How to Warm-Up for Deadlifts for Stronger Lifts | Powerlifting Tips for Beginners
Do you have deadlifts programmed in, but not sure how-to warm-up?
While there are many ways to warm-up for a particular movement, some may be more efficient and more specific to the movement than others.
The goal of warming up for deadlifts is to prime the muscles that will be working the most and the ones that will enable you to get into the position needed for your deadlift variation. These are some of the warmups I like to perform to get ready on deadlift days!
Warming Up Your Hips & Glutes
A deadlift is a hip hinge movement, which is a fundamental movement pattern responsible for helping you pick things up off the ground. So, it would only make sense to prime your hips to prepare for deadlifts. Your hips go into flexion when lowering the barbell and extend when standing up with the barbell.
You also need to create torque (external rotation) at the hips to generate greater power output and to ensure your knees don’t cave in.
Warm-up exercises I recommend doing for the hips are hip airplanes and banded glute bridges.
Hip airplanes
Hip airplanes are a great exercise to loosen up your hip internal and external rotation.
You perform this by standing on one leg with your knee slightly bent and hips back as if you’re doing a Romanian deadlift. Next, you rotate your torso toward the ceiling until you feel a good stretch on the outside of your hip/glute while trying to keep your knee from collapsing inward. After you come back to the starting position, rotate your torso toward the ground.
You can hold your arms out to the side like airplane wings to help you balance or you can hold on to a bar for greater stabilization. Perform a set of 10 - 20 reps each.
Banded Glute Bridges
Banded glute bridges are a great exercise for activating the glutes, hamstrings, hip abductors, core, and lower back.
The band placed around your knees challenges the hip abductors because you must keep your knees pushed out to keep tension on the band and not allow your knees to cave in. This really helps emphasize creating more torque to generate more power in the hips when deadlifting. This exercise also emphasizes hip flexion and extension just like the deadlift.
To perform the banded glute bridge, you will first lie on you back and place a resistance band over your knees. Next, bend your knees and place your feet flat on the ground. Lift your hips off the ground by pushing through your heels until your hips align with your knees. Make sure that you squeeze your core and avoid arching your lower back.
Many times, people drive their hips too far up which causes them to arch their lower back. We want to avoid this as this puts a lot of strain on your lower back and doesn’t allow for optimal glute engagement.
One way I ensure I don’t arch is by posteriorly tilting my pelvis so that my lower back is pressed to the ground, then I squeeze my core and drive my hips up while maintaining that pelvic position. Perform this for 1 - 2 sets of 12 - 20 reps.
Warming Up Your Back
When deadlifting, your back muscles work to help stabilize, support, and extend the spine. Your back also works to keep the bar close to your body during the lift for optimal positioning for a stronger, safer, and more efficient lift.
The back warm-ups I recommend for deadlifts are the cat-cow and banded good-mornings.
Cat-Cow
Cat-cow is a great exercise to unlock your spine and acquire greater spinal awareness. This is critical to avoid any excessive arching or rounding and enables you to lock your back into the most optimal and safest positioning to complete the lift.
To perform the cat-cow, you will first get on all fours, making sure your hands are aligned with your shoulders and knees are aligned with your hips. Next, you’re going to take a deep breath in while arching your lower back and extending your head and chest toward the ceiling.
When you reach full extension of your spine, start to exhale while squeezing and tucking your glutes in, tuck your stomach in toward your spine, round your upper back and tuck your head in toward the ground.
To get a better visualization, pretend you’re trying to bend to look like the shape of a rainbow or an upside down “U”. Drive your hands into the ground to help round your upper back more.
You can also perform a segmental cat-cow in which you isolate the lumbar, thoracic, and cervical spine individually instead of moving the entire spine at the same time. Isolating spinal regions can help yield greater spinal control and awareness over time. Perform this for 15 - 20 reps.
Banded Good-Mornings
The next warm-up exercise I recommend for your back is the banded good morning. This exercise not only warms up your back, but it also targets glutes and hamstrings too, and it’s a hinge movement!
To start, stand on one end of the band and position your feet hip width apart. Next, grab the other end of the band and place it around the top of your traps. Slightly bend your knees and push your hips back as far as they can go while keeping your back flat.
Make sure you’re squeezing your shoulder blades back and squeezing your core to avoid rounding your back. After you sit your hips back as far as they can go, drive your feet into the ground and stand straight up. Perform this for 1 - 2 sets of 15 - 20 reps.
Warming Up Your Core
Your core wraps around your torso in a 360-degree manner and is critical for maintaining spinal stability and generating more power during the deadlift.
The core exercises I recommend doing are the McGill big 3, which is composed of the McGill crunch, side plank, and bird dog.
McGill Crunch
To perform the McGill crunch, lie on your back with your hands placed over your lower back and bend one knee while keeping the other leg straight.
Next, tuck your chin in then squeeze your core and crunch your torso up only a few inches off the ground and hold for a few seconds. Lower yourself back down to the starting position in a slow and controlled manner.
Make sure you don’t crunch up too high; we want to avoid movement in the lower back and hip flexors as this movement focuses on stabilizing the anterior core muscles. Perform 2 - 3 sets of 6 reps with 8 - 10 second holds.
Side Plank
For side planks, you’ll start by lying on your side with your legs straight and position your elbow to be inline with your shoulder. Once your elbow and shoulder are in line, lift your hips off the ground and hold yourself up.
Make sure your feet, knees, hips, shoulders, and head are aligned. You want to avoid sagging your hips or rotating your torso. Perform this for 2 - 3 sets of 6 reps with 10 second holds.
Bird Dog
When performing the bird dog, you’ll start by going on all fours and ensuring your hands are aligned with your shoulders and knees are aligned with hips.
Next, squeeze your core then reach your opposite arm and leg straight out and hold for a couple of seconds. Slowly bring your arm and leg back in then switch sides.
Make sure you continue to squeeze your core tight and avoid kicking up so you won’t arch your lower back. Try to keep a neutral spine throughout the movement. Perform this for 2 - 3 sets of 6 reps with 2 - 3 second holds.
These are my current favorite deadlift warm-ups! Remember, there are many different ways to warm-up for a movement; choose the ones that are most optimal for you and that fit your time schedule. If you have any overactive “tight” muscles that inhibit you from getting into position for a particular movement, this is the area you want to put emphasis on stretching in your warm-up.
Give these warm-up movements a try on your next deadlift day and let us know how it goes!
