Everything Wrong
With Your Deadlift —
And How to Fix It

The deadlift doesn't lie. There's no bounce, no stretch reflex, no spotter. The bar comes off the floor or it doesn't. Which is exactly why it exposes technical faults faster than any other lift.

These are the five faults I correct most often on our platform — and the fix for each.

Fault 1: Starting With the Bar Too Far Forward

If the bar starts over your toes, the first thing that happens on pull is the bar swinging back toward you — wasted force, lost position.

The fix: bar over mid-foot, roughly an inch from your shins. When you hinge down, your shins come to the bar, not the bar to you.

Fault 2: Treating It Like a Squat

Dropping the hips too low turns the deadlift into a bad squat. Your hips rise first, the bar stays put, and the lift turns into a back extension.

The fix: set your hips where they naturally want to be — higher than a squat, lower than a stiff-leg. Shoulder blades directly over the bar. When the bar leaves the floor, hips and shoulders rise together.

"The deadlift is a push, not a pull. You're pushing the floor away — the bar just happens to be in your hands." — Cole Brandt

Fault 3: Losing the Lats

A bar drifting away from the body mid-pull adds inches to the moment arm and kilos to the effective load on your spine.

The fix: before you pull, bend the bar around your shins. That cue fires the lats and keeps the bar dragging up your legs the entire lift.

Fault 4: Jerking the Slack

Yanking a loaded barbell means the plates crash upward into the bar before your body has tension. Best case, you lose position. Worst case, your low back takes the hit.

The fix: pull the slack out first. Squeeze until you hear the click of the bar against the plates, build tension, then break the floor.

Fault 5: Hyperextending the Lockout

The lift finishes when hips and knees are straight and shoulders are stacked over hips. Leaning back further isn't extra credit — it's lumbar hyperextension under load.

The fix: finish with glutes, not lower back. Stand tall, squeeze, done.

The Bottom Line

None of these fixes require more strength. They require attention. Film your pulls from the side, check one fault per session, and your deadlift will climb before you ever add a plate.