Deadlift Sway

Bigger Stronger Leaner
1

I’m relatively new to lifting and as 49 years old woman, it goes slow. I had got my deadlift upto 250, but lately I pulled back to low 200s to better my form. I have improved in my set up and lifting with my chest. I stil have one problem I can’t seem to solve. As the bar reaches over my knees it has a tendency to move away from my left side only causing my torso to twist. I use a mixed grip and tried all other grips, but it still happens. Could it be my right leg is stronger or my left leg is moving away from midfoot or what? any input would help. Thanks

2

  1. I would suggest that you do not use a mixed grip if you are off balanced.

  2. Have you checked the platform or whatever you deadlift off of? The reason I ask is because the same thing happened to me a few months ago. I then realized the floor was on a slant, causing one side of the bar to come up before the other. When I moved a couple feet back, the problem was gone.

hope that helps!

3

By any chance, do you pull sumo? Or can you send us a video of you deadlifting in the higher 90-100% area of your max?

4

a 49 year old woman pulling a 250 deadlift is awesome, i rarely see some of the younger guys at my gym pull that. I would suggest strengthening your grip and your hips. if you have access to a fat bar do some pulls with that to work on your forearms, if you dont then do a static grip for a minute or so. to strengthen your hips i would some goodmornings

5

[quote]MariaB wrote:
I’m relatively new to lifting and as 49 years old woman, it goes slow. I had got my deadlift upto 250, but lately I pulled back to low 200s to better my form. I have improved in my set up and lifting with my chest. I stil have one problem I can’t seem to solve. As the bar reaches over my knees it has a tendency to move away from my left side only causing my torso to twist. I use a mixed grip and tried all other grips, but it still happens. Could it be my right leg is stronger or my left leg is moving away from midfoot or what? any input would help. Thanks[/quote]
Is your foot position symmetrical? For example you may have them placed the same way during your setup, but it’s possible that during the course of a heavy lift that one foot starts to angle out more than the other one. If this is happening you need to remain very cognisant of your foot position, because this can open you up to serious injury.