There is a reason why deadlifts are known as the king of all lifts. You have probably heard people asking in the gym about your deadlift PR, and while that may carry a little ego with it, the question speaks about something real.

Deadlifts are indeed the most engaging workout one could do. It demands near-total body engagement. So, let us explore the 5 key exercises, according to Men's Health, to bring you closer to your deadlift goal and achieve a better PB.

Romanian Deadlift (RDL)

This particular exercise directly helps you to achieve a strong conventional deadlift. It helps develop the power of driving the hips and also builds hamstrings and glutes.

How to perform it: Pick up the barbell and stand with a double overhand grip, holding it at hip level. Tighten your core, squeeze your shoulder blades together, and thrust your hips backward as you bring the weight down the length of your thighs.

Barbell Bent-Over Row

Bent over rows are often done on their back day by lifters, and it does help in building back strength, but its real value for deadlifters lies in what it trains structurally.

Here’s how: Hinge your hips and grab a barbell loaded up to an appropriate weight and use a grip that’s just wider than shoulder width. Pinch your shoulder blades together and pull the barbell to the point where it makes contact with your belly, making sure your elbows maintain a 45-degree angle.

Good Morning

The Good Morning is the least done and underutilised exercise in the gym. Barbell good morning helps in strengthening the entire posture and posterior muscles.

The Steps: Position yourself underneath a loaded barbell in a power rack as you would when back squatting. From here, hinge at the hips and slightly bend the knees so that the torso is close to parallel to the ground, and from there, return to the starting position by activating the glutes and hamstrings.

Rack Pull

Rack Pulls are extremely important to understand the concept of lockout. How you lock your arms while performing a deadlift is determined by a rack pull.

How it is done: Place the barbell in a power rack in such a way that it is either slightly below or at the level of your knees. Use your normal grip and position for the deadlifts.

Tighten up everywhere from the latissimus dorsi muscles to your core and legs, and perform the pull just like when you do full deadlifts, making sure that you fully extend your hips at the top.

Farmer's Carry

One might argue that farmer's carry looks least like a deadlift. But it builds the most important part, which is required to perform a strong deadlift: grips.

The technique: Grab two very heavy dumbbells or kettlebells using a crushing grip. Assume an upright posture, with your shoulders back and your chest up. Move at a slow pace, taking care not to swing the dumbbells or allow them to pull your body out of alignment.

Go get that deadlift PR with these progression exercises and follow Bodybuilding Bros for more.

Written by

Proma Chatterjee

Edited by

Souvik Roy