The Rack Pull Variant on the Deadlift

 

When a trainee begins working on the deadlift they will often discover that they are able to lift increasingly heavier loads with ease. Beginning at 135lbs, they find that they can easily at ten or even twenty pounds to each new session without much difficulty, and soon they will be lifting prodigious amounts of weight. However, eventually their ability to recover from such punishing sessions begins to slow, and they find that they need increasingly longer times to recover between sessions. As such, it can become beneficial to alternate between working on the deadlift itself and the two main assistance exercises for it, which are the halting deadlift and the rack pull. In today's article we're going to take a look at the rack pull, the benefits it allows and how to execute it correctly.

The rack pull focuses on the second half of the deadlift, where the bar clears the knees and the trainee straightens their back. As such, the beginning of the exercise requires that the barbell be resting on racks in a power cage, such that the barbell is located just an inch or two beneath the height of the patella. The trainee should then grasp the bar, and allow their hamstrings and glutes to straighten out the angle of their hip, so that their back rises to vertical and the bar rests against their mid-thigh.

The rack pull stance is of the same width as that of the classic deadlift, but the bar should be right up against the shins, much closer than that which is assumed at the start of the classic deadlift. This means that your shins should be almost vertical, and your knees much more extended than the classic beginning too. The shoulders should be over the bar, and they should remain before the bar until it has risen to at least thigh height. The back should be arched, the chest should be raised.

When lifting the bar, you should endeavor to keep the bar against your thighs at all time. When the bar clears the knees and hits the thighs, you can shoot the hips forward so as to get the straightening effect. You should straighten your back, and lock out as with the deadlift. This means that your chest must be out, shoulders back, hips straight and knees straight too. No need to shrug or push the hips very far forward, strive to acquire a straight line.

 

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