How to deadlift For Seniors (55+)
As we age, maintaining strength and mobility becomes crucial for preserving our independence and quality of life.
One exercise that stands out in this regard is the deadlift—a movement often misunderstood and feared, yet incredibly powerful when performed correctly.
For seniors, the deadlift isn't just about lifting heavy weights; it's about building resilience, reinforcing the spine, and ensuring the body can handle the demands of everyday life.
In fact, I wrote an entire blog on the science of deadlifts for seniors HERE.
But to truly reap the benefits, form is everything. Incorrect technique can lead to injury, but when executed properly, the deadlift becomes a safe and effective tool for strengthening not only the back but the entire body. In this blog, we’ll break down the deadlift step-by-step, tailored specifically for seniors. We’ll explore how to perform this exercise with precision, ensuring that you build strength without risking harm. Whether you're new to deadlifting or looking to refine your technique, this guide will help you unlock the full potential of this fundamental movement.
5 Steps For a Perfect Deadlift
1. Stance
To begin a deadlift with proper form, start by positioning your shins about one-two inches from the bar. Your feet should be roughly hip-width apart, with your toes pointing slightly outward. This setup places the bar directly over the middle of your foot, ensuring that the bar path aligns with the force of gravity. Since gravity acts vertically, this alignment allows for the most efficient and safe bar path, minimizing unnecessary strain and maximizing your ability to lift the weight with proper technique.
2. Grab the Bar
With your shins positioned close to the bar, reach down and grab the bar with your hands just outside your knees but not so close that your thumbs touch your shins. Too narrow of a grip will lead to the knees collapsing in and too wide a grip will force you to have to lift the bar even higher off the ground.
3. Shins to the Bar
Now, without moving the bar, bring your shins forward until they make contact with it. This is crucial—if the bar moves during this step, you’ll undo the careful positioning we established earlier.
Once your shins touch the bar, stop moving your shins forward.
Many lifters, especially beginners, tend to continue shifting their hips, which will push the bar forward. This creates a longer lever arm between the bar and the hips and more torque on the lower back (we will get into this in depth later).
4. Chest Up
This step is often the most challenging but also the most critical. Lift your chest up, which will engage your back extensors and tilt your pelvis anteriorly. Resist the urge to squeeze your shoulder blades together, as this will drop you into more of a squat position, which is not what we want as we are deadlifting. Focus your gaze on the floor about 1-2 feet in front of you. This posture ensures that your back remains strong and safe during the lift, a key consideration for seniors aiming to avoid injury. If you find this step difficult, try practicing pelvic tilts on all fours to help build the necessary mobility and control.
From the "all fours" position, drop your belly to the ground and lift your chest. You can use one hand to feel the contraction of your lower back muscles (paraspinals). This is the position you want to be in when you do your Deadlift.
It is possible to tilt the spine too-far. However, most seniors I work with struggle with too-much rounding in the spine and don’t have the mobility to get “too-far” forward.
5. Pull
Before you begin the pull, take a big breath and hold it, pushing your abs out to brace your core. This breath creates intra-abdominal pressure, stabilizing your spine throughout the lift. Many of our clients, especially females, may use a “hissing” exhale as they move through the lift. This reduces the downward pressure on the pelvic floor while still providing some spinal support. The Valsalva maneuver, on the other hand, offers even greater spinal stability but comes with increased pressure on the pelvic floor. Understanding these differences is key to choosing the right technique for your body and goals.
As you begin the pull, keep the bar in contact with your legs—dragging it up your shins and thighs. If the bar loses contact with your legs, it increases the distance between the bar and your hips horizontally. This creates an additional moment arm and unnecsearily makes the deadlift harder.
At the top of the lift, stand tall in an anatomically neutral position—don’t lean back, shrug your shoulders, or pull the bar higher than necessary.
Down
Putting the bar back down on the ground is the exact opposite of going up and it’s done faster. To lower the bar, reverse the movement quickly by pushing your hips back and bending your knees once the bar passes them, returning to the starting position. Remember, the descent is just as important as the lift, and it’s common to see mistakes here, such as rounding the back or letting the knees move forward. Stay controlled and maintain good form throughout the entire movement to protect your back and build strength effectively.
Next, we will talk about the physics of the Deadlift. Understanding the physics behind the deadlift is crucial, as it explains why proper form and alignment are essential for maximizing strength while minimizing injury risk. You might want to grab some coffee as this is a bit technical.
Physics of the Deadlift
Gravity
When it comes to mastering the deadlift, especially for seniors, understanding the physics behind the movement is essential. The deadlift isn’t just about brute strength; it’s a sophisticated interplay of forces, levers, and angles that can either maximize your efficiency or set you up for injury.
The first physics concept we need to understand is gravity.
Gravity only works in one direction: straight towards the earth’s center. Let’s call that direction “down”.
