You are at a strange gym and it swing time.
You look around and there are no kettlebells—or there are only some ugly rubberized artifacts slightly heavier than a water bottle that do not deserve that proud name.
You cannot swing a barbell between your legs—but, if you are flexible enough, you can still give your posterior chain ballistic eccentric loading associated with the kettlebell. Enter the Dimel deadlift.
In a conventional stance, deadlift a very light barbell, a quarter to a third of your 1RM. Use a double overhand grip; feel free to strap in.
Push your tail back and let the bar drop straight down—not forward and not in a curve—until it is slightly below your knees. Your shins must remain vertical. Keep your spine neutral and your abs braced.
Explosively snap your hips through—think “kettlebell swing”—and lock out by cramping your glutes. Immediately hip hinge and drop the bar for the next rep. It is a ballistic exercise that ought to make the plates clank loudly.
“Matt Dimel used this exercise to push an 820 squat that was stalled for a year to the 1,010 world record that stood for years,” commented powerlifting coach extraordinaire Louie Simmons. “His common weights were 225 to 275 for 2 sets of 20 reps four times a week… This exercise pushed Steve Wilson’s deadlift up from 815 to an official 865.”
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| | Louie Simmons watches Greg Panora, an 815-pound deadlifter at 242 pounds of bodyweight, do Dimel deadlifts.
Photos courtesy Louie Simmons and Westside Barbell Club
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| I heard Louie, God rest his strong soul, say at a seminar: “Kettlebells will make the Dimel deadlifts better and vice versa.”
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| Barbell deadlifts or kettlebell swings,
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