How to Deadlift!

How to Deadlift! Featuring Eddie 'The Beast' Hall

This article is taken from our Gym Professor free online resource and was first penned back in 2015, The Gym Revolution was just a couple of months old and Eddie was yet to set his first World Record deadlift, let alone the magical 500kg deadlift, also, it was a couple of years before he'd become the World's Strongest Man.

The story of Deadlifting with Eddie begins...

2015, I was fortunate enough to join Eddie Hall, newly crowned Britain's Strongest Man, for a deadlift session. Eddie had recently failed a World Record Deadlift attempt, but was constantly impressing with his phenominal feats of strength; in particular, his deadlifting, including this now famous deadlift ladder set, below. If you've never watched it, you should! The set was a real talking point in gyms, at the time. It'll undoubtedly inspire a BIG deadlift workout of your own.

Death by Deadlift: The famous Eddie Hall deadlift ladder:

What I like about Eddie's deadlift:

What I like most about Eddie's deadlift is that he's simplified his conventional deadlift to achieve perfect technique and go from a 400kg deadlift to a superhuman 463kg deadlift world record. While none of us will ever lift anywhere near this, we can learn from Eddie's methods to improve our own deadlifts in the gym.

One very simple thing that Eddie states is to ensure that the bar travels in a straight vertical line to make the lift as efficient as possible. He practices this by placing tape on the floor in line with the bar and plants the middle of his feet on the tape (NB: Your foot position may be a little different, depending on your make up). He also uses my new Deadlift Deadener™ load distribution product; it's designed to avoid damaging the floor and gym equipment, but as a by-product it also encourages a straight vertical lift through the sagittal plane of the Deadlift Deadner™.

Something else, and it's something that I'd never heard, at the time, Eddie said "treat the deadlift like a leg press. Hold on to the bar as though they're handles on a leg press machine and then leg press the ground away from the bar". This sounds rather bizarre, but it helps achieve the best deadlift body-position of retracted shoulders, a neutral spine and a good angle at the knees and hips. Here's Eddie to explain these things himself, in the following video…

Eddie Hall's Deadlift Tips:

There's probably a couple more issues that I should address, as I will likely be asked about them…

Deadlift head-position:

First, head-position. You'll note that Eddie keeps his end in line with his torso (neutral). Many of the biggest deadlifters keep their head neutral during the deadlift. Some may prefer to keep their head up. Provided you have the correct body posture, as noted above, it doesn't make too much difference - it's whatever your preference is and what works for you.

Using lifting straps for Deadlifts:

Second, the use of lifting straps. When Eddie broke the Deadlift World Record there were some grumblings in the powerlifting community online that he was using straps. I might add that none of these grumblings came from anyone lifting anywhere near the same weight. Also, as many others have pointed out, straps are allowed in strongman deadlift. One thing I'd never question with a strongman is their grip-strength, it's generally something they're renowned for. I still asked Eddie about this, and he followed by repping out on 260kg with an over/ over grip and next to no chalk. For those that have tried an over/ over grip without straps, it feels like the bar's rolling out of your hands. Anyhow, world records aside, let's talk about straps…

…I feel that many general trainers become too reliant on the use of lifting straps and this is to the detriment of their grip strength and general lifting ability. If grip is a weakness, work on it! Like you would with any other aspect of your training, hopefully. An example where you might use them: if you're pushing new limits and/ or if it's a limiting factor, you might then stick them on to strengthen the weak link and increase confidence and avoid injury. The same goes for belts and other supports, in my opinion.

What about hand-position, feet and hips during the Deadlift?

Here's something else you should check out: Powerlifting legend Ed Coan gives many deadlift pointers, including position (hands, feet, hips, etc), in the following video with Mark Bell and Silent Mike at the Super Training Gym:

What more deadlift advice can you give me?

If these aren't already enough, here's a very good video courtesy of Colin Bryce, the main man behind Strongman here in the UK (now Giants Live!), in which he interviews powerlifting legend Andy Bolton. Andy was the first man to deadlift over 1000 lbs. I've always very much liked Andy's straight-talking no-nonsense advice. Here, Andy goes through some of the key steps we've mentioned:

The next chapter:

Back in 2015, this was the extent of the article on Gym Professor. It's had a lot of hits, over the years; so, hopefully, many have found it helpful and continue to do so. I've been fortunate enough to catch up with Eddie a few times since, including the grand opening of our gym in 2017, when Eddie came to open it, as the newly crowned World's Strongest Man.

At the time, Simon recorded this chat I had with Eddie, below, which is quite candid in his weight gain and knock-on to his health.

Look out for further articles on The Gym Revolution blog.