Written by The Split Stance Deadlift may change your life… for the worse, at first… and eventually for the better.
Why I like it:
It’s one of just a handful of unilateral exercise that can be heavily loaded. As such, you can use it as the main compound lift for the day or as a heavy accessory. As with all split stance movements, you will get a great workload for the entire lower body and trunk. The barbell (versus db’s held at sides) simply adds variety and a slightly new challenge.
How to perform:
Place a barbell on the lowest bar of a squat rack. Set up over the barbell in a split stance position, lunge down to grab the barbell with both hands, pull the chest through and properly align the back, then stand up. Repetitions are completed with a light tap of the back knee on the floor.
Be aware: if you bend from the waist and jerk the bar up (without lunging down first), you’re probably going to hurt your lower back. So, the same precautions should be taken with the first rep of a split stance deadlift that are taken with the bilateral deadlift.
My only regrets:
I wish one of two things: 1. that I had a tan appropriate for a cut off shirt, or, 2. that I had chosen to wear a sleeved shirt when I videoed this.
A “new to me” dl! Thanks for sharing, Sarah. Is this also known as the “Jefferson” deadlift? Or is the stance different?
Billy – Someone mentioned the Jefferson deadlift to me last week when I was talking about the split stance version. We ended up deciding that the stances are different. Before that point, I’d never heard of the Jefferson DL, but we settled on the split stance version is a STRICT split stance setup, while the Jefferson seems to be a wider setup (feet not in-line, rather “splayed” a bit) and also with feet closer together from front to back.