 Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the official, the raw Deadlift accessory variation tier list. So we're going to help you. First off, I'd always like to say a little, what do they say at the, you know, the prescription meds and stuff? They, uh, Oh, disclaimers, disclaimers. This is half educational, half entertainment. So take it with the grain of salt. We're here to enjoy ourselves and hopefully you enjoy yourself too. This is avi.lu on Instagram. I'm Salah Mike. New videos every single day on the channel. Be sure to subscribe 3sb.co if you want to cop the merch, the highest quality gear in the game. What exercises first to build my ass and to build my deadlift? Let's start with what are these 45 degree extensions? We got the one and only the legendary. And if you don't know, you should know Pete Rubish and he swears by these movements. It's a back extension. Yeah. If you don't have a back extension, any heavy loads them up with the barbell to more emulated deadlift. You see a lot of Chinese weightlifters do similar things. Either they'll put it on the back of their head to load it or I've seen them deadlifted as well. Um, I think it's a good movement. But I think sometimes the range of motion you can get there, although your lower body is stable, I think you'd probably be better off just doing an RDL. So if I'm trying to build the biggest deadlift that you can personally, I'm probably going to throw this in like a C. Okay. Right. I think most of you could build a five, 600 pound deadlift without even ever doing one of these guys. Right. I haven't done these. And you're very strong. Maybe I could be stronger. Do we need some street cred here? What's your best deadlift? Uh, 430. And mine's 705. There's your street cred. Is it 430? Sometimes I forget. It's 430. It's 420. 420. What's next? What are these belt squat? Oh, we got a belt squat. Yeah. Belt squat's a great movement. Um, I think especially for the sumo deadlift, I think it's not talked about enough that the stronger your quads are, the better your sumo pull is going to be. A lot of times I think the Fitzboes took the sumo and because they got fat arses that they do sumo. So everyone thinks that the sumo's for a fat arse. But they actually works your quads more than your arse. Have you seen my arse? Have you seen my arse? Oh my arse. I actually think that any quad builder, um, something like a belt squat, which is one of the best quad builders, you can really isolate and get full range. A lot of tension, really load that sucker up. I think is one of the best movements to build muscle, which then can translate to the sumo. What are your thoughts? I agree. It's like, I love that it's not loading my upper, like I don't have to hold the weight or anything to worry about that. I'd probably say like, I don't know, I think it's A. Yeah. I'd probably go A or S. Um, so I guess the other disclaimer is if you want to build your deadlift, the only thing that matters, 90% plus is deadlifting. Yeah. You can build the biggest, baddest deadlift in the world by simply deadlifting. It's going to work all the motor function, it's going to build the muscles and it's going to work the pattern that you need to build a big deadlift. It hits all kind of three categories of building strength, the skill, the muscle itself and the motor recruitment. So that goes for all squat bench and deadlift. 100%. It goes for anything. If you want to be the best belt squatter in the world, chances are you should probably just belt squat. But so that's why it might be hard to sneak into our S tier, but we'll see what other lifts we have. Banded deadlifts. What you got? Barbell deadlifts. I've never done these before. I'm actually a very big fan of the banded deadlift. It emulates the starting position in the deadlift because it obviously is unaffected. It only affects your lockout. Same bar path. Exactly. So, not to rant, but I think banded deadlifts are better than banded squats because it affects the bar path in the squat a bit and almost makes it easier. It adds some stability. Where in the deadlift, I don't think it does. Maybe a slight, but the friction isn't the same. So as long as you keep that bar close to you, your bar path is going to be identical. And then it's something to progress on and once you become more of an intermediate or advanced lifter, we need variations to advance on or we're just going to bash our head against a stone wall. So for me, actually, in this list so far, I might make it an S tier. Besides the basic deadlift, it is one of my favorite variations because, again, the starting position is so important in every lift, but especially the deadlift since we're concentric only. It's one of my favorites and it's just a little way to load it slightly different. And for many lifters, it will teach them to continue to pull, to have patience, and it will really expose any bad positioning by your lockout being harder. We've seen a lot of sumo