Fixing Your Deadlift Lockout Issues
Step one: Approach the bar with confidence, certainty, and a level of self-assuredness that this weight is yours, leaving no doubt and no room for error, hoping and believing that today will be your day.
Step two: Stand up with it to competition standard- and successfully finish the lift.
A lot can go wrong between these two steps.
You set up for that lift with rage, channeling everything you’ve got,
Your hips are where they should be, your hands set, your shins close to the bar,
You give a big slack pull, brace through your belly, and break the floor, even getting it past your knees- but either:
A) You simply can’t finish those extra couple of inches, no matter how hard you try,
B) You hitch it, your knees lock and unlock, or there’s some downward motion- it’s not as clean as it should be, and your heart sinks with the realization that it doesn’t truly count.
Few raw lifters fail a lift at lockout due to a true weakness (but it does happen). However, many struggle with slow, gritty, inconsistent deadlift finishes- a technical fault worth addressing. After all, no one wants to be finishing their meet, unsure & anxious about what those judges’ decisions will be. Lockout issues are the most common reason for being red-lighted during your deadlifts, and it is our job as athletes to train to the standard.
Many Westside or geared lifters will tell you that the solution is to train your lockouts more often, do more rack and block pulls, and slap some chains on there- and while that’s not inherently wrong, it often doesn’t address the underlying issue.
The truth is, without a deadlift suit, the hardest part of the lift (where you’re working the most against gravity and the forces acting on your body) is usually either off the floor or below the knees. Once you get it past there, lockouts should be pretty doable. If this is not the case, generally speaking, there are likely some faulty positional aspects of your deadlift, compromising your efficiency at this end-range portion. Let’s decipher those, so you can acknowledge the root cause of your lockout weakness- and how to attack it.
Why Your Lockouts Are Shitty
A few potential technical faults may contribute to your so-called “weakness” at the top of your deadlift.
While the lockouts of sumo vs. Conventional Deadlifts slightly differ, all of these rules apply to both styles, so no, you’re not exempt from this criticism regardless of where you place your feet.
A) Your Back is Rounded
The number one, most common reason lifters struggle with their lockouts is due to spinal flexion off the floor.
Rounded-back deadlifts have become a hot topic of debate recently. What once was considered the most dangerous cardinal sin has now been somewhat embraced- or at least, more normalized- within the Powerlifting community. While it is true that lifting with a rounded back is not inherently injurious (but is also not optimal & not something we want to advocate), excessive spinal rounding could also set you up to fail your finish of the rep.
When your back curls inward off the floor, your hips are set far closer to the bar- which makes the top-end more difficult. The deadlift involves hip flexion into extension (your hips start further away, then gradually get closer)- so if they’re pulled in earlier, you essentially have “nowhere to go” once you reach the top: attempting to finish the rep with your upper body/lower back. Rounding removes some of the force from your glutes, a primary mover in the deadlift, specifically at lockout.
The more rounded you are- the worse your lockouts will be- so, slight flexion won’t necessarily ruin your deadlift. While it may be easier to get the bar off the floor, if you can’t finish the rep without a massive hitch- it’s not worth it. You’re depriving yourself of a comp-standard deadlift in the name of ego. Most lifters should avoid extremes in technique- and focus on building strength with sustainability and repeatability. So if lockouts are your weakness, consider working on your spinal position to stay relatively neutral- cueing & including variations that help- and you’ll be able to finish your reps with far more guarantee.
B) You Failed to Set Your Lats
Lat tension is a crucial aspect of the deadlift technique- namely- in keeping the bar close to your body. The lat extends the shoulder, and when you do this while holding a barbell, it pulls it in toward your midline. Setting your lats makes the rep far more efficient: when the bar is further away, everything is farther from the bar- increasing the workload on your entire body. Even if you set up with the bar close, losing lat tension may cause the bar to stray away toward the top, making it a lot harder to muscle through at heavier weights.
A couple of cues exist to help with lat engagement, the first of which: pulling the slack out of the bar. Think about pulling “up” (making a clicking noise with the bar and plates), then “in” (getting the bar against your shins). Also, think about:
“Pulling your chest open,”
“Shooting your nipples to the wall in front of you,” and
“Squeezing an orange between your armpits to make orange juice.”
Your shoulders should stay over the bar during the whole motion, and the bar should drag against your thighs, never coming forward. That way, getting your hips through will be far more effortless.
It’s important to note that a mixed-grip pulling style may inherently make lat engagement harder, even with the best of cueing- one of the major benefits of switching to hook grip.
C) You’re Locking out with your shoulders/lower back vs. your hips
The two actions that occur at lockout are knee extension and hip extension. Your butt squeezes, and your knees straighten. Many lifters overdo the upper body portion, overly arching their backs, doing the Limbo, leaning backward, pulling their shoulders back, etc. You’re making it harder for yourself, failing to recruit the muscles that will better support you. You’ll fight for your life until you squeeze your glutes, the motion that should finish the rep.
