How to Use the Deficit Deadlift to Produce More Power on Your Pulls

Jason Speakman7 min readLITTLE CHANGES CAN yield big results. If you’re working to set new strength standards and push through weight room plateaus, movements like the deficit deadlift stand as testament to that sentiment. The exercise is identical to the traditional barbell deadlift, with one key distinction: You stand on a slightly elevated surface—we're talking just a couple of inches—as you pull the weight off the floor.There's a good chance you haven't tried this variation before. It's more popular among strength athletes, like powerlifters and strongmen, who toil over every minute detail of their deadlift technique to gain a competitive edge. But just because you haven't done it doesn't mean you shouldn't. Whether you're looking to shake up your routine or address a specific weakness in your deadlift, this simple adjustment is worth trying. Here's what you need to know.Why You Should Do Deficit DeadliftsDEFICIT DEADLIFTS EXTEND the range of motion of the pull by the height of whatever you're standing on, usually an inch or two, making the lift more demanding. Athletes who train for strength sports typically add deficit deadlifts to their programs when they're having trouble pulling heavier weights off the floor.Say you can deadlift 315 pounds, but can't budge 335. You might be struggling to produce enough force during the initial pull. By standing on an elevated surface, you're forcing the muscles responsible for getting the bar moving—primarily your glutes and quads with a little help from your hamstrings and lower back—to work through a greater range of motion.The extra demand on these muscles “can potentiate more muscle growth and greater strength—especially grip strength,” says Lee Boyce, a Toronto-based personal trainer, college professor, and owner of Boyce Training Systems. “Reaching down further than normal to pick up a bar also means more quadriceps activity, due to the greater knee bend that's required to do so. Transitioning back to a standard deadlift after a phase of deficit work can give the normal stuff the chance to feel ‘easy’ by comparison.”This concept isn’t simply theoretical. A small study of 20 experienced lifters compared conventional deadlifts, deficit deadlifts, and rack pulls (which have you lifting a heavier weight than you can deadlift over a smaller range of motion). Researchers found more quad and glute activation during deficit deadlifts. The study measured only muscle engagement, not whether that engagement leads to greater muscle growth. Still, what’s clear is this: deficit deadlifts offer another way to challenge your lower body without introducing an entirely different movement.Boyce says deficit deadlifts can also be a good fit for shorter lifters who want a longer pulling range. “Being shorter means the bar will ‘start’ higher up the leg, making for a shorter range of motion and a pull that may not be as fulfilling,” he explains. “Standing on a platform or a couple of plates can fix this problem.”That won’t work for everyone, though, especially beginners. Celebrity trainer Don Saladino likes deficit deadlifts but says the added mobility demands mean they're not a good fit for every lifter. “I work with plenty of people who lack the mobility or control to deadlift properly from the floor, and so why would I increase their range of motion?” he shared in an October 20 Instagram post. “In many cases, I’m doing the opposite. I’m elevating the bar to help them achieve a stronger, more controlled starting position.”Deficit deadlifts demand more mobility in your hips and ankles since you're reaching farther down to grab the bar. If you're excessively rounding your lower back to get into the starting position or your hips shoot up before the bar leaves the floor, you need to address those form issues before diving into deficit deadlifts. Try lifting from a smaller deficit or skip the exercise altogether. Dedicated hip mobility work may help you get there, but deficit deadlifts aren't a must-do exercise. There are plenty of deadlift variations to choose from, and the best one is the one that suits your abilities and training goals.How to Do the Deficit DeadliftTHE DEFICIT DEADLIFT is more of a modification than a distinct exercise. The instructions below focus on the barbell version, but you can perform just about any type of deadlift from a deficit, including dumbbell deadlifts, kettlebell deadlifts, and trap bar deadlifts. Check out the clip below, then follow the exercise cues.Step 1: First, establish an elevated surface to stand on. Some strength gyms have dedicated platforms for deficit deadlifts. Make sure the surface is stable and large enough to accommodate your stance.Step 2: Stand on the elevated surface in front of a loaded barbell, positioning the bar over the middle of your feet. Grab the bar with an overhand grip, just