Deadlift

How to do it

1. Stand with the bar over the middle of your foot, feet hip-width apart.
2. Reach down and grip the bar just outside your legs, arms straight.
3. Lower your hips until your shins touch the bar. Chest up, back straight, and "tighten" the bar (take out the slack).
4. Take a breath, brace your abs and push the floor away with your legs, keeping the bar against your body.
5. Once the bar passes your knees, drive your hips forward until you're standing tall, glutes squeezed.
6. Lower it by reversing the movement: hips back first, then bend the knees once the bar has passed them.

Cues

• The bar travels in a straight line, brushing your legs.
• Push the floor away; don't pull the bar with your back.
• At the top: stand tall and straight, without leaning back.

Common mistakes

• Rounding the lower back (stop the set if it happens).
• Hips rising before the bar (a "reverse squat").
• Hyperextending your back at the top.
• Bar drifting away from your body.