The Ultimate Deadlift Checklist: Perfect Form, Injury Prevention & Setup Tips

Sign up below to receive our newest workout routines, recipes, news stories, and offers from our partners

I approached the bar just like any other deadlift I performed—or so I thought. I set my feet, hinged to the bar, gripped and ripped it. It wasn’t necessarily a very heavy weight, but this time the lift felt different, literally. I heard a crack in my lower back that ended up being three herniated disks.

Any number of elements to my normal deadlift setup could have obviously off on that set. But without really going through every single step of the lift in my head, it’s hard to pinpoint just what made a seemingly routine lift go catastrophically the other way.

That’s why the having a deadlift pre-lift checklist can help you maximize each and every lift while hopefully reducing the risk of injury. Deadlifting requires your entire body to be dialed in, because it could be the difference between a PR lower back injury and a PR. Because, unlike the squat or bench, the deadlift begins in a bottom-loaded position. This means that there’s no stretch reflex. You have to create tension, stability, and power from the ground up.