Increase Your Deadlift Max with These 5 Moves

To get better at the deadlift, you need to deadlift more because sometimes it pays to state the obvious. But lifting hard and heavy all the time in a bilateral stance is tough on the body and also weak points like lockout strength and strength imbalances between sides can creep up on you. That’s why we’ve reached out to these six expert trainers to share their favorite deadlift accessory exercises so that you can break the monotony of having to do the same deadlift day after day.

Better to Work Smarter, Not Harder

This is where accessory exercises are your best friend. Trained after your big strength movement for the day, accessory exercises strengthen strengths and strengthen weaknesses for a safer and stronger pull. Here we will go into what’s needed for a strong pull and 5 accessory exercises to help you bust through plateaus.

What’s Needed for Good Deadlift Technique

There are many different deadlift variations from regular, sumo, to pulling from blocks. But the following requirements for a good deadlift are nonnegotiable:

• Good hip-hinge technique: Obviously if you cannot keep a neutral spine under heavy load, hello back problems.
• Hip mobility: This goes hand-in-hand with good hip hinge technique. Hip mobility can be trained around but it always pays to work on it.
• Upper-back strength: A strong upper back keeps the bar close as your pull and helps keep the spine neutral.
• Core strength: For everything else to work as it should while deadlifting you need adequate core strength to keep your spine neutral so the larger muscles can do their job.

The following deadlift accessory exercises below work on these attributes and weak points such as lockout strength and keeping a neutral spine, etc. that will stop you from progressing. These 5 coaches and all their knowledge and experience share their 5 favorite exercises for a stronger pull.

Let’s dive in!