Deadlift with Bands

How to do it

1. Loop a band over each end of the barbell and anchor both under the middle of the platform or under heavy dumbbells.
2. Stand with the bar over the middle of your feet, shins close.
3. Take an overhand or mixed grip just outside your legs, back flat, chest up.
4. Push the floor away and stand up, keeping the bar against your legs.
5. Finish tall — the bands are hardest here, so the lockout is where the set is decided.
6. Lower under control against the bands rather than letting them pull the bar down.

Common mistakes

• Loading the bar as if the bands were not there. Band tension rises as the bar does, so a weight that breaks the floor can be immovable at the knee.
• Anchoring the bands where they can slip. A band leaving an anchor with a loaded bar attached travels fast and unpredictably.
• Letting the bands accelerate the bar down. The descent is resisted; a band-assisted drop lands the plates faster than they were meant to arrive.
• Using bands to fix a slow start. They are lightest at the floor, so they train the lockout — a weak first inch wants deficits or pauses.

Muscles worked

Primary

• Spinal Erectors

Secondary

• Forearm Flexors
• Forearm Extensors
• Glutes
• Hamstrings
• Rhomboids
• Middle TrapeziusTraps
• Quads
• Traps