by- Josh Bryant

Timing matters. Ask any deer hunter who climbs into a stand at noon, any fisherman who shows up after the bite is over, or any guy who texts his ex after six beers. Good idea. Bad timing. Happens all the time in life and it happens in the weight room, too.

The same applies to deadlifts.

One of the biggest mistakes lifters make is assuming there is one “best” way to pull. There isn’t.

The best deadlift is the one that produces the training effect you’re after.

In other words, the right pull for the right purpose.

Touch-and-go deadlifts are a perfect example.

Before we go further, let’s separate touch-and-go reps from bounced reps.

A bounced deadlift uses momentum from the plates striking the floor to help complete the next repetition. A touch-and-go deadlift is different. The lifter stays in control, lightly touches the floor, and immediately begins the next rep without fully unloading the bar.

If you can’t maintain position and tension, touch-and-go quickly turns into touch-and-pray.

For advanced lifters who can maintain position and tension, touch-and-go deadlifts offer several advantages.

Hypertrophy

Touch-and-go reps force you to control the weight on the way down and reverse it on the way up. The result is more time under tension than traditional dead-stop reps.

Muscles don’t know pounds. They know tension.

If you’re trying to build bigger hamstrings, glutes, traps, and erectors, touch-and-go deadlifts deserve a place in the toolbox.

Grip Strength

Grip strength is built by time under tension.

A heavy single might keep your hands working for three seconds. A hard set of eight touch-and-go reps may keep them working for 30.

There is no chance to reset. No chance to relax.

Like agreeing to a Russian slap fight with a tweaker outside Allsups, there’s no backing out halfway through.

Lose your grip, lose the lift.

The barbell is an honest judge. It doesn’t care how strong your back is if your hands quit first.

Stretch-Shortening Cycle

My mentor, the late Dr. Fred Hatfield, wrote about the benefits of touch-and-go deadlifts decades ago. One of the biggest was the stretch-shortening cycle.

Think about a vertical jump. Before you explode upward, you dip and load the muscles.

The first deadlift rep starts from a dead stop. The second rep and every rep after introduces an eccentric phase that allows you to put a little spring in the system and generate force faster.

For advanced lifters with sound mechanics, that explosiveness can carry over to heavier dead-stop pulls and max attempts.

Staying Tight

Many lifters lose position between reps.

Usually the problem starts on the descent.

They relax.

The upper back softens. The brace disappears. The hips drift.

The brace can disappear faster than a paycheck at a bass boat dealership.

Touch-and-go deadlifts expose those mistakes immediately.

To perform them correctly, you have to stay locked in from start to finish. The entire set becomes one continuous effort.

Tension leaks kill big deadlifts. Touch-and-go deadlifts teach you to keep pressure on the bar the entire time.

Final Thoughts

Ed Coan often used successive dead-stop repetitions while preparing for world-record deadlifts. Steve Johnson performs a brief reset between reps. Benedict Magnusson has long favored touch-and-go training.

Three great deadlifters. Three slightly different approaches.

Iron history gives us examples of all three succeeding at the highest level.

That should tell you something.

Stop searching for magic.

Match the method to the goal.

Pick the right pull for the right purpose.

The barbell doesn’t care what camp you’re in. It only responds to the stress you consistently apply.

If you’re ready to build strength, size, and performance with a proven plan, check out my training programs and start putting these principles to work HERE