01/04/2025
Deadlift guidelines
Most deadlift issues can be traced back to an improper setup. Unfortunately there’s no “one size fits all” and your setup position will be dictated by how you’re built and how some specific, diagnostics points come together. All three lifters in the picture are in a proper deadlift position for their anthropometry, but all of them may look distinctly different. Rip explains further in blue book:
“The question of exactly what the three reference angles should be is answered for each person individually since it depends on individual anthropometry. People with long femurs, long tibias, and relatively short torsos will have a more horizontal back angle and a more closed hip angle than people with long torsos and short legs, who will have a more vertical back angle and a more open hip angle. 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.
Arm length must also be considered when you are analyzing these angles. All other segment lengths being equal, short arms produce a more horizontal back angle and long arms produce a more vertical back angle. Long arms tend to mitigate the effects of a short torso, while short arms and a short torso make for a nearly perfectly horizontal back. To balance the effects of short arms and a short torso, people with this very unusual build might need to use a sumo stance, since a wide stance produces the more vertical back angle typically seen in people with more typical proportions.”
Rippetoe, Staring Strength Basic Barbell Training, 3rd Ed.