To lift the barbell efficiently, you need to pull it straight up in a vertical path, directly against this gravitational force. We can call that direction "up”. This vertical bar path is the shortest and most efficient way to lift the weight, minimizing the amount of work your body has to do. Any deviation outside of this vertical path is inefficient at best and dangerous at worst.
Torque
In physics, a moment (often called torque) is the rotating force applied along a rigid bar, such as the end of a wrench or the spine in a deadlift. This force is most effective when applied at a 90-degree angle to the lever, much like how a mechanic applies force to a wrench to turn a bolt. See wrench examples below.
The further you are from the point of rotation (in this case, the barbell and hips), the greater the force required. This is why, in the deadlift, the barbell needs to stay close to the body—specifically, over the mid-foot—to minimize the moment arm and maximize efficiency.
With a bar that's further in front of the body, you can see how much longer the lever arm will be. Thus, torque on the hips and spine will be much greater.
When you deadlift, your body forms a lever system, with the hips acting as the fulcrum (the pivot point), the back and pelvis as the rigid segment, and the muscles of the posterior chain (glutes, hamstrings, and adductors) providing the force. The load—the barbell in your hands—pulls down in front of the hips, and the force generated by the posterior chain must be sufficient to lift this load.
There is a small amount of plantar flexion of the ankle and some extension of the knee during a deadlift. However, most of this motion happens at the hip so that is where we will focus our discussion.
On the short side of the lever are your glute and hamstring muscles which extend the hip.
The long side of the lever is the horizontal distance between the bar and the hip joint.
To ensure that the bar travels in a straight line, it must start as close to your center of mass as possible. This is directly over your mid-foot. This position keeps your body balanced and allows you to apply force effectively through your legs and hips without tipping forward or backward.
BACK ANGLE
Your back angle during the deadlift is critical.
If you follow the setup steps above, you’ll find the right back angle for you.
Back Too Veritcal:
This happens when a lifter starts too close to the bar, moves the bar away from the shins, or allows the shins to keep moving forward once they’ve touched the bar.
It will likely push the barbell forward from the midfoot creating additional torque on the spine.
It places the lats at a less than 90-degree angle and makes it tough to keep the barbell close to the body
Back too vertical
Back Too Horizontal:
This happens when a lifter starts too close to the bar OR pulls the bar towards the shins instead of brining the shins to the bar.
It makes the angle of the lats relative to the arm bone greater than 90 degrees and decreases efficiency.
Because your hamstrings are already very taught, this makes it tougher to activate the lower back muscles .and get into a neutral spine position.
Back too horizontal
If I had to pick one extreme, i’d take a more horizontal back position as it minimizes the distance of the bar from the hips and makes the hamstrings taught to take more of the load. where your shoulders are slightly in front of the bar, positions your lats at a 90 degree angle relative to the scapual (the optimal angle for torque generation) and allows you to keep the bar close to your center of mass. This setup allows you to generate maximum force to lift the bar while maintaining stability and minimizing the risk of injury.
Some will object and say that the deadlift should be done with a vertical trunk angle to reduce shear forces on the spine.
However, the facet joints anatomical alignment are built to handle shear forces AND the core stability and lower back muscle contraction will counteract the shearing forces.
The horizontal trunk forces more work from the back extensors and thus demands that the back muscles work. The Deadlift is, after all, a back exercise.
The Role of the Latissimus Dorsi in Stabilization
An often overlooked aspect of the deadlift is the role of the latissimus dorsi (lats) in maintaining the correct bar path. The lats pull the humerus (upper arm bone) back towards the body, which helps keep the bar close to the shins and maintain a straight line of pull. If the lats are not engaged, the arms may drift forward, causing the bar to move away from the body and increasing the moment arm, making the lift more difficult.
To maintain this optimal position, the arms must hang at a slight angle (7-10 degrees) behind vertical during the initial pull, allowing the lats to stabilize the shoulders and keep the bar close to the body. This angle is key to ensuring that the back angle stays constant as the knees and hips extend to initiate the lift.
As you can see below, if your back angle is too horizontal your lats will be at an angle greater than 90 degrees. If your back is too vertical, your lats will be less than 90 degrees. 90 degrees is optimal.
If you follow the setup steps above, you’ll be sure to find the correct angle for your body.
The Mechanics of the Pull
As you pull the bar off the floor, the knees and hips should extend together while the back angle remains constant, keeping the bar close to the shins. The quadriceps initiate the lift by extending the knees, while the hamstrings and glutes maintain the back angle by anchoring the pelvis.
If the back angle changes too early—if the hips rise before the bar leaves the floor—the load shifts entirely onto the hip extensors, creating an inefficient pull and potentially leading to a rounded back. This error not only compromises the lift but also increases the risk of injury.
