How to Deadlift Correctly in 1 Minute (EASY to Learn)

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

Learn correct technique for the deadlift in 60 seconds. Starting Strength Coach Phil Meggers covers how to deadlift safely, effectively, and efficiently.

Whenever you want even more Testify in your life, here are some free resources:

  • Book a free intro and strategy session with us HERE.

  • Pick up a free copy of Testify’s Squat Guide: 12 Tips to Improve Your Squat Now HERE.

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At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Interested in getting stronger, looking better, and having more energy?

Testify Sun - March 24, 2025

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

THIS WEEK'S SUBMISSION

From our video Restoring a Rusty Barbell (click the title to watch):

Steven Lengyel
I was always told the bar is 45 pounds

Phil
A standard, "men's" olympic barbell is 20 kg or 44 lb, and in the U.S., it's often referred to as 45 lb out of convenience. There are some manufacturers that make actual 45 lb bars as well, but unless you know where you got your bar and which model it was, you won't know unless you put it on a scale.

A standard, "women's" olympic barbell is 15 kg or 33 lb, and that's what this barbell was.

The process to restore the bar is the same regardless of the weight, and we didn't have any rusty 20 kg bars.

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Get Stronger. Live Better. Start Today.

ARTICLES & VIDEOS

How to EASILY Put on Your Lifting Belt (the 2 simple tips that change everything...)
Do you struggle to put your lifting belt on correctly and easily? Phil gives you two quick tips to make your life easier. Click here to watch.

 

Don't Want to Train? Do This Instead.
“You’re supposed to train today, but you don’t feel like it. In fact, you really don’t want to train today. So, naturally, you choose the second best option, which is…” Click here to read.

 

Blast from the Past: NOT My Best Day Deadlifting | How to Handle a Misloaded Barbell (it's NOT just the math)
A unevenly loaded barbell is a common mistake, but after you've corrected the load on the bar, do you just proceed as usual? Not quite. Click here to watch.

 

Blast from the Past: Thinking About Competing? Here's Why You SHOULDN'T.
Phil discusses why if you're thinking about competing . . . you shouldn't. Click here to read.

TESTIFY 3/4 SLEEVE SHIRTS ARE UP!

Baseball season is coming up, so represent your favorite team - well, gym - in style!

PLUS - you get four different options to choose from!

Click here to head to the Testify Store.

WHAT'S COMING UP

Below is one of our upcoming events, and you can find out what else is on the calendar by heading to our events page at www.testifysc.com/events.

Testify Strengthlifting Challenge

  • April 12, 2025

  • The annual Testify Strengthlifting Challenge is back, and we invite you to be a part of it! This is a strengthlifting meet, which means the contested lifts will be the squat, press, and deadlift.

  • Click here to register or for more information.

Testify IronFest VII

  • June 20, 2025

  • IronFest is a team-based strength meet wherein the contested lifts will be the squat, press, bench press, and deadlift. Competitors will form teams of 2 lifters/team and perform all 4 lifts; each lifter will perform one upper body lift and one lower body lift, and each lifter will receive 3 attempts for each lift.

  • Click here to register or for more information.

THIS WEEK’S CONDITIONING

Option 1
Sled
Outdoors:
10-20 x 25 yds EMOM at a weight of your choice

Every minute, push the sled 25 yards, i.e., if pushing the sled takes 20 seconds, then you have 40 seconds to rest. Perform 10-20 rounds.

Indoors:
10-20 x 100 ft EMOM at a weight of your choice

Every minute, push the sled 100 feet, i.e., if pushing the sled takes 20 seconds, then you have 40 seconds to rest. Perform 10-20 rounds.

Compare to 2025.01.20.

Option 2
5 rounds:
10 cal bike
1 min rest
4 sandbag-over-bars
1 min rest

Set the yoke crossmember at 35/33, and the weight is 150#/75#.

Compare to 2024.12.30.

Option 3
Outdoors:
5-10 rounds:
10 sledgehammer strikes (5R, 5L)
50 yd farmer carry (25 yd down-back)
Rest 1 minute

Indoors:
5-10 rounds:
10 sledgehammer strikes (5R, 5L)
100 ft farmer carry (50 ft down-back)
Rest 1 minute

Compare to 2024.12.02.

Option 4
1. 5 yoke carries @ 30 yd (15 yd downback) – work up to heaviest carry
2. 5 rounds of 5 reps on the axle “clean and press away” – work up to heavy set of 5

Compare to 2024.12.02.

As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better!

Whenever you want even more Testify in your life, here are some free resources:

  • Book a free intro and strategy session with us HERE.

  • Pick up a free copy of Testify’s Squat Guide: 12 Tips to Improve Your Squat Now HERE.

  • Get our free weekly email - containing useful videos, articles, and training tips - HERE.

  • Follow Testify on Instagram HERE.

  • Subscribe to Testify’s YouTube channel HERE.

Don't Want to Train? Do This Instead.

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

You’re supposed to train today, but you don’t feel like it.

In fact, you really don’t want to train today.

So, naturally, you choose the second best option, which is - of course - that you don’t want to train and you still train anyway.

This is a public service announcement - and it’s as much to myself as to anyone else - that when it’s time to train . . . 

Of course geneva doesn’t feel like squatting heavy . . . but she squats anyway.

Do. Not. Trust. Your. Feelings.

Go train regardless of how you feel about it. Don’t let your feelings enter the equation. You have feelings, of course, but you make a conscious decision to disregard them, and you train anyway.

