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Form guide · Deadlift

How to Deadlift With Proper Form

The deadlift is the most direct test of full-body strength — and the lift people are most nervous about. Most of that fear comes down to one thing: keeping a neutral spine.

The deadlift gets a bad reputation it doesn't deserve. It's not inherently dangerous — it's a hip hinge, the same movement you use to pick anything up off the floor. What makes it risky is doing it with a rounded lower back under load, which is exactly the mistake good technique prevents.

This guide focuses on the hinge: how to load your hips and hamstrings while keeping your spine neutral, how the bar should travel, and the cues that keep your back flat from the floor to lockout.

How to do it, step by step

  1. 1

    Set up over the bar

    Stand with the bar over your midfoot, feet about hip-width apart. The bar should be close to your shins, roughly an inch away.

  2. 2

    Hinge down to the bar

    Push your hips back and bend your knees slightly to lower your hands to the bar. Grip just outside your legs. Your shins come to the bar, not the bar to your shins.

  3. 3

    Set a neutral spine and take the slack out

    Lift your chest, set your lats (think "protect your armpits"), and pull gently up on the bar until you feel it engage — this removes the slack before you lift. Your back should be flat, not rounded or hyperextended.

  4. 4

    Drive through the floor

    Push your feet into the ground and stand up, keeping the bar dragging close to your body. Your hips and shoulders should rise together — hips shouldn't shoot up first.

  5. 5

    Lock out and lower

    Finish standing tall with hips fully extended and glutes squeezed — don't lean back. Return the bar by hinging your hips back first, then bending your knees, keeping the same flat back the whole way down.

What Tip Top's AI checks

Chest stays up, spine stays neutral through the hinge — no rounding at the top of the pull.

Tip Top Fitness's AI tracks your hip-hinge angle (shoulder–hip–knee) on every rep and watches for the pattern of a rounding back: your chest dumping forward while the hinge angle stays high, which means the movement is coming from your spine instead of your hips. When it sees that, your coach cues "keep your chest up, drive through your heels." On a single side-on camera this is a best-effort read, but it reliably catches the habit before it becomes your default.

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Muscles worked

Primary

  • Glutes
  • Hamstrings
  • Spinal erectors

Supporting

  • Lats
  • Traps
  • Forearms / grip
  • Core

Common mistakes (and how to fix them)

Rounding the lower back

The mistake that actually matters. A rounded lumbar spine under a heavy load is where deadlift injuries come from. Keep your chest up and your spine neutral; if your back rounds as soon as you start the pull, the weight is too heavy or the bar started too far from you.

Hips shooting up first

If your hips rise faster than your shoulders, the bar drifts forward and your lower back takes over. Cue your hips and chest to rise together, and keep pushing the floor away rather than yanking with your back.

The bar drifting away from your body

A bar path that swings out in front of you massively increases the load on your spine. Keep the bar dragging up your shins and thighs — close to the body is both safer and stronger.

Hyperextending at lockout

Leaning back and "cracking" your hips forward at the top doesn't add anything and stresses your lower back. Finish tall and neutral: hips under shoulders, glutes squeezed, ribs down.

Why it's worth training

  • Trains the entire posterior chain — glutes, hamstrings, and back — in one movement.
  • Builds real-world strength: it's literally the pattern for safely lifting things off the ground.
  • Develops a powerful grip and a stable, braced core.
  • Among the best returns on investment of any single exercise for full-body strength.

Frequently asked questions

Is deadlifting bad for your back?

No — done with a neutral spine, the deadlift strengthens your back and the muscles that protect it. What's hard on your back is lifting with a rounded lower spine under load. Good technique and sensible loading make it one of the most valuable strength exercises.

How do I stop my back from rounding when I deadlift?

Set your chest up and brace before you pull, keep the bar close to your body, and make sure your hips and shoulders rise together. If your back still rounds at the start, the weight is likely too heavy or the bar is too far from your shins. Real-time form feedback can flag rounding rep by rep so you catch it early.

Where should the bar start?

Over the middle of your foot, about an inch from your shins. From there you hinge down to the bar — you shouldn't have to reach forward for it.

Should hips or knees move first?

Off the floor, drive through your legs and let hips and shoulders rise together. On the way down, the hips move back first (the hinge), then the knees bend once the bar passes them.

Stop guessing about your deadlift form.

Tip Top Fitness watches every rep through your phone camera, counts them, and tells you the one thing to fix — in real time.

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