As the bar reaches knee height, the hip extensors take over to complete the lift, fully extending the hips and locking out at the top. At this point, the spine should remain neutral, with the chest up and the shoulders back, ensuring that all the force generated by the legs and hips is transferred through the back and into the bar.
Each person will have a different set of knee, hip, and back angles, but the correct starting position for everyone will have the previously discussed things in common: the shoulders will be slightly in front of the bar; and the bar will be touching the shins directly over the mid-foot, resulting in the vertical alignment of the scapula, bar, and mid-foot. If this alignment is correct, and if the arms are straight, the feet are flat on the floor, and the back is in good thoracic and lumbar extension, the resulting reference angles are correct for that person’s anthropometry. Of the three angles, the back angle will exhibit the most obvious individual variability, easily seen by an informed observer.
Bar on the shins and the bar over the midfoot
Shoulders slightly in front of the bar (this is to position the lats at a 90 degree angle relative to humerus for optimal torque).
Back is in good thoracic and lumbar extension.
How to get started
Find the right variation
If you’ve never deadlifted before, start using a kettlebell. You can even do these elevated if need be. Once you can kettlebell deadlift a 34 pound kettlebell 5 times confidently and smoothly, you’ll be ready for a barbell deadlift with a training bar. If you only have access to a standard 45-pound bar, work up to a 54 pound kettlebell before switching to the bar.
Elevated Kettlebell Deadlift
Kettlebell Deadlift From Ground
Although the Kettlebell will allow for different movement patterns than a barbell deadlift, it’s great for preparing the body and nervous system for Barbell Deadlifts.
There are many ways to perform a deadlift. Two of the most common are conventional deadlifts and sumo deadlifts.
Sumo Deadlift
The sumo-style deadlift uses a wider stance with the arms inside the legs. The allows for a more vertical trunk angle by shortening the moment arm on the spine and thus reduces the load on the back and the posterior muscles (hamstrings and glutes) and puts more load on the quads. Since one of the primary aims of the deadlift is to strengthen the back, I recommend using a conventional deadlift whenever possible. We will let our squats strengthen our quads.
Barbell deadlift
Start with a training bar.
2. Maybe the 45# with 10# plates for a more advanced lifter.
3. Can get creative with just a 45# that’s elevated if you have to.
Warm Ups vs. TARGET SETS
I recommend doing 4 warm up sets and then 3 working sets of 5 reps. You can see our suggested Deadlift Warm Up Progression here. In black, you’ll see the target set weight someone is shooting for. In green, the warm up set weights.
For any target set less than 85 pounds, we recommend using the same weight for all warm up sets for simplicity’s sake.
Do your first warm up set using the same number of reps that you will do in the target sets. Slowly decrease reps as you work through the 4 warm up sets. This will make sense when we get to the example below.
Progress Gradually: The 5 Pound Rule
As you build strength and confidence, it’s important to progress gradually. Here’s a simple guideline for increasing your weights:
Increase by 5-10 Pounds: Once you can perform 3 sets of 5 reps with perfect form at your current weight, it’s time to increase the load. Add 2.5 pounds to each side of the barbell (5 pounds total) and see how it feels.
Monitor Your Form: Only increase the weight if you can maintain good form throughout all reps. If your form starts to break down—if your back rounds, or if you struggle to complete the reps—stick with the current weight until your form improves
Below is an example workout.
The lifter added 5 pounds to the target sets of each workout. At the third workout, on January 8th, he started to feel his form was comprised. So he repeated the same weight again on Thursday January 11th and was able to do all the reps with good form. If he did another workout, I would suggest going up to 110 pounds for the target sets.
Frequency and Volume
For seniors, deadlifting 2 times per week is ideal. This frequency allows enough practice to improve technique while providing sufficient recovery time.
Start with 3 sets of 5 reps per session. This rep range is effective for building strength while keeping the volume manageable. As you progress, you can explore different rep ranges (e.g., 4 sets of 8 reps) depending on your goals.
Listen to Your Body
Ensure you have at least one rest day between deadlift sessions. Your muscles need time to recover and grow stronger. Overtraining can lead to fatigue and increase the risk of injury.
Adjust based on fatigue. If you feel unusually fatigued or sore, consider reducing the weight or taking an extra rest day. Progress isn’t linear, and it’s better to be cautious than to push too hard and risk injury.
Track Your Progress
Maintain a workout log to track the weights you lift, the number of reps, and how you feel after each session. This will help you see your progress over time and make informed decisions about when to increase the weight. A simple notebook will work fine.
Consider Professional Guidance
If you’re unsure about how to set your starting weight or progress safely, consider working with a coach or trainer, especially in the beginning. A professional can help you tailor a program to your specific needs, monitor your form, and provide valuable feedback as you progress.
Take back your health,
Dr. Matt
