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The basic concept of deadlifting is simple, after all you just put weight on a barbell and pick it up. I mean how hard can that be right? Well even though the deadlift exercise seems simple, it can be a challenging exercise for a beginner to master. There is a lot more going on with proper deadlift technique than you may realize.

Most people think of the deadlift as a back exercise. But there are so many more muscles coming into play when you do the deadlift. Everything from your forearms, biceps, triceps, shoulders, traps, spinal errectors, hips, glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, and calves. It’s almost a total body exercise.

The hardest part that beginners have when starting to deadlift is trying to learn the proper technique and activating the appropriate muscle groups in sync. So for this reason I recommend keeping things very simple and literally start your very first deadlift workout with just the empty barbell.

When doing any new exercise your goal is to simply learn how to do the exercise with proper technique. You are not there to max out and try to set records. The first workout is to simply learn the correct deadlift technique

Start off by deadlifting with the empty barbell to feel the correct movement pattern. Get in the rhythm of bending down and using both your back and legs simultaneously to lift and lower the barbell.

After that put a couple 10 pound plates on the barbell and do another set. Just go through the motions and learn the proper technique. Then put another 10 pounds per side and do another set. If that feels good, add some more weight and just keep going doing set after set. As the weights get progressively heavier you’ll start to feel the appropriate muscle groups working even more.

For all of these sets keep the reps between 5-10 per set. Again you are just going through the motions and learning the exercise, you are not trying to simulate muscle growth and rep out until failure, all of that stuff will come later once you are comfortable doing deadlifts.

During your first deadlift workout don’t worry about doing “too many” sets. At the beginning you are just teaching your muscles how to do a new exercise and for this you need repetition. So it’s ok to do 10, 15, even 20 sets of very light deadlifts to learn the proper movement pattern and motor control skills required to deadlift with proper form.

Doing multiple sets of moderate weight, stopping short of failure, is the best way to learn how to perform any new exercise. When you lift too heavy, too soon, it causes your form to break down and you don’t want to teach yourself bad habits right from the start. Take your time, master the proper technique first, then worry about training with progressive overload afterwards.

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