With arms lengthened, use the kettlebell to tighten your lats by actively trying to squeeze the shoulder blades together (some people call this “squeezing the armpits).Hinge at the hip while keeping the spine neutral, and then bend the knees to grab the kettlebell with straight arms (hips should be below the shoulders).

Place a kettlebell on the ground and stand directly over top of it with a shoulder-width stance.The load will teach us how to tighten the upper body into a strong position, and how to keep the load close to us throughout the lift.

The kettlebell deadlift is the next progression because we have now mastered the hip hinge and we are ready to introduce a load.

Push the floor away with your legs while squeezing the glutes back to midline to return to a tall stacked position.

In this position, the hips should be lower than the shoulders but still remaining higher than where they would be if we were squatting.

Keep a soft bend in the knees, and allow the chest to come towards the ground while keeping the dowel stick in place.

Once the dowel stick is in position, take a shoulder-width stance.

The stick will remain in this position as we hip hinge to provide feedback about the position of our spine – if the stick loses contact with the back or our bottom hand is no longer touching our lower back, we are losing position by either rounding or arching the back.

Grab a dowel stick (or a broom handle) and place it along your spine by reaching up and behind the back, with the other hand, reach behind the back to grab the other end of the stick and and rest the backside of the hand against the lower back.

The dowel hip hinge is the first progression for the deadlift because it teaches us how to properly hinge at the hips while maintaining a neutral spine, both of which are key components of the deadlift.

Kids angry gorilla deadlift