Hot? Humid? No airflow in your garage gym? You train.

Low on sleep? It’s a training day, so you train.

Is your back bugging you? You’re a responsible adult, so you train (training may have to be modified, but it’s especially important to train in this situation).

It’s also useful to remember that these are all champagne problems - first world problems, if you will. Not wanting to train is not a real problem like starvation or losing someone you care about.

You already know that training is a challenge you subject yourself to. You know that you don’t have to train - you get to train.

To anyone out there who’s thinking about skipping a workout . . . don’t trust your feelings.

You might regret walking in the gym door, but you’ll never regret having trained when you walk out.

Train.

As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.

-Phil

PS: Whenever you want even more Testify in your life, here are some free resources:

  • Book a free intro and strategy session with us HERE.

  • Pick up a free copy of Testify’s Squat Guide: 12 Tips to Improve Your Squat Now HERE.

  • Get our free weekly email - containing useful videos, articles, and training tips - HERE.

  • Follow Testify on Instagram HERE.

  • Subscribe to Testify’s YouTube channel HERE.

(Some links may be affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, Testify earns from qualifying purchases.)

At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Interested in getting stronger, looking better, and having more energy?

NOT My Best Day Deadlifting | How to Handle a Misloaded Barbell (it's NOT just the math)

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

A unevenly loaded barbell is a common mistake, but after you've corrected the load on the bar, do you just proceed as usual? Not quite. Starting Strength Coach Phil Meggers explains.

(A Blast from the Past video originally published on 10/31/22)

Whenever you want even more Testify in your life, here are some free resources:

  • Book a free intro and strategy session with us HERE.

  • Pick up a free copy of Testify’s Squat Guide: 12 Tips to Improve Your Squat Now HERE.

  • Get our free weekly email - containing useful videos, articles, and training tips - HERE.

  • Follow Testify on Instagram HERE.

  • Subscribe to Testify’s YouTube channel HERE.

At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Interested in getting stronger, looking better, and having more energy?

Thinking About Competing? Here's Why You SHOULDN'T.

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

(A Blast from the Past article originally posted on 03/31/23)

You’ve been squatting, pressing, deadlifting, and benching now for a few weeks - perhaps a few months, even. Maybe you’ve been snatching and clean-and-jerking, too, you crazy cat. Then it happens - you hear about an upcoming meet that’s a few months away, and for the briefest of moments, you actually think that you might sign up for it. “It could be kinda fun,” you find yourself thinking.

But then you mentally pull back a bit. You think, “I think I’ll do a meet at some point - maybe when my squat gets up to Random Weight. Yeah. That sounds good. When I can squat Random Weight and deadlift Other Random Weight, then I’ll sign up.”

Stop. Stop it right now. Your problem is - somewhere along the line - you became an adult. If you were still in kindergarten, your folks would toss you in youth soccer/basketball/volleyball, and two weeks later, you’d play your first game.

Thank goodness. If kindergartners played sports the way we adults often treat lifting, the poor kids would never get to play a game. Instead, they practice for a few weeks, then they play some games . . . and they have a blast.

You will too. Don’t wait until you feel ready. If you wait for that particular ethereal sensation, you’ll never sign up. Once your squat gets up to Random Weight, you’ll tell yourself, “Well, that wasn’t all that impressive, but I’ll sign up when my squat gets to The Next Goal.” This type of thinking runs on forever, and in the meantime, you’ll be missing out on a lot of fun.

Because that’s what happens when you do a meet. Fun. After someone’s first meet, I always hear something like, “That was so much fun! I’ll definitely do another one.” You don’t do your first meet to break world records - you do it to have fun and get some experience, and you then have some numbers to try and beat for your next competition.

If you’re thinking about competing . . . don’t. Not “Don’t compete” but “Don’t think about competing.” Just do it.

The time to compete is Now. Not later. Stop thinking about it. Just sign up. That meet is still a few months off, anyway, so you’ve got plenty of time to train. But sign up today. You won’t regret it.

As a side note, if you’re still reading at this point, you’re definitely thinking about signing up for a meet, so click here to head over to our events page and check out our veritable smorgasbord of upcoming events. You’ll have a blast no matter which one you choose.

As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.

-Phil

PS: Whenever you want even more Testify in your life, here are some free resources:

  • Book a free intro and strategy session with us HERE.

  • Pick up a free copy of Testify’s Squat Guide: 12 Tips to Improve Your Squat Now HERE.

  • Get our free weekly email - containing useful videos, articles, and training tips - HERE.

  • Follow Testify on Instagram HERE.

  • Subscribe to Testify’s YouTube channel HERE.

(Some links may be affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, Testify earns from qualifying purchases.)

At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Interested in getting stronger, looking better, and having more energy?

How to EASILY Put on Your Lifting Belt (the 2 simple tips that change everything...)

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

Do you struggle to put your lifting belt on correctly and easily? Starting Strength Coach Phil Meggers gives you two quick tips to make your life easier.

Whenever you want even more Testify in your life, here are some free resources:

  • Book a free intro and strategy session with us HERE.

  • Pick up a free copy of Testify’s Squat Guide: 12 Tips to Improve Your Squat Now HERE.

  • Get our free weekly email - containing useful videos, articles, and training tips - HERE.

  • Follow Testify on Instagram HERE.

  • Subscribe to Testify’s YouTube channel HERE.

At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Interested in getting stronger, looking better, and having more energy?