The deadlift is one of the most powerful total body, compound exercises a person can do to add quality muscle mass and strength.

You end up using almost every muscle in your body to do the lift:

— arms, forearms, and hands to grip the bar and keep it in position through the exercise
— shoulders and traps to keep the weight stable
— back and core to keep your body tight and spine secure
— posterior chain and legs to act as a lever and lift the weight

And that’s why I love it!

All that being said – learning to do the move safely and with good form, can be tricky. Specifically, the hip hinging movement that’s involved when a person deadlifts can be hard, even foreign for many people to learn.

A great way to train this I have found is using a kettlebell to learn the move. It’s a bit easier to sumo deadlift a KB properly because the weight can be set between the feet, and you automatically shift the weight distribution and start off in a little more advantageous position … and when you learn it correctly this way, it naturally transfers over to the straight bar deadlift.

Check out this video for a demo:

Another question I get frequently is HOW to incorporate the deadlift into your workouts – as in, how to mix it, as well as other barbell lifts, with your kettlebell and bodyweight exercise …

I will be back next time with a sample “hybrid” barbell / kettlebell / bodyweight workout for you, and I will be digging in to this topic more all week … so stay tuned! 🙂

Thanks so much for reading / watching, and talk soon –

– Forest Vance, MS, RKC II, PCC
ForestVance.com