Chuck Norris does not do pushups. He does earth downs.

A great Chuck Norris joke and powerful imagery for your deadlift, performing earth downs is a perfect way to describe driving your feet into the floor. Ideally, you would leave footprints—1cm deep impressions in the ground of your entire foot.

Too often, the deadlift is initiated with an arm and/or upper pull, indicating that the wedge sequence was not completed. It takes patience to build the tension into an earth down that will leave footprints.

For those of us who are not Chuck Norris and cannot perform earth downs, Fabio Zonin, StrongFirst Certified Master Instructor, shares a very relatable piece of imagery in the KNOCK ’EM DEAD online course.

The leg press analogy will have you driving your feet into the ground and starting your deadlift like a professional.