Make Deadlifts Useful for Olympic Weightlifting

See Also - • Deadlifts for Olympic ...
Are deadlifts useful for Olympic weightlifting? Sure, as long as they look a lot like a clean…
Strength is very position and movement-specific-the more similar a training motion is to what we want stronger, the more the strength it builds will help.
However, less similar strength movements don’t just help less-they can actually be counterproductive, and the deadlift is a good example of this.
When we pull a clean, we want a rigidly extended back, a posture that keeps us upright but over the bar, and even balance over the whole foot.
If our heaviest pulling work is conventional deadlifts that start with high hips, shift balance to the heels, bring the shoulders behind the bar, and round the back so we look like a question mark, we’re not just not helping our Olympic lifts-we’re making our strongest position and pattern one that diverges from what we need, and the body will invariably revert to our strongest positions as weights increase. In other words, we’re training to make it impossible to do what we want in our biggest lifts.
So can we lift as much with a stricter clean deadlift as in an anything-goes deadlift? Not quite, but all of it will apply to our lifts, and none of it will detract from them. And moreover… if this is the way you train deadlifts long term, the gap will diminish dramatically anyway and the point largely becomes moot.
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[@LucasDimoveo]

Practicing heavy clean deadlifts has really helped me increase my cleans. If you’re wondering if stopping conventional deadlifts will make you weaker or look less good, I can tell you from my experience that neither has happened to me. Just do the clean deadlift

[@______-im2cn]

seriously love his take on things. does not over complicate things, just simple and easy to understand.

[@shedreamsofhorses]

Thank you so much for all the content you put out Greg! I'm a beginner lifter training on my own, your videos and book have really helped me get better :)

[@bannerhulk4607]

Thanks for the free content!

[@diemme568]

very true

[@Mr.Ciobanu]

Understood!

[@SLouiss]

What would be a good way for a powerlifter to put some Olympic lifting into his training? I occasionally do power cleans when a rack isn’t available to strict press out of, and sometimes to front squats and behind the neck push press.

[@MrProaktyn]

A powerlifting friend of mine has added paused squat/DL, aswell as mentioned lifts from blocks, to his accessory work.

[@CatalystAthletics]

PCs are definitely the most accessible and will let you work on some legit speed/power training for the DL. Add in some push presses for shoulder/arm strength and mobility and that's probably a pretty solid setup.

[@harrybaals2549]

just be careful. once you get a taste of the speed and power of weightlifting, you might get bored of power-lifting like i did lol

[@shotokankaratedude89]

Got some low back pain. Does this version Have less stress on the lower back then a powerlifting deadlift? And how about the snatch grip?

[@CatalystAthletics]

Generally speaking, yes less strain on the back because the trunk is more upright (so less of a moment on hip/spine) and back is held in a stronger position (extension) rather than being allowed to soften and leave more of the work to connective tissue.

[@tripleextension88]

Before I started with olympic lifting, I did lots of conventional deadlifting for years. It improved my trunk stability, but at a cost.
For the olympic lifts, now I have to remind myself not to lock everything up, otherwise I get way too tight in my shoulders, and this prevents me e.g. from letting my arms hang lose and then punch into the bar in the turnover.

[@scottpope6210]

When l do deadlifts l shoot my knees into the next room and I'm not apologizing. Head up, chest out, big breath, let things happen. Once the slack is out of bar, things fall into place, so that first inch of movement is about patience

[@TheComedyButchers]

“Clean pull” seems to be a better term than “clean-style deadlift”

[@phrsngx5675]

A "clean pull" is different from a "clean deadlift"

[@CatalystAthletics]

Yes, it's a good name for the clean pull exercise, which is different from a clean deadlift.
Pull - th-cam.com/video/xx8WkFrST2Y/w-d-xo.html
Deadlift - th-cam.com/video/iCWAMA9Zeus/w-d-xo.html

[@scottpope6210]

@@CatalystAthletics when l would take a break from powerlifting l would do hang cleans much to my enjoyment, as long as l did not clutter up the lift by over thinking, would just do an explosive shrug with knee dip and bar would seem to magically rise to shoulder level, barely had to dip to catch it. After about 20 days from any deads or squats the honeymoon was over, no more magic.

[@torch469]

My problem w/ clean pull/deadlift is I can’t bring the bar as high as I would on a clean …

[@CatalystAthletics]

On a deadlift, of course not - it's not meant to be accelerated like a pull. It will go to whatever height it is when hanging at arms' length and standing. In pulls, you should be able to accelerate enough to get decent elevation - but you're likely overestimating how high a bar goes in a heavy clean or you're still learning and lifting weights well below your physical capability, meaning the bar is going higher than it really needs to.

[@tekensal]

@@CatalystAthletics I've been learning oly by myself for a little while and this is a question I can't figure yet. How high has the bar to go after the second pull? In another of your videos I've understand is depending on the weight it will variate, but how to define one's minimum height? Thanks Greg

[@CatalystAthletics]

@@tekensal What I would suggest is get that completely out of your mind. Never once in my lifting career did I know an objective measurement for myself, and never once in over 15 years of coaching up to world champs level have I determined it for a lifter... it's an totally unhelpful metric in any practical sense and is just cluttering your head and preventing you from focusing on what matters.
That said, bar needs to reach about 60% of your height for a clean... but its speed and your timing and position and balance and pull under etc all matter too, i.e. you can get a bar to that height and still be incapable of cleaning it if you haven't put adequate momentum on it, etc.

[@benvee4921]

Welp. Guess I’m breaking off program tomorrow

[@congoose100]

Seems legit.