Barbell Stiff-Leg Deadlift
The stiff-leg deadlift is a barbell hip hinge in which you take the bar down to the floor, or close to it, with your knees almost straight, then drive your hips forward to stand tall. It works the hamstrings through a long, stretched range, with the glutes and the back muscles working hard too.
Also called: Stiff Leg Deadlift, SLDL, Straight Leg Deadlift, Stiff-Legged Deadlift · Equipment: barbell · Pattern: hinge
Step by step
- Take the bar from a rack at mid-thigh height, or deadlift it from the floor, so you start standing tall with the bar against your thighs. Use an overhand grip just outside your legs, feet about hip-width apart.
- Unlock your knees very slightly and keep that angle fixed for the whole rep. Set your shoulders back, take a breath and brace your trunk.
- Push your hips back and let your torso tip forward as one unit, with your back long and flat and your neck in line with it. Keep the bar close to your legs as it travels down.
- Keep your weight over the middle of your feet as the bar passes your knees and shins.
- Go down until the plates lightly touch the floor or your hamstrings are fully taut, whichever comes first, with your back still flat.
- Drive your hips forward to stand tall, keeping the bar close. Finish with your glutes squeezed and your ribs stacked over your hips, without leaning back.
- Breathe at the top if you need to, and re-brace before the next rep. After the last rep, bend your knees to set the bar down, or return it to the rack.
- Knees almost straight, angle fixed
- Hips back, bar close to your legs
- Long, flat back from head to hips
- Big breath and brace before every rep
- Hips through to finish, glutes squeezed
In VALDA, these cues are one tap away on the exercise while you train.
What it trains
| Muscle | Role | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Hamstrings: biceps femoris (long head) | Prime mover | C |
| Hamstrings: semitendinosus | Prime mover | C |
| Erector spinae | Prime mover | C |
| Gluteus maximus | Prime mover | C |
| Adductors: adductor magnus | Secondary | D |
| Forearm flexors | Stabiliser | D |
Evidence grades: A = strong research base · B = good · C = limited · D = coaching consensus.
What goes wrong, and the fix
Rounding the back to reach the floor
Fix: Keep a long, flat back and end each rep where your hamstrings are fully taut.
Bending the knees on the way down
Fix: Hold the slight knee bend you set at the top for every rep.
Bar drifting away from the legs
Fix: Keep the bar close to your legs all the way down and back up.
Bouncing the plates off the floor
Fix: Touch the floor lightly, or pause just above it, before driving up.
Leaning back at the top
Fix: Stand tall with your glutes squeezed and ribs stacked over your hips.
Grip giving out first
Fix: Use chalk or lifting straps once grip, not the hamstrings, ends your sets.
What the research says
Muscle growth · first choiceStrengthGeneral fitnessSport performanceEndurance
- Hamstring length — A 12-week leg-curl trial found training the hamstrings at longer lengths, with the hips bent, grew them more than training at shorter lengths (about 14% vs 9%). No study has tested the stiff-leg deadlift itself.
- Hip extension — A ten-week training study found a hip-extension exercise grew the long head of biceps femoris more than the knee-flexion Nordic curl. Many lifters pair a hinge with a leg curl to train both hamstring actions.
- Range of motion — Reviews find full range of motion produces more leg and hip muscle growth, and greater strength gains, than partial range.
- Load and effort — Research finds muscle growth is similar across a wide range of loads when sets are taken close to failure, and sets that finish a few reps short of failure capture most of that benefit.
- Volume and frequency — Research links more weekly sets for a muscle to more growth, with diminishing returns. Training a muscle about twice a week is a common way to spread that volume.
- Rest — In trained lifters, rests of about 3 minutes between sets have produced greater strength and size gains than 1-minute rests.
Swap it mid-workout
With VALDA Pro, FLEX offers alternatives like these when you swap an exercise mid-workout.
Log the barbell stiff-leg deadlift in VALDA, with these cues one tap away while you train and your history for it in one place.
General information about exercise technique, not medical advice. If you have an injury or a health condition, your healthcare provider is the right person to ask.