Deadlift Kinematics

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hi everyone,

I have a quick question about the kinematics of the deadlift. I have always understood that for a maximal deadlift to be pulled from the floor, the shoulders must be in front of the bar i.e in line with the scapula. I have recently hired a coach who has removed deadlifts from my program in lieu of variations that are intended to ‘correct’ this forward shoulder position in favour of having the shoulders placed directly over the bar. I briefly explained to him the mechanics of the lift as I have understood from reading Rips article and also linked him two studies I was aware of which showed less horizontal displacement in deadlifts, cleans and snatches when shoulders were placed in the forward position.
Having said this, I have seen footage of sumo pullers e.g. Yury Belkin starting with their shoulders seeming to be directly over the barbell.
Could someone please give me some further explanation/ good resources to look at to better understand this.

Thanks,
Jack

2

Using very upright sumo deadlifters (like Yury) is probably not the best way to illustrate this. Try looking at almost anyone else, particularly conventional pullers.

1 Like
3

Did u ever figure this out? Im wondering the same thing because I see a lot of people on instagram etc pull heavy with the bar seemingly directly under their shoulders (conventional), @thedeadliftdemon,@professionalweakguy, @kinng67 for example
Im wondering if theres some way to pull like this becuase it might allow me to start slightly more upright (im almost parallel to the floor cuz i have a short torso relative to femur)