pullers, they get kind of that dog shitting in the lawn form and you get your low back curled over and under heaviest load to uncurl your back is different than to push your hips forward and just lock out. Our goal is just to lock out. You have to unroll yourself. You literally have to unroll under your max effort and max tension. You're not in a great position for that. And this will expose that. So it won't necessarily make it better, but if you have that issue, this can expose it. I would say yeah, A or S tier. Barbell, bent over rows, these are so controversial. Oh my God. Why? In the bodybuilders, in the bodybuilding world. The issue is bodybuilders, I think. Talk, they're the only way to lift. So they say this exercise is better than exercise, but what's your intent? Right. Right? Yeah, I'm usually, what is it? It's just for bodybuilding hypertrophy purposes, right? I actually, yeah. And I actually think that the bent over row, especially for a beginner or even an intermediate, that the bent over row is a great exercise for deadlifting. I can see how this is more like effective for deadlifts versus if you're bodybuilding. Because like you, working your erectors, I think is the part that they talk about, it's just not efficient in bodybuilding. You can isolate with just like chest supported. But with this, it's like you're in that position that challenges your posterior chain. Yeah, I would agree 100%. And I would even say, even if your goal is, hypertrophy and bodybuilding, if you're a beginner or even early intermediate, that a bent over row would still be good because the amount of weight that you'll be rowing won't be overtaken by your low back. Where you're in shit form. Yeah, yeah, but you know what I mean? So for me to get a really good stimulus on my lats, yeah, I might have to row 315, 365, 405. So it doesn't make sense to, for pure hypertrophy, it would be better on a machine. But if you're a beginner and we wanna learn a hip hinge, your low back probably is stronger than your lats in the beginning. So if you're just rowing 70, 80, 90 pounds, a bent over row might be a good idea. But obviously we're talking about improving the deadlift. I actually think it's great because again, your deadlift, maybe this is some old school powerlifting and I think it's tried and true. You do some deadlift sets, nice, heavy and hard, whatever prescribed. You do some RDLs, slightly lighter, heavy, hard. Then you do some bent over rows, heavy, hard. And the weight will progressively get lighter based on the exercise itself. You do those things, those three exercises in a row with adequate volume and proper loading twice a week for four years, you're gonna get really strong. You're gonna get really strong. My posterior chain hurts thinking about that. Yeah, it's hard, yeah. But if you would adapt to it, you'd be strong. So I don't necessarily think it'll be an S or A, but maybe like a B boy. How do you feel about that? I'd say BC. Yeah, that's fair. I think it is, yeah, B. Next is deficit deadlifts, which I mean, this challenge is, this isn't as popular, I feel like I don't do it often. Same thing with block pulls, but we'll get to that later, I think. Yeah. I think those go in cycles as well. Because the internet, which is beautiful and teaches people fast forward, that these exercises go in trends. Like right now for the bench press, everyone's doing dips. Because your favorite bench presser is doing weighted dips. Well, guess what? 10 years ago, dips were also very popular on a cycle and then they went away. And then it became close grip and spoto press. And then it went back to dips and then it just always goes in these cycles. Weighted push-ups had a little run where everyone thought that was the miracle to get your bench going. All these are great exercises. I think the deficit, and as you mentioned block, are just on a down cycle right now. And the pause deadlift is the guy. But I wouldn't be surprised within the next 10 years we see banded deadlifts and deficit deadlifts become a little bit more popular. Yeah, but it's not a favorite because the starting position, right? And you're not, that's not gonna imitate the same starting position as a regular deadlift. But what is it supposed to teach? Like just increasing your range of motion? Yeah, I think for some people, they believe it'll force tightness because you're having to get into an extended position which may kick some people into a bad position. Teaching bad habits, yeah. And I'm the same as you. I think for majority of folks, it probably, and then for the other half or 40% of people, I actually think they can pull more weight that way because it does force tightness. And I've seen that firsthand from beginners mostly, not more advanced lifters. Yeah, because maybe their hips are too high and they have no tension on their arms. But now they got an extra reach. Now they all of a sudden you're forced, excuse me, to almost pull the slack out because