The deadlift is picking a loaded barbell up off the floor and standing up to full hip and knee extension. It is one of CrossFit's nine foundational movements and the base for the clean, the snatch and the sumo deadlift high pull. Workouts often ask for many reps against the clock, so this lesson teaches CrossFit's own points of performance and when to slow down or drop the load.
Set your position
Stand with your feet about hip-width apart, under your hips, and the bar over the middle of your feet, roughly above the knot of your shoelaces.
feet under your hips, bar over your laces.
Hinge down and take a full grip with your hands just outside your hips, wide enough that your arms won't hit your legs. Start with both palms facing you (double overhand). CrossFit also has you practise hook and mixed (alternate) grips, keeping the grip symmetrical. With mixed grip, the arm with the palm facing out is the one where biceps tendon tears have been reported, with the elbow straight.
thumbs wrapped, both hands the same distance from the centre.
Bring the bar into contact with your shins and set your shoulders over, or slightly in front of, the bar. Arms straight, inside of your elbows facing each other, eyes on the horizon. If your shoulders end up behind the bar, raise your hips. If your hips are too high, lower them until your shoulders are back over the bar.
shins touching the bar, shoulders just ahead of it.
Brace before you pull: keep the natural curve of your lower back, lift your chest, tighten your abs and set your lats so your shoulders don't round forward. Don't squeeze your shoulder blades all the way back or arch past neutral. Keep your weight on your heels.
a rigid trunk, chest up, heels heavy.
Stand it up
Push through your heels and let your hips and shoulders rise at the same rate until the bar passes your knees. Your back angle stays about the same for this first part. Your arms stay straight; they are straps, not pullers.
pushing the floor away with your whole back angle locked.
Keep the bar in contact with your legs and moving straight up over the middle of your foot. Heels stay down the whole way.
the bar dragging up your shins and thighs.
Once the bar passes your knees, open your hips and finish at full hip and knee extension. In CrossFit competition a rep counts when your hips and knees are fully extended and your head and shoulders are behind the bar. Stand tall to get there; don't lean back or over-arch your lower back.
standing tall with knees and hips straight, not leaning back.
Lower with control
Start the way down by pushing your hips back, and wait to bend your knees until the bar is below them. Keep the bar close and the curve of your lower back held until the plates touch.
hips back first, knees bend late.
Reps under fatigue
In a workout, keep moving fast only while the points of performance hold. If your lower back starts to round or the bar drifts off your legs, slow down first, then lower the load, and stop the set if the reps don't improve. Repeated lifting has been shown to tire the back muscles and increase lower-back bending as the reps pile up.
speed is the first thing you give up, not position.
Feel it
Chest up, abs tight, weight on your heels, arms hanging like straps. The bar drags up your legs, your hips and shoulders rise together until it clears your knees, then your hips open and you stand tall. Some rounding tends to creep in as the weight gets heavier, and studies haven't shown a consistent link between that rounding and injury. CrossFit's rule is still to hold the lower-back curve: losing it mid-rep is the position it rates as riskiest, so treat a rep where it goes as too heavy for today.
Fix-its
- Your lower back rounds Stop that rep and drop the load to a weight where you can keep the curve. At the lighter weight, think "lift the chest" through the whole pull. In a workout, slow down or scale before your position goes.
- Your hips rise before your chest (stiff-legged deadlift) Lift your chest more aggressively off the floor so your hips and shoulders rise together. A coach or partner can touch your hips and shoulders as a cue to move them in unison.
- Your shoulders rise first and the bar goes around your knees Push your knees back as your chest rises. Check your set-up: your hips may be too low, putting your shoulders behind the bar.
- The bar comes away from your legs Pull the bar in to your legs the whole time and set your lats before you pull.
- Your weight shifts to your toes Pull your hips back, settle onto your heels and drive through them.
Drill
- Set-up check: walk up to an empty barbell, set your feet, grip and shoulders, and hold the start position while a partner or a side-on video checks shins on the bar, shoulders over or just in front of it, and a flat lower back.
- Empty-bar warm-up: 6 deadlifts with an empty barbell between other warm-up movements, watching for the lower-back curve on every rep.
- Hips-back lowering: slow reps where you start the way down by pushing your hips back and only bend your knees once the bar is below them.
- Tactile cue reps: a partner rests a hand lightly on your hips and one on your upper back so you feel them rise together off the floor.
- Build the load gradually and film from the side. When your reps start drifting from the points of performance, take weight off, fix it there, then build back up.
Sources
- CrossFit — Level 1 Training Guide: The Deadlift (movement guide, faults and corrections) and Glassman, "The Deadlift" (2003), pp. 123–125, 194–200 (2020 ed.)
- CrossFit — Level 2 Training Guide and Workbook: Summary Sheet: Deadlifts, Midline Stabilization, Active Shoulders, Threshold Training, pp. 6, 26, 29–31, 37, 69 (2020)
- CrossFit Games — Open 22.2 Scorecard, Deadlift Movement Standards (2022)
- Shoji et al. — Load-dependent increase in lumbar kyphosis is associated with posterior pelvic tilt during deadlift, Front Sports Act Living (2025)
- Dolan & Adams — Repetitive lifting tasks fatigue the back muscles and increase the bending moment acting on the lumbar spine, J Biomech (1998)
- Kapicioglu et al. — The Role of Deadlifts in Distal Biceps Brachii Tendon Ruptures, Orthop J Sports Med (2021)
Last checked 2026-10-26.