If You Could Only Do One Exercise

If I could only teach my athletes one exercise, without question it would be the traditional barbell deadlift. When properly executed, deadlifts strengthen the glutes, hamstrings, muscles in the upper back, rotator cuff, and grip. All of these are critical for softball athletes. Glute and hamstring development will not only improve power for sprinting, batting, and pitching, but will also play a role in injury prevention specifically for females. Females tend to underutilize their hamstrings during athletic movements, so hamstring development (via ground based, not machine, exercises) should be a priority in your training programs.

What might be overlooked is the deadlift’s potential to improve posture and keep shoulders healthy in throwing athletes. The throwing motion, whether overhead or windmill, is largely powered by muscles on the front of the upper body (pecs and  biceps). While these muscles contribute to throwing velocity, the muscles in the upper back prevent shoulder injuries. They control against the power of the “engine muscles” and act as “breaks”. During the throwing motions, the muscles of the upper back and rotator cuff prevent the arm from being pulled off the body. Traditional “shoulder injury prevention” exercises don’t come close to replicating this stress or muscular teamwork. The deadlift does.

It’s not what; it’s how.

Here are descriptions of my progressions to learn the deadlift. If you wanted to run faster, throw and swing harder, reduce seasonal shoulder and back pain, and protect yourself from a big time knee injury, you can using this one exercise.

Broomstick Technique – These exercises teach proper alignment and hip movement prior to adding weight. This is A HINGE AT THE HIPS, NOT A BEND THROUGH THE BACK.

RDL (Romanian Deadlift) and Top-Down Deadlift –  Drive the hips back, back, BACK. Get on those heels.

Deadlift – Strong grip. Arms straight. Shoulder blades together. Create as much tension throughout the body before beginning the lift.  Push through your heels, then fire your hips into the bar. Finish tall. Do not stick your chest out. Lower the bar to the ground by driving your hips back, back, BACK. Reset your starting position in between reps.