The deadlift gets a bad rap these days from overly conservative doctors, chiropractors and, well people that issue insurance policies! The deadlift is not something to be avoided. In fact, if you know how to do the deadlift properly, you will pick up things from the ground in the safest way possible. You will also have an invaluable tool for your workout programs.

The deadlift is an incredible tool because it is a compound exercise that works a lot of muscle groups at the same time making it perfect for both fat loss and muscle building programs.

Using lots of muscle at once is something that you should be looking for in your exercises for a number of reasons. Using multiple muscle groups makes and exercise "functional". Meaning that it has real world uses. Using compound exercises that involve the big muscles also means that you burn a ton of calories while doing it. For the mass monsters that want big muscles, the deadlift allows the usage of huge poundage's that can translate into massive muscle gains in short periods of time.

How To Get The Most From The Deadlift.

The shoulders need to stay over the bar in the bottom position. Shoulders being behind the bar can start the whole series of movements off wrong from the start. The bar is in contact with the leg all the way up. As you come up you press your knees back and lift your chest. This maintains the lumbar curve. The bar travels straight up and down.

Make sure you come to full extension at the top. It is not a lean back but an extension of the hips causing you to stand up fully straight. The lean back is mostly for the power lifters that want to prove that the lift is completed for the judges.

On the way down you initialize the movement by pushing your bum back then lowering the chest keeping the nice lumbar curve and then bending the knees.

What you don't want is to sit back and have your shoulders come back behind the bar because then the bar will break its straight path and you will have a hard time when you get to the knee area.

Watch out for the dreaded two-part deadlift. This is when you are coming out of the bottom and the hips extend and then the lower back does its work after. It is very similar in appearance to the stiff leg deadlift but a whole lost worse for you. That is not what you are trying to do here.

You can avoid this common fault by making sure that you lift the chest at the same time as you push through the hips. Everything will move up in one motion.

4 key things to remember when doing the deadlift?

1) Nice lumbar curve throughout the movement

2) Chest up at all times

3) Shoulders over the bar not behind to keep a straight bar path.

4) Push through the heels keeping the bar in contact with the legs.

Remember to drive off the heels and look straight ahead. Press your knees back once the bar breaks the floor.

The biggest common fault is the loss of the lumbar curve. This means that the load is too heavy or you do not know how to do the movement right yet. Reduce the weight and practice, practice, practice.

The second biggest mistake is letting the bar come away from the leg. This takes the weight away from your center of power and can pull you out of position right at the floor before you even get started. Roll that bar in to the shins before you even start to pull.

Here is a great way to put the deadlift into your fat burning program. Superset deadlifts with pushups. Do 10 sets of 10 for each exercise non-stop until completed. Time yourself and try to beat that time on the next workout. Its simple but highly effective.