If you want to get a stronger deadlift, working up to possibly even three times your bodyweight or more, then you’re going to have to get your deadlift form right. One of the earliest places that you can intervene is with the tightness of your lats when you setup to the bar.

All too often, people forget to create genuine tightness in their lats which causes a loose upper body and one that is likely to succomb to gravity and allow the thoracic spine to round once they initiate the lift. This will instantly break down the stiffness of the torso that will be beneficial and necessary to lifting heavy weights on a deadlift and setting a new pr.

So what do you do?

Learn what real stiffness should feel like by using the $20 bill technique for tightness. Take out a twenty dollar bill and place it under the armpit on one side. Make sure to squeeze it tightly to your body and not allow it to slip out or drop to the floor at any point during the lift. In fact, even if given a slight tug at any point during the deadlift, the bill should not be able to be removed if you are properly engaging your lats.

Now if you don’t have twenty dollars you can certainly do this with a smaller bill or you can even place something thin like an envelope under your armpit and get the same effect.

The goal is not to go around deadlifting with bills in your armpits forever but rather to learn the proper technique and form on the deadlift to get the lats to be extremely active participants in the lift.

This is just one of the many form checks that you need to be aware of when working on getting a stronger deadlift. How far over the bar you are when you attempt to lift it is also extremely important. If you find yourself leaning too far forward then you are going to lose the leverage needed to break the bar off the ground. If you are sitting too far back then you are going to lose your balance as you get towards the top.

Likewise, forgetting to bring your glutes to the bar as you cross the knee and drive the bar to the top is a big deadlift mistake. It is important to remember that the exercise is less about lifting the bar straight up as it is extending the hips forward to drive the bar up. These are all important elements of the deadlift that you need to get right if you want to increase your deadlift strength.

For more ways to make sure you are getting every exercise right with proper form to build the most muscle possible, be sure to stay tuned to this channel and remember to subscribe so you never miss another video from a physical therapist with a pro sports background as a PT and strength coach.

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Jeff Cavaliere MSPT, CSCS served as both the head physical therapist and assistant strength coach for the New York Mets. Jeff earned his Masters of Physical Therapy and Bachelor’s of Physioneurobiology from the College of Health Sciences University of Connecticut Storrs. He is a certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA).

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