The deadlift is literally one of mine (and several other individual’s) favorite lifts - and for good reason. It’s a very easy way to display your total body strength. To get us started with this article, we’re going to go over just what it means to do the deadlift and why it’s called the deadlift in the first place. The deadlift is called the deadlift because it’s literally a dead start lift. You’re picking a stationary weight off the floor (meaning that there’s not momentum). To be able to lift weights that are about 2-3x your own body weight off of the ground with literally no momentum is something that requires a person to have a certain way of thinking and drive that is simply not considered, normal.
In this article we’ll be going over the following things:
- History of the deadlift
- World records
- Myths about the deadlift
History
There’s actually quite a bit of history that comes up when you’re looking at the deadlift. We’re going to do our best to include every single piece of it in this article as it will be helpful in showing you exactly what you need to know in order to get better at the movement. (not really but it does help to have an understanding of where the movement came from).
6th century B.C
The deadlift has been said to originate in the 6th century on the island of Thera (somewhere in greece). It’s funny how scientists found out that people on this island were deadlifting actually - they just so happened to uncover a huge boulder that had inscriptions on it that basically read “Eumastas lifted me off the ground”. Very much like what the archaeologists found in Bybon scientists found a stone in Olympia that had a similar handprint (the above words were found in a handprint on the stone) that basically read “Bybon was able to lift me overhead with a single hand”.
Although neither of these stories can be truly proven (nor really makes up a deadlift) they do show that people were interested in lifting weights from a deadstop off of the ground way back in the 6th century, which was cool.
1700s - 1900s
Between the 1700s and 1900s a few different variations of the deadlift seemed to show themselves. These variations were brought about by practitioners of strength sports such as performers, athletes etc. who needed to lift heavy weights in order to make a living. Each of these different variations have been said to play a special role in the creation of the deadlift that we know today.
What is the harness lift?
The harness lift was first documented to be done by a British strongman who goes by the name of Thomas Topham. To perform this lift Thomas would first get on a platform, put a harness around his back and neck, and stand with the weight that was attached to the other side of the harness. The most that he’s been said to lift using this method was 1,800 whopping pounds (which is no small feat).
What is the silver dollar lift?
Next, we have the silver dollar lift - a movement that you’ll still see being done at Strongman competitions today. The Silver Dollar Lift was first done in the 1800's and basically required lifters to lift 2 connected barrels filled to the brim with silver dollars. After they successfully lifted the weight, the strongmen would invite someone from the crowd to come and lift the weight. If they were able to lift it successfully they would then invite someone from the crowd to lift the weight. If the invitee was able to lift the weight they would win all of the silver dollars.
What is the health lift?
Essentially, the Health Lift was a deadlift variation that required people to stand on an elevated platform and lift the weight that was attached to a bar via string-like material. All they would have to do is grab the bar, set their posture up correctly, and lift the weight.
1900s to 1991
One of the people often referenced as the father of the deadlift is Hermann Goerner, a German strength pioneer. To give a little backstory on Goerner, he first began to be well known for strength feats between the years 1910 and 1930 for ats such as: Clean and Jerking 330lbs, snatching 169 lbs with one arm, Wrestling an elephant, Flipping a 50kg kettlebell, Deadlifting an astonishing 793 bs (very impressive), deadlifting 727 lbs with a single arm.
While there may have been people who did the deadlift before Goerner, he was/is considered one of the people to make the deadlift popular. After Goerner there was another popular deadlifter who goes by the name of Mark Berry who was considered a strength pioneer and champion weightlifter in the year 1925. As the popularity of the deadlift began to grow so did the act of setting world record deadlifts.
If you wanted to set a world record deadlift in the 1950’s you would have had to set it at an Olympic competition. The governing bodies of weightlifting decided that they would allow lifters to do odd lifts (name ring a bell?) such as the OH press, bench press, deadlift, squat etc. to set records for them.
*odd lifts was the name given to powerlifting before it was called powerlifting.
An early record set for the deadlift was 610lbs at a 132 lb bodyweight and was set by none other than John Terry, a member of York, Pennsylvania team. Next, we have Bob People’s who managed to do a 650 lb deadlift at a bodyweight of 181 lbs. And then managed to hit a 700 lb deadlift the next year.
After this, we have Ben Coats of Canada who managed to deadlift 750 lbs at a bodyweight of 270 lbs. It wasn’t long before the 800 lb deadlift was hit by Vince Anello at a bodyweight of 198 lbs. And almost as if it were by magic Dan Wohleber managed to hit a 900 lb deadlift at a bodyweight of 290 lbs.
1991 to present day
Who doesn’t know of Ed Coan? If you’re someone who’s serious about deadlifting (or is simply interested in it) then you should know of the guy who managed to deadlift 901 lbs at a bodyweight of 220 lbs. This was considered a world record and managed to stand for 20+ years until it was broken by Cailer Woolam (Dr. Deadlift) and Yury Belkin.
Other records
- The first recorded 1000 lb deadlift was hit by Andy Bolton after years of lifters teetering around it by hitting 800 to 900 lb deadlifts.
Current World Records
- The heaviest (recorded) strongman men’s deadlift in the world was done by Eddie Hall in 2016 by Eddie Hall - It was 1102.3 lbs
- The heaviest Equipped deadlift was done by Andy Bolton in 2009 - it was 457 kg
- The heaviest (recorded) deadlift for women was 305kg done by Becca Swanson
- Benedikt Magnusson managed to deadlift 1015 lbs, which is considered the heaviest raw deadlift
- The heaviest partial deadlift (18” off the ground) was done by Eddie Hall and was 536 kg
- The heaviest long bar strongman deadlift was done by Eddie Hall and was 465 kg
- The heaviest tire deadlift was done by Zydrunas Savickas and was 524 kg
Myths about the deadlift
- It works every muscle in the body: It doesn’t work the anterior chain whatsoever (you won’t touch your biceps or chest by performing the deadlift
- The deadlift is an extremely dangerous movement to perform: Anything can be dangerous if you don’t do it correctly. If you don’t want to hurt yourself doing a deadlift all you have to do is:
1. Keep your arms straight(they should be hooks)
2. Keep your spine neutral
3. Keep your upper back fully engaged in the movement
4. Move the bar evenly with your hips
5. Fully lockout at the top of the lift and don’t shrug the weight backwards
- You need to do the deadlift to build an awesome physique: This site isn’t focused on physique but there are quite a few other movements we can do to replace the deadlift. For instance, we can perform power cleans to work on the spinal erectors, rows to develop the upper back, etc. You don’t have to stick with deadlift. *I still think they’re awesome though.
Conclusion
And there you have it - everything we know so far about the deadlift. If you want to increase you want to learn a bit more about the deadlift check out the resources listed below. Also, if you have any questions don’t forget to reach out as we’ll do our best to answer them.
Resources:
https://barbend.com/heaviest-deadlifts/
https://www.roguefitness.com/strongman/hammers-grip
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadlift#World_records
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadlift
https://startingstrongman.com/tag/silver-dollar-deadlift-world-record/