your hips are all wonky. I'm not a big fan. I think it has some merit. If you want to do some lighter reps and just build muscle, again, as we know, a longer range of motion, moving your muscles through more range, you can build more muscle. So there's something there. I just feel like it's technical too. If you're not doing it properly, like you're probably not getting the best, like the benefits from it. And it's really hard to do sumo. It's more of a conventional deal. Setting it up. Yeah, yeah. And just on your hippies. So I probably, again, we'll probably throw it in a C here. A C. C here. That's how fast my head works. I said C here. Maybe a D. Yeah, I'm not against it. If you want to go, yeah, bottom C or top D. I think it has some merit. And you could do that and get strong, no doubt. It's not an F. There's no failing, but it's probably not my first option. What do we got, champ? GHD. Oh, the GHD, which I think is actually kind of fallen out of trend again, but is a great movement. It's one of the few movements we can attack the hamstrings, both from both joints, right? It's a, it's, it's a, yep. Where obviously the RDL, depending on how you perform it, you can do that, which is why the RDL is so beautiful. You do a little knee bend at a good morning with a little cheat in the knee, but something like a leg curl or other isolation movements, you're only attacking the knee. So I think it has a lot of merit to it. I think it's great for athletics. I think it's great for injury prevention and general strength. Will it directly translate to your deadlift? I don't know. Yeah. I feel like it's like kind of far removed at this point. It is. But if you want to get really strong over the next five, 10, 15 years, we got to build that muscle and stay injury free. And that's where the RDL, the abs, the planks, the GHRs, et cetera, et cetera come in. The rows, you're building your lats. So I think it's good. I think you should do them. And I would probably put it top C. I think obviously it's not as specific. Yeah. To deadlifts. Even a barbell movement. Yeah. It's not a barbell movement, but if we're talking accessories to a deadlift is one of my favorites, I would say. We're judging the deficit deadlifts based on a variation. Right? Variations for those that don't know are something that should be closer to the comp lift or the goal that you want to increase. Where an accessory, again, is just building the framework for that lift. So we're almost judging two different things here. Yeah. That falls in the same category as lap pull downs. Right. It's not specific to deadlifts really. Right. Is that what's next? Yes. Yeah. So yeah. That's not a deadlift variation. It's not going to build our deadlift, but I think it's probably top one or two accessories to any powerlifter with a bigger back is going to allow you to be a better squatter bench and deadlifter. Or again, over the five and 10 years, sprinkling, if you've hit a plateau on your powerlifts and you just start doing lap pull downs, probably not going to break the plateau. Yeah. But if you build a bigger back over a year, five years, 10 years, overall you will be a better powerlifter. So again, we're kind of ranking two different things. Yeah. In terms of accessories, I'm putting it, yeah, and probably in a A or B. Okay. But in terms of, yeah, deadlift, probably nothing. You could be the baddest deadlifter on the planet, especially these lightweight sumo boys I've been seeing on Tik Tok and never do a lap pull down in your life. Can't even do a pull up. Kids is pulling 800 pounds by their fingertips with stick in their hand. I pulled like 300 before I could do a pull up. Yeah. You're my favorite Tik talker. Okay. Next is leg press. This is some OG shit too. Shout out to the one and only Ed Cone. If you don't know, you need to know, go Google around. Ed Cone, especially conventional for any lift, gives a lot of credit to the leg press. And like I mentioned before, I think anything that builds your legs and like we keep kind of comparing this bodybuilding powerlifting world, accessories are kind of made to power, or excuse me, body build and variations are kind of made to powerlift and a powerlifter needs a combo of both. I think the leg press and the belt squat are two of the absolute best things you can do to build general leg muscle and strength. Again, if your number one meat and potatoes deadlift isn't getting proper volume, proper technique, proper attention, leg press ain't gonna help. But if you have all your ducks in a row, I think the leg press is one of the greatest things you can do for powerlifting. Especially the position you're in, right? You can even see it in the picture there. They're in the almost a starting position for a conventional deadlift. What are these called? Oh, Nordic pearls. From the Vikings. Known for like an eccentric, you know, kind of an isometric on the hammies. Again, it is the knee first flexion. I think it's