You may be wondering … what’s a Pause Deadlift and why you should be implementing them into your training routine.

Well, here are some concrete benefits that you’ll get from pause deadlifting:

1: It reinforces the angles for your torso and shoulders

The angle of your torso and shoulders is important if you want to use your mechanics to leverage the movement more effectively. If you struggle with keeping your shoulders over the barbell, or your hips rise too fast out of the bottom position, the paused deadlift can help reinforce where your torso and shoulders should be within the range of motion. I like to implement paused deadlifts for beginners in order to teach them what it feels like to have their torso and shoulders in the correct position.

2: It can improve bottom-end weaknesses and place greater demand on the quads

If you find yourself failing the lift in the bottom end of the deadlift, then you’ll want to address either the positional or muscular weaknesses in this position.

The bottom end of the deadlift relies a lot more on the knee extensors. Since your quadriceps are responsible for knee extension, they will have greater load demand in that position. The muscles in the back and glutes will start to take over at the lock-out, but if they are used too early in the range of motion to compensate for weak quads, then your lock-out will suffer.

This is why paused deadlifts are important to strengthen the quadriceps. You’ll be placing more time under tension on the knee extensors at the bottom position where they are being challenged the most.

3: You can get a high training effect without lifting as heavy

With a pause deadlift, you’ll be lifting less load compared with a regular deadlift for the same sets and reps. This can be beneficial because you can still achieve a meaningful amount of relative intensity without having the risks associated with constant heavy loading.

This is a benefit for lifters who deadlift more than once per week. By implementing a pause deadlift on the second deadlift day, it will allow you to have a challenging workout without as much weight as you would need for an equally challenging workout when doing regular deadlifts.

4: They will have a large transfer effect to your regular deadlift

The pause deadlift is the most specific way to train the bottom-end of the deadlift. While there are other ways to train the muscles responsible for bottom-end deadlift weaknesses, the paused deadlift mimics the regular deadlift on each aspect of the technique. As such, lifters will be able to transfer the strength developed from the paused deadlift to the regular deadlift more effectively than training other exercises.

Muscles Worked In The Pause Deadlift

The muscles worked in the pause deadlift are similar to the muscles worked in the regular deadlift:

• Quadriceps

• Glutes

• Adductor Magnus (Inner Thigh)

• Hamstrings

• Erectors

• Lats

• Traps

• Rhomboids

• Abdominals & Obliques

One of the primary differences in the muscles worked in the paused deadlift compared with the regular deadlift, is the emphasis on the quadricep muscles.

During the paused deadlift, you are placing the quadriceps under a greater time under tension. The quadriceps will be working a lot harder throughout the isometric contraction of the pause, in addition to generating force from a dead stop to drive toward standing.

If you have a quadricep weakness in the deadlift, then implementing paused deadlifts will help strengthen the overall movement.

You can recognize if you have a quadricep weakness if either (1) you’re failing deadlift reps consistently below the knee, (2) your hips rise before the barbell leaves the floor as you initiate the pull, or (3) your torso angle becomes more parallel to the floor as you drive from the floor to knee (this is a sign that your hip extensors are compensating for a lack of quadricep strength).

Final Thoughts

The pause deadlift is one of the best deadlift accessory exercises for developing bottom-end strength and emphasizing driving off the floor from the legs first. The most important part about the pause deadlift is to be strict in its execution. You should keep the shoulders and torso in the correct position throughout the pause, keep the barbell on your body the entire time, be consistent with where you pause, and ensure you’re exploding out of the pause position to lockout.