Instead of thinking about “pulling back” or overly extending, focus on just “humping the bar,” “squeezing your ass,” and straightening your legs. Your lockout should entail a neutral, erect position: standing straight up rather than overly tipped back or forward.
D) You’re not using your quads
While your quads primarily benefit you in the first few inches off the ground, helping you drive through the floor, they also help extend your knees toward the top. If you lean too far back into your heels, lose your sense of balance, and forget about *pushing* through the floor, you may struggle once you get past your knees. Instead, focus on a steady push through the floor, over-cue by thinking about rooting your big toes into the ground, driving through there, and extending your knees. That way, you can finish with one smooth motion.
E) You Have No Ass
Am I joking? Not really. While you may be able to dial in your position off the floor, set your lats, maintain rigidity through the spine- all of the things- if your glutes are lacking, that extra inch will be hard to finish. The glutes perform hip extension, which you’re doing at lockout. If you’ve ruled out all the other potential issues- and your ass is smaller- compared to the rest- your lockout may be weak. Fear not: strong and juicy glutes can be developed. Add extra lockout-focused movements and plenty of glute hypertrophy work; those butt cheeks will catch up eventually.
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Now that you’ve figured out why lockouts are such a struggle- let’s decipher how to manage this issue and decrease that discrepancy.
Part 2: HOW TO FIX YOUR LOCKOUTS
A) Work on your position off the floor with specific variations
If you struggle with issues 1-2, your top priority is improving your position off the floor, not dedicating extra time to your lockout. Better technique at the start of your lift will directly improve how you end it. Cueing goes a long way, as listed above- focus on the ones that resonate with you. Filming yourself from the side angle, so you can analyze what’s going on with your body- and better understand how to change it- also helps a lot. Have your coach keep an extra-strict eye, giving immediate introspective feedback to help you improve.
Beyond that, certain variations can help you better target these weaknesses, connecting to your body and striving for betterment:
Boris Deadlifts: Named after the great Boris Sheiko, with this variation, you perform two pulls to the knee, then one to lockout- as a single rep. That way, you get extra practice with your off-the-floor position.
Pause Deadlifts: Adding a pause off the floor or below the knee (depending on your sticking point) can help cue lat engagement and spinal position- and make your lockouts cleaner- since you lack the momentum to get you through that portion. 2-3 seconds suffices as a full static stop.
Eccentric Deadlifts: We never train this portion of the movement, so it adds a new stimulus. Instead of lowering that bar straight to the ground, slow down this portion, focusing on keeping the bar close, maintaining lat engagement, reaching your hips back rather than rounding through your spine, and cleaning up your lockouts. Tempo helps you enforce control and proficiency when you’re pulling that bar.
Deficit Deadlifts: The extra range of motion off the floor makes it harder to get into position, targeting your quads to a greater extent. 2 inches is all you need to change your pulling stimulus.
When the goal is technique, drop the weight by a significant percentage and focus on practice. Let go of the ego and bring all your attention to getting it right- once you’ve mastered that, you can gradually add more, testing how it holds up to heavier numbers.
B) Training Lockout-Based Movements
While if your actual weakness is positioning off the floor, there’s less reasoning behind training your lockout- it can have a purpose. Some end-range focused variations can help you inherently improve your hinge pattern (RDLs, Block Pulls), and training this position can help you understand how it should feel in your regular deadlifts. If you struggle with overextending, RDLs can provide more practice to mitigate that. And if lockouts are your genuine weak point, of course, programming these lifts makes sense.
Bands and Chains challenge this finishing position, increasing the load as you approach the top. These tools can help you generate that extension- get your hips through- with more speed and intent.
RDLs help build glute and hamstring strength, hammering higher-quality lockouts.
Block Pulls reduce the range of motion, training only those last few inches (depending on how high the blocks are), allowing you to use more weight (especially with sumo) and challenge your balance/technique toward the top. For raw lifters, blocks above the knees make less sense- since, as mentioned, the hardest part for us is almost always off the floor, and if a lifter struggles with lockouts, it’s usually right above the knee vs. the final inch.
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Lockouts. The easiest part of the rep for some lifters- and the most inconsistent portion for others. Many lifters blame their lockout issues on genuine weakness or muscle imbalances, but the truth is, it’s often a result of underlying technical errors. Compromised positioning off the floor can cause inefficient lockouts, making it hard to earn those white lights. Instead of focusing on just that final part, figure out the rest of your deadlift, and build strength/efficiency there. Raise the standard for yourself as an athlete to perform at your best where it counts: on the platform.
