Why the Deadlift Still Matters

Is the Deadlift Truly Necessary?

I’d like to explain from my point of view why it actually is necessary — and why it's worth the (well-managed) risk of training it.

I fully agree that no single exercise is absolutely necessary to make gains or become a good athlete if you have a valid reason not to do it. An example would be the dip: a very small percentage of people can't perform dips without injuring their sternum. In a similar situation, skipping the deadlift would make sense.

But outside of special cases like that, skipping the deadlift would be a mistake for most. The movement itself might not be mandatory — but it very effectively trains aspects that are mandatory: posterior chain strength, core stability, and hip drive.

Aside from that, it's hands down the exercise that can be loaded the heaviest and engages the most muscle groups (except maybe cleans) across the whole body.

The Deadlift: A Primal, Survival Movement

Before getting into the athletic-specific matters, I’d like to highlight how primal and functional the deadlift — or, more accurately, the basic hip hinge to pick something heavy off the ground — really is.

It's deeply hardwired into the human species, partly because of basic survival. Think about it: picking up a heavy rock, a log, an animal, a tool... Moving around objects, carrying, hunting, farming.

Deadlifting isn’t just a gym exercise — it’s a fundamental human skill.

Deadlift vs Squat: Which Is More Sport-Specific?

A lot of people quickly come to the idea that it’s better to just replace deadlifts with squats. Yes, squats are also a fundamental exercise for both athletic performance and making gains.

However, if I had to choose one for athletic carryover (which you shouldn't — just do both), I'd definitely pick the deadlift. Why? Because it’s simply more sport-specific in most cases, including:

• Sprinting (especially top speed phase), powerful hip extension, minimal knee bend — deadlift trains this hinge pattern better than a squat.
• Jumping (broad jump, long jump, high jump takeoff), rapid hip extension and posterior chain drive — not just knee extension.
• Grappling (Sprawl, Takedown Defense), quick hip drop and hip extension to block a shot — very deadlift-like hinge action.
• Striking (Knees, Teeps, Front Kicks), explosive hip thrust and posterior chain tension to project force forward — more hinge than squat.
• Throwing (Football Pass, Javelin, Baseball Pitch), hip rotation and extension power comes from a strong, braced posterior chain — deadlift supports this more directly than a squat.
• Change of Direction (Agility, Cutting, Lateral Shuffling), strong hip hinge and glute loading to absorb and redirect force — deadlift strengthens the muscles and bracing patterns involved.
• Climbing (Obstacle Course, Rock Climbing, Wrestling Scrambles), pulling bodyweight up from awkward angles demands posterior chain strength, strong hips, and lats — deadlift builds this platform.
• Pushing Heavy Objects (Football Line Play, Rugby Rucks), hip-driven, full-body bracing and force transmission — more hinge and posterior-chain driven than squat-dominant.

Strength Comes Before Power

A lot of professionals — people who genuinely know more about sports than I do — argue that athletes should replace deadlifts with Olympic lifts like the clean.I don’t think that’s a good idea either.

Yes, I fully agree that explosive power and coordination are among the most important qualities for athletic performance.And yes, Olympic lifts train these qualities incredibly well.

However, rate of force production is always a percentage of your raw absolute strength. In other words: the clean, or any related movement, expresses the rate at which you can engage the strength you already have. You can’t express strength, at any rate, that you don't possess.

That raw absolute strength — as discussed earlier — is built most effectively by the deadlift.

Even looking at the clean itself: its bottom position is basically a deadlift with slightly different angles. Deadlifting is also much easier to learn than the clean.

That said, I'd absolutely encourage learning the clean if you can — it's very advanced but absolutely amazing for developing rate of force production.