My deadlift are getting reasonably heavy now. Am I supposed to lower the weight in a controlled fashion or can I just drop it?

My deadlift are getting reasonably heavy now. Am I supposed to lower the weight in a controlled fashion or can I just drop it?

The proper deadlift lowers the weight under control.

Cool, I was kinda doing half and half today as the plates at the gym are small and my knees get in the way when I bend down that far as my legs are long. I'll try and lower it properly in future.

Check out Eric Cressey's Mastering the Deadlift series of articles:

http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1582703
http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1588392
http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1607555

Pay attention to the form used in the second article to return the bar to the floor -- that should solve your problem with hitting the knees on the way down. He's not completely clear though. When he says to unlock the hips, you also must bend the knee slightly because you don't want to start lowering the bar with the knees locked. Once they're unlocked, however, you don't need to bend them until the bar has reached knee height.

Great links, thanks.

I think I might have been guilty of a couple of those faults. I'll be sure to iron them out now though.