Why should Everyone use bands on their deadlifts?

When Coaches have every client do the same thing, it’s because they’re lazy. Or it’s because they don’t understand individualization of goals and the motivations of their clients. But when I do it with Banded Deadlifts, its actually for a great reason. Maybe those coaches have good reasons too. Man, I’ve really grown a lot from the beginning of this paragraph to the end of it.

Anyway, Banded Deadlifts are awesome. Although I think some coaches reserve them for expert powerlifters to train through a sticking point I actually think they’re great for beginners, athletes, and the general fitness aficionado.

I’ll start with elite level powerlifters. I think Banded Deadlifts are great because they allow you to challenge the lockout of the lift without making the work off the floor too challenging. This lets the athlete focus on the mechanics of the lockout while its overloaded. Other coaches might use block pulls and those are good, but I also think they’re easy to butcher. You have to be really careful not to change your body position and essentially “leg press” the weight away. When performing a block pull correctly you have to put yourself into the same posture that you will be in when you try to lockout your deadlift which isn’t as easy as it sounds. This concern doesn’t exist with the Banded Deadlift, so I prefer it in most situations.

For athletes, the band teaches and rewards the athlete for moving quickly. Teaching athletes to move quickly is difficult. Many coaches use the Olympic lifts here, but those are super technical and aren’t always a good fit for athletes that train with us for short periods of time. The bands force the athletes to keep accelerating throughout the entire movement, a vital skill for athletic success.

Finally, why would I use it on a beginner or on a general fitness person? For both parties it’s because the bottom half of a deadlift is by far the most dangerous part. I don’t think (and the numbers would back me up) that deadlifting is inherently dangerous, but if you’re going to pull something, it’ll likely be before the bar gets to your knees. Once the bar gets to your knees and beyond it, you’re in a much better position and less likely to get hurt.

The band allows me to leave the dangerous part of the lift light while still overloading the top of the lift so they get some work in and get stronger. This makes it safer for our beginners (and safer for our general fitness people, obviously) and decreases the stress on our general fitness people. Less stress means more energy towards other things, which is great for a general fitness person.

Why not just use block pulls on these types? After all, perfecting the technique of locking out a super heavy deadlift is less important here. I STILL want my beginners and general fitness people to use as full of a range of motion as possible. I want them to work on getting into a good start position so that their hips are flexible and their low back gets stronger. Beginners need to learn that position and our general fitness people are usually adults that spend too much time sitting. A healthy dose of full range of motion deadlifts are a great panacea for many of their ailments.

So there you have it, THAT is why I like banded deadlifts and give them to most of my clients. It’s not because I’m lazy, it’s just a really versatile lift.