outside your legs. Then, bend your knees until they're next to your arms—not jutting past them or leaving a gap between your knees and arms when viewed from the side. This should naturally put your hips in a good starting position.Step 3: Take a deep breath into your abdomen and brace your core as if you're preparing to take a punch. Keeping your arms extended, lift your chest as though you're showing off the logo on your shirt. Then, drive through your feet to pull the barbell off the floor.Step 4: Keep the barbell as close to your legs as possible as you pull it up your shins and thighs. The bar may lightly brush against your legs, but that's okay. Keeping the weight close to your body reduces the demand on your lower back and puts you in a more efficient pulling position.Step 5: Once you're standing tall with your hips and knees fully extended, reverse the movement by pushing your hips back and bending your knees to lower the barbell to the floor under control.Avoid These Deficit Deadlift MistakesTHE DEFICIT DEADLIFT is still a deadlift, so your pulling techniques shouldn’t change much. Those extra inches, though, will alter your form a bit, so it’s crucial to understand the potential pitfalls you may encounter when trying this subtly different deadlift variation.Using Too Much WeightAn extra inch or two of range doesn't seem like much, but it changes the mechanics of your deadlift and places greater demands on your lower body muscles. Trying to lift the same weights you use for traditional deadlifts may compromise your form, especially if you're not accustomed to the increased range of motion. Start lighter and work your way up.The first time you program deficit deadlifts, think of starting with 75-80% of your standard working weight. So if you do three hard sets of five reps with 275 pounds for standard deadlifts, you’d start around 205 or 225 pounds for your first deficit deadlift session. Your glutes and hammies will still get plenty of stimulus, and the weight will be light enough for you to handle through the extended range of motion.Rushing Your RepsIt's common to see folks tap the weight on the floor and bounce it into their next deadlift rep (called a touch-and-go rep). At the start of your deficit deadlift programming, don’t do this. Remember that you’re doing deficit deadlifts to strengthen your initial pull from the floor, so you'll get more out of the exercise by treating every rep as a single rep.After you lower the barbell to the ground, reset your hips, re-tighten your core, and pull the weight as if you’re trying for a one-rep max. You can eventually train deficit deadlifts with touch-and-go mechanics. But first, master the move as a true deadlift.Lifting From an Aggressive Deficit to StartIf you're new to deficit deadlifts, start with a shorter elevation of around an inch. Stick with that height for a few weeks to see how it affects your form and how comfortable you feel pulling from a deeper position. If you can maintain your usual deadlift mechanics, you can experiment with adding another half inch to an inch.Some powerlifters pull from deficits of two to four inches, sometimes even higher. You don't need to go to those extremes. (“I wouldn’t recommend exceeding six inches,” Boyce adds.) For most lifters, one to two inches is plenty to make the movement more challenging. Instead of continually increasing the height, focus on progressively overloading your deficit deadlift by gradually adding more reps or weight as you get stronger.When to Do the Deficit DeadliftYOU CAN USE the deficit deadlift either as a primary strength exercise or as an accessory to your regularly scheduled deadlift regimen. Because they’re more demanding, beginners should start with two to three sets of three to five reps once per week. You can do them after your main deadlift work, if you don’t feel too fatigued, or on a different training day.“Deficit work is best done in sets of under six reps due to the neural demands of pulling heavy weight beyond the regular range of motion,” Boyce says. “Treating them as a typical strength training exercise would be the smart call here.”If you’re a more experienced deadlifter, you can sub them in as your primary pulling exercise for a training block (typically four to six weeks). Some competitive powerlifters even work up to a heavy set of one to three reps—but unless you’re training for maximal strength, you don’t need to lift this heavy for deficit deadlifts. Start lighter, get comfortable with the range of motion, and gradually add weight over time.Andrew Gutman, NASM-CPT is a journalist with a decade of experience covering fitness and nutrition. His work has been published in Men's Health, Men's Journal, Muscle & Fitness, and Gear Patrol. Outside of writing, Andrew trains in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, helps coach his gym's kickboxing team, and enjoys reading and cooking.