fine. I think they got a little bit overrated. Yeah, it's like the novelty. Like, oh, look at this. It's so cool. It's a body weight. It is a little bit of a party trick. Yeah. It is the same idea as a curl. Obviously, yeah, it's like open range. So you're using your upper body rather than curling from your calves. But like, to me, yeah, I'd say a little bit novelty. I think it's fine. Yeah, it's fine. The truth is too is like a really good Nordic curler. Is it gonna pull a lot? But we grabbed Pete Rubish, who's a bad MF'er on the deadlift and he could probably Nordic curl and never try it. You think so? Yeah. You know what I mean? I don't know what that's called. We're like, this helps this, but then this doesn't help this. Yeah, and I talk about this. It's like, all squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are square. That's nerdy, but true. Yeah. It's one of those. Yeah, it is one of those. Pause deadlifts. Oh. My favorite. Are they your favorite, favorite? They're suffering right now. Oh no. Yeah, they're not. I'm struggling. So pause deadlifts, I think. I do like them a lot. I don't know for a fact, but I assume it's kind of made popular more by the Russians and the Bulgarians who pausing in different positions in weightlifting is very, very common in the snatch and clean and jerk. The clean and jerk and snatch are taught by positions like pole one, pole two, where the deadlift is not. And they pause in those different ranges because the momentum and the positioning in those ranges are different. With the deadlift, we just think of one smooth motion. In powerlifting, you might use it as a self-limiter. So either it's your heavy day and you don't want to push all that much. You're far out from a meat. I'm looking at your absolute load. Or on a lighter day, again, overall limiting the total load that you're handling. Or what I think it actually does best is teaching some people positioning and pace. That's what I implement them for and that's why I use them a lot too, especially with sumo. It's hard to find that starting position. So in order to focus on that part and be very aware and attentive where your position is right off the ground, I think it's pretty helpful. Also like building tension and you can immediately see like, once you break out the floor from the floor to the pause, I see a lot of people do this wrong too, but that could be you. Yeah, if you jerk your deadlift, it's really hard to pause an inch off the ground. Yeah. Right? Because you're begging for momentum. Exactly. That's the thing. People pause at their knees. I'm like, you're already locked out. What are you pausing for? And if you have a huge issue at your knees, we could maybe set you up to pause, but that's not helping the jerk situation. As a variation itself, it's still probably S or very top A tier. I agree. Yeah. Yeah, throw it up there in the S. I'm gonna do S. Love them. Back squat. Barbell. Back squat. I think it's great. You know, again, you know, quoting someone like an Eddie Cone. I don't know why, when people got so soft and you guys got soft when I called you soft last time, because you know I'm not talking about you. I'm talking about you. Well, if it hurt you then. Then you're soft. Right? You need to look into it. Yeah. Probably. Cause people are like, man, I can't progress my squat and my deadlift at the same time. Like you can. And sometimes things just don't always hit the groove. That's not always dependent on the lift. But I think building strength in your legs, building strength in your quads, especially again, as a sumo deadlifter, Ed Cone did a lot of very close stance high bar stuff, pauses, different situations. Yeah, I agree. It's probably. Yeah, probably bottom A. The belt squat and the leg press I probably would put above. Cause if you're trying to just build leg strength, we can isolate those things a little bit better, load them a little bit better without focusing on techniques, stability and our upper back shelf. Wow, that sounded really smart. I've done this for a while. Some of the TikToks that I just discovered deadlifts. You? Yeah. Interesting. That's definitely not true. I think maybe I just invented deadlifts. That's all of them. Whoa. Sorry. That's passion. Ladies and gentlemen, if you guys like these cheers, if you want to get better at your deadlift, answer or ask us questions below about the deadlift. We have a pro powerlifter, one of the best sumo pollers and great coaches in the world. I got a little bit experience in the game myself. So maybe we can dive into more specifics. If you have a issue with your deadlift, we'd love to help you. So comment below, follow Abby on Instagram, avvy.lu, I-L-I-E-U. Yes. I'm Salah Mike. Everyone want to find me at 3SB.co. We'll catch you in the next one. New gear coming really, really soon. Stay tuned. If you're involved, goodcompanydiscord.com. We over may be a part of something big in yourself, man. We'll catch you in the next one.