The deadlift from a deficit is a strength exercise that has gained some popularity in recent years, and it’s popping up in more resistance training programs. Unfortunately, it’s an exercise that sounds a lot better on the internet than it plays out in the real world. I have a lot of one-time consultations at Cressey Sports Performance with people who have a history of lower back pain after deadlifts, and not surprisingly, a lot of them have attempted the deficit deadlift when they have no business performing it, as the risk-reward ratio is far too high.

To that end, in our Functional Stability Training of the Lower Body resource, I devoted a segment of my deadlift presentation to the topic. Here’s a free preview:

To view the rest of the presentation (and eight others), be sure to check out Functional Stability Training of the Lower Body.