When youre performing a deadlift, you want to learn how to Hinge at the hips, and not Squat your way down at the set up.The hip hinge is a flexion or extension originating at the hips that involves a posterior weight shift. With the hip hinge, you maintain a neutral spine, bending at the hips, with your knees slightly bent. This pattern relieves stress off of the lumbar spine and can prevent many injuries:1 Your hips will sit higher than parallel: less quad engagement and more hamstrings/posterior chain engagement.2Youll be able to keep your back tight which is very important in order to strengthen those core muscles of the back that we've seen in previous posts.3your shoulders will either be in line or beyond the bar, creating a favorable leverage for you to pull off of.Sitting too low will instead cause many consecutive problems: 1Sitting too low simply wont allow you to keep your lower back tight, making you start with a rounded lower back. Which is not always a good idea, especially when deadlifting. 2Youre not doing this exercise to specifically target your quads. 3Your shoulders are behind the bar, creating a NON-favorable leverage for you to pull the weight up.
