish your weightlifting with a post-workout stretch to keep the hips and surrounding areas mobile, says Long.
Overall, the more you practice at each range of motion, the stronger your deadlifts will be (and the less likely you’ll be to injure or strain your back), says Long. Some good moves to try include:
