The deadlift is one of the most powerful movements in existence. Done well, it builds full-body strength, reinforces proper hip hinge mechanics, and carries over to nearly every athletic demand — from the barbell platform to the HYROX floor. Done poorly, it's a fast track to a disc issue, a pulled hamstring, or a torn bicep tendon.
In my practice at PT Liftology, I see deadlift-related injuries every week. And after years of pulling apart what went wrong, I keep seeing the same five mistakes. The good news: every single one is fixable.
Mistake #1: Losing Tension Before You Pull
This is the most common — and the most dangerous. Athletes walk up to the bar, grip it, and pull without taking the time to create full-body tension first. The result is a passive, slack system trying to move a heavy load. Something has to give, and it's usually the lower back.
Before you pull, you should be actively doing three things: pushing the floor away, pulling the bar into your shins, and breathing into your belly to create intra-abdominal pressure. If you're not braced before the bar leaves the floor, you're not ready to lift.
The Fix
Set your position and take your brace before the bar moves. Think: "fill the belly, squeeze the lats, push the floor." Then pull. The lift starts at the setup, not the pull.
Mistake #2: The Bar Drifts Away From Your Body
The barbell should drag up your shins and thighs. If there's daylight between the bar and your legs at any point during the pull, you're lengthening the moment arm and putting enormous stress on your lumbar spine. This is also the mechanism behind the dreaded bicep tear — your arms are fighting to keep the bar close while it wants to swing away.
The cue "lat engagement" exists for a reason. Think of your lats as the anchor that keeps the bar pinned to your body. Before and during the pull, actively try to "bend the bar around your legs" or "put your lats in your back pockets."
Mistake #3: Shooting Your Hips Up First
The deadlift is a full-body lift. The hips and shoulders should rise together. When the hips shoot up first — also called "stripper deadlifting" — the setup transitions into a stiff-leg deadlift under load, with all the spinal stress that comes with it.
The image that works: Think of your body as a forklift, not a crane. The platform rises. You don't bend and then straighten — you drive everything up at the same time.
If your hips shoot up, the problem is usually a combination of poor positioning (bar too far from the body, hips set too low) and weakness through the glutes and upper back. Both are fixable with targeted accessory work.
Mistake #4: Hyperextending at the Top
Standing up is not the finish line. Too many lifters "celebrate" the lockout by cramming into lumbar extension at the top — leaning back aggressively with the bar. This compresses the lumbar facets under a loaded spine and is a common contributor to lower back pain after lifting.
The lockout should be a strong, neutral position: glutes squeezed, ribs down, hips fully extended — not a backbend. If you have to lean back to feel "locked out," you're probably not getting full hip extension from the glutes.
The Fix
Cue "tall and tight" at the top. Stand fully upright, squeeze the glutes hard, and keep your ribcage connected to your pelvis. The bar should be right at your hip crease — not behind it.
Mistake #5: Ignoring Setup Variation Based on Your Body
Here's the truth most YouTube tutorials skip: there is no universal deadlift setup. Limb length, hip socket depth, torso-to-leg ratio — all of these change what a good deadlift looks like for your body. A 6'4" lifter with long femurs is going to look very different pulling from the floor than a 5'5" lifter with a shorter torso.
Trying to force a one-size-fits-all technique onto a body that doesn't fit the template is how athletes get hurt. A sumo stance might be biomechanically superior for you. A trap bar might remove a degree of freedom that's causing your problem. A small heel raise might be the entire answer to your "bad back."
This is where working with a physical therapist who understands lifting mechanics pays dividends. One session to analyze your setup, your anatomy, and your patterns can save you years of grinding through pain and second-guessing your form.
The Bottom Line
The deadlift is forgiving when it's done right. It's punishing when it's not. Most of the injuries I see in the clinic didn't come from freak accidents — they came from accumulated reps in a position the body wasn't meant to sustain. Fix the setup, fix the pattern, and the deadlift becomes one of the safest and most productive lifts you can do.
If you're dealing with back pain, hip pain, or just not sure if your form is safe, that's what we're here for. A lifting assessment is one of the most valuable things we offer — we'll watch you pull, identify the problem, and give you a fix you can use the same day.