3 Mobility Drills to Improve Your Deadlift

Does your low back hurt when you deadlift?  This is one of the most common complaints we see everyday athletes in our PT clinic for.  While an assessment is needed to properly identify what the root cause of the problem is, we commonly find people that are missing mobility with their deadlifts.

When someone is missing key areas of mobility, especially through the hips and hamstrings, this causes the low back to round in the bottom of the deadlift putting more stress on this area.  While mobility limitations in the deadlift alone is rarely the only cause, it can be a big role player in helping both reduce back pain during the deadlift and improving performance by putting you in a stronger position when pulling off the floor.

Check out 3 of our most used mobility drills to improve your deadlift:

Straight Leg Lowers

Tight hamstrings despite always stretching?  Try this movement to upgrade your typical stretching routine.  This not only stretches the hamstrings but simultaneously strengthens the core for long term mobility improvements.  Pull the toes towards you to maximize mobility.

Banded Hip Hinge

We work with many people who think their hamstrings are tight, but in reality improving the form of the hip hinge (or deadlift) can alleviate a lot of those feelings of tightness. Test your deadlift mobility, try this drill, and then retest how you feel picking the bar up. Chances are you’ll be able to get in a better position!

Banded Good Mornings

This drill is similar to the one above, but will stretch the back and hamstrings in a slightly different way that can give great benefits to your mobility.  Make sure to send those hips back as far as you can as the chest tips forward for this one.

There are some of our favorites that we regularly give our clients struggling with mobility in the deadlift.  Retest how you feel in the bottom position of the deadlift after performing these, if you notice instant improvement than it means it’s time to spend more time working on these!

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