About this episode

This episode explores the mechanics of the deadlift, emphasizing the importance of grip and leverage in lifting.

There’s a word that gets thrown around a lot in lifting: leverage. People say it constantly, but the way it’s used often doesn’t match what’s actually happening mechanically. So let’s slow it down. When you pick something heavy up off the floor, you have three variables in play: your load (the bar), your pivot point (your hips and knees), and your effort (the posterior chain doing the work). The lever arm — the thing that determines how hard or easy the lift feels — is your torso. Not your hands. Your hands aren’t where your leverage lives. But here’s the part that doesn’t get talked about enough: grip still matters enormously, just not for the reason most people think. The way you take hold of the bar determines how well you’re anchored — to the bar, and to yourself. A grip that pulls the bar in toward you does two things at once: it moves the load closer to your pivot point (making it mechanically lighter) and it creates a line of sensory feedback that travels all the way up through your arms and into your back. That feedback is what allows your posterior chain to actually engage in the movement rather than just endure it. This is why I re-grip every single rep. Not for…

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