Deadstart principle

Bruce Lee claimed that learning a particular fighting method will help to a certain extent, but you would be better off learning the logic behind each method, thus giving you the tools to more quickly understand similar exercises and ideas, and to develop the principles further.

That's why I prefer to write about the idea behind all kinds of exercises and variations of exercises. I will try to explain the logic behind the deadstart principle and how to use it in as simple and understandable language as possible.

I'm not going to present anyone's research, just my own experience and that of other trainers, some of whom I've spoken with and some of whom have gone to the trouble of writing very detailed books or simply shared their opinions on various platforms.

The word "deadlift" is made up of two words, "dead" and "lift," and loosely translated means "dead lift." This is actually the most well-known "deadstart" exercise. When you start lifting a weight from the bottom, it's called deadlifting, unlike the squat and bench press, which start at the top and lower the weight down and then come up with it.

Perhaps the word "dead" comes to describe the beginning of the exercise from its difficult part, actually approaching a stationary object (a pole) and without further movement of the object, we begin the most challenging effort of the exercise, its ascent. In contrast to other exercises, before the main effort of the ascent comes a descent or even removal of the object from the apparatus. In a deadstart, we approach a stationary object without moving and from there we begin.

From a powerlifting perspective we want the competition exercises in the strongest competition conditions, so we should mainly practice the exercises as they are performed in competition and not in other variations, but sometimes we will want other variations from the competition lift to help the competition lift. And what does the deadlift actually give us that a regular competition lift does not?

In the deadlift, the answer is, nothing, the deadstart is the competitive deadlift. But in the bench press, if we place the bar on boxes, pins, or anything that will help us lie under the bar and start the press from the bottom, besides the exercise being more difficult this way, it also contributes something to us.
In its normal form, the bar descends to the chest at a controlled speed, and at the bottom of the exercise, energy has accumulated to explode upward quickly. But when you start the exercise from the bottom, there is no energy accumulated, so the exercise is many times more difficult in a deadstart.

For people with a very low point of difficulty, such as bench pressers whose failure occurs mainly at the bottom of the movement, the deadlift can help thanks to the heavier load, especially at the bottom of the lift.

Additionally, for those who lose their contraction and technique at the bottom of the movement, the deadstart can help. It is necessary to get into a proper, contracted position before pressing, without it the bar will not move, so the deadstart forces good, contracted technique at the bottom of the movement.

And this is where one of the challenges of the deadlift comes in, which is even more noticeable in the deadlift squat. It is very difficult to get into a good position when you are pushing under a bar that is placed very low, and in any case we will not get the desired benefit. And this challenge does not contradict the effecti