When it comes to constructing a dominant and injury resistant mountain biker few exercises match the power of the deadlift. While some may consider the squat to be the “King of Exercises” I contend that, rep for rep, no other exercise matches the results that you get from the deadlift. Every time you do a deadlift you are strengthening the torso, hamstrings, glutes, upper back and grip, all of which can make or break you as a mountain biker. Not even the squat can claim an impressive list like that.

Unfortunately, though, few people know how to coach or perform the deadlift correctly. First off, the deadlift is not supposed to be a lower back exercise; if you feel anything more than minor muscle soreness in that area that only lasts a day or two then you are not doing the deadlift correctly. The point of the exercise is to work on the ability to drive lower body movement from the hips and not the lower back.

Next, the deadlift is a lower body pulling exercise and is not supposed to be a squatting type motion. Your torso should not be vertical at the bottom position of the deadlift. Instead, you should lean the torso over at the hips, which will keep the lower and upper back straight, and will result in sticking the hips back.

So, now that I have pointed out some of the common ways that people mess up on this valuable exercise, let me go over the cues you should use to perform it correctly, safely and reap all the benefits that you should be getting:

• Start with your feet shoulder width apart and your hands set far enough apart so that they do not rub on your legs when you lower your hips down.

• Keeping your arms straight, pull your hips down into the starting position. Your torso should be set at roughly a 45 degree angle with the ground.

• Your weight should be set back on your heels with your shoulder blades pulled down and back. This will pull the bar into you. It is very important that the bar be against your shins before you start to lift it off the ground.

• Push through your heels and squeeze butt cheeks together like you were pinching a quarter between them to drive yourself up.

• Keep your head and chin up; make sure that your torso stays strong with no bending of the lower or upper back.

• The torso angle with the floor should remain constant until the bar hits your knees, at which point you start to straighten up.

• Completely reset between reps by leaving your hands on the bar and straightening your legs then pulling yourself back down into a good starting position.

Another point to consider with the deadlift is that it is not intended to be used for high rep work. Doing 20 deadlifts too many, as fatigue will set in and form will start to suffer, opening you up to injuries. Doing 5 sets of 5 reps on the deadlift is a great place to start with perfecting your technique and building your strength on this invaluable lift.

I highly encourage anyone who is interested in ridding faster, jumping higher, charging harder and remaining injury free in the process to check it out and start to incorporate the deadlift into their routine today.

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James Wilson is the creator of The MTB Strength Training System. His Ultimate MTB Workout Program is the world’s first training program created exclusively for our unique sport. You can find more training tips like this at www.BikeJames.com.