How (and Why) to “pull Slack Out of the Bar” When You Deadlift
Deadlifts can be intimidating. If you’re the type to overthink details when you’re worried, then you’ve probably learned everything about the deadlift except for one technique you don’t see as much as you feel . That is: pulling the slack out of the neck.
Some people will tell you that there is no “weakness” in the bar until you load it really, really hard. They refer to the idea that a barbell bends when you have a lot of plates on both ends. And while it may technically be true, “slack removal” doesn’t just mean bending the metal.
What does it mean to take the slack out of the bar?
The barbell can’t get off the floor until a few things happen. If there is any bend in the rod, it must bend. But there are other places that need tension. Here are a few: the sleeves of the bar should be in contact with the inside of the plates, your arms should be straight, and your leg muscles should be tight enough that they don’t bend or tighten when you apply force.
If any of these points leave room for maneuver, the bar is not yet ready to leave the floor. And if you walk up to a bar that’s just sitting on the floor and suddenly yank it up, all those wavy pieces fall into place at the same time. It’s not very good. Your body is probably not perfectly balanced; you will be stopped. Your hips may be too low; they will shoot. This sudden rocking motion is bad for your back, as well as your hopes for a good, smooth, heavy rep.
But you can remedy this situation by creating tension between the body, the floor, and the bar before the bar leaves the ground. If you do everything right, the strip will almost float; then all you have to do is get up.
In fact, “pulling slack out of the bar” is equally pulling slack out of yourself . Once you learn how to do this, you will notice that many problems with your deadlift technique will disappear: there will be no more sudden jerks, no more ineffective position of the shoulders or hips that suddenly have to change position. You will be able to lift more and do it more comfortably.
How to create tension
Setting up an elevator will always be a personal thing. People will disagree about their preferred course of action or describe the signals they think about differently. Here are three videos that I think do a good job of describing the same process, but they all describe it differently.
This video from John Paul Cauchi describes a three step process. First, you inhale and pull the bar up until you hear a click where the bar meets the plates. You then hold that tension by moving your hips into position. Finally, you begin the ascent immediately after reaching the starting position.
In this video from The Juggernaut (part of the deadlift series), Marisa Inda flexes her triceps to keep her arms long, takes a deep breath, and then flexes her lats (the muscles on the sides of her back) all the way into the barbell. it feels like it’s floating above the ground.
In this Kabuki video, you plant your feet on the floor, pull your shoulders back, and finally wedge your hips into the chain of tension, pushing them forward until you feel tension in your legs.
Your own setup may be similar to one of these or a mix. Or perhaps there is another video or technique that suits you better. Whatever the specific steps, the idea is for your body and the bar to form a strong bond between the floor (where your feet push down) and the plates (which will pull the bar up). Then you start the ascent.
Consider towing something with a rope: you don’t want to suddenly pull on a loose rope. Instead, you want to pull the rope taut until you feel that the two ends are connected; only then will you really start to pull. In the deadlift this may seem like a waste of effort (why pull before you pull ?), but it actually saves energy because everything is lined up and ready to go.
How to Know You’re Doing Slack Properly
In my opinion, the easiest way to figure out how to create tension is to pull one inch. Set up the best you know, then raise the bar just one inch off the ground. Put it back.
It is helpful to write down how you do it. How different is your body position when you think you’ve done it right and when the bar is actually off the ground? Use these differences as a guide to the correct setting. If your hips are low in your setup but the bar does not lift off the ground until they are higher, then try a higher hip position in your setup first.
Sometimes I help people work this out by pausing each rep of their deadlift after the weight is off the floor: pull, pause, then keep going. Once they’re comfortable with it, we pause “at the click” (when the neck makes a clicking sound against the inside of the weight plate, but before it’s off the ground). This is essentially the same as pulling the slack, but sometimes it’s easier to think of it as a pause in a larger lift than as a single step.
Ultimately, the transition from receiving tension to actually lifting the barbell should feel like a smooth but rapid build-up of strength, not a sluggish set-up followed by a sudden spurt. It will take time to perfect your own tuning and tensioning techniques, but time well spent.