The Banded Drill That Fixes Your Deadlift Setup.

The banded lat drill is a no-weight warm-up move that teaches your body to feel lat tension before you deadlift. According to Squat University, it comes from an elite powerlifter and is designed to enhance performance while fixing common technique breakdown in the setup position.

To do it: attach a light band to a rig, then pull your hands back to your sides while keeping your elbows locked out and your arms long. This isn't a weighted exercise — it's purely a warm-up drill meant to prime the right muscles before loaded pulls begin.

Perform the drill by pulling a light resistance band back to your sides with locked elbows and long arms, then pausing to feel your lats switch on. The key coaching cue is shoulders down, not shrugged up — shrugging defeats the purpose of the drill.

1. Attach a light band to a rig at roughly hand height.
2. Grip the band and pull your hands straight back to your sides, keeping elbows locked out and arms long.
3. Actively press your shoulders down rather than shrugging them toward your ears.
4. Hold this position for one to two seconds.
5. Feel your lats engage — that sensation is the target tension.
6. Carry that same lat tension into your deadlift setup before you pull.

Lat engagement matters because it's the exact tension you want to feel before you start every deadlift, per Squat University. Locking in that tension in advance helps stabilize the bar path and reduces the technique breakdown that shows up when the lats aren't switched on at the bottom of the pull.

Squat University shared that he gave this drill's cue to one of his patients before a deadlift session. The patient reported feeling that same exact lat tension right before starting the lift, and described the bar as feeling noticeably lighter afterward — a direct, real-world result of applying the cue.