Stiff-Leg Deadlift
A hinge with your legs almost straight: you lower a barbell or dumbbells down your legs by pushing your hips back until your hamstrings are fully stretched, then stand back up.
Equipment
- Primary muscles
- Hamstrings, Glutes, Lower back
- Secondary
- Adductors
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Logged as
- Weight × reps
- Primary muscles
- Hamstrings, Glutes, Lower back
- Secondary
- Adductors
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Logged as
- Weight × reps
Loads from YouTube only when you press play. The video is by an independent creator.
Why do it
Keeping your knees nearly locked puts more stretch on your hamstrings than a Romanian deadlift, and your flexibility decides how low you go. It suits lifters who already hinge well and want a hamstring-heavy alternative to regular deadlifts. The barbell version starts from the floor for the first rep and lets you load more; dumbbells are easier to learn and to stop wherever your back stays flat.
How to do it (Barbell)
Stand with your feet hip-width apart, the bar over your midfoot, and grip it overhand just outside your legs.
Keep your legs almost straight and your back flat, then drive your hips forward to stand up with the bar close to your body.
Push your hips back to lower the bar down your legs until you feel a strong stretch in your hamstrings.
Stop lowering when your back starts to round. That's your range, not the floor.
Stand with your feet hip-width apart holding a dumbbell in each hand in front of your thighs.
Keep your legs almost straight and hinge at the hips, lowering the dumbbells along your legs with a flat back.
Lower until you feel a strong stretch in your hamstrings.
Drive your hips forward to stand back up. Unlike the Romanian deadlift, the knees stay nearly locked, so the range comes from your hamstring flexibility.
Common mistakes
Chasing the floor
Lowering the weight to the floor no matter what makes your back round once your hamstrings run out of length. Stop where your back starts to round; that's your range.
Bending your knees as you tire
As fatigue sets in, your knees tend to bend and the hamstring stretch fades. Keep them nearly locked from the first rep to the last.
Letting the weight hang forward
A bar or dumbbells drifting out in front pull on your lower back. Push your hips back and keep the weight sliding close to your legs.
Dropping into the stretch
Falling into the bottom and bouncing out uses the rebound instead of your hamstrings. Lower slowly into the stretch, then drive your hips forward to stand.
Sets, reps and progression
How many sets you do and how close to failure you take them depend on your goal and your week, not on the exercise. These guides cover it:
Alternatives that train the same thing
Same movement, a different angle or piece of equipment.
