Why is EVERYONE Failing Their Deadlifts? (WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON?)

A lot of people are failing their deadlifts for a reason that's completely and easily preventable. Starting Strength Coach Phil Meggers explains and demonstrates.

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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?

"Go Home, Get Weak, and Die" | Why Your Doctor is Wrong about Lifting Weights

“Sally” is one of our members and has been training with us for a number of years. Sally is 70 years old, she’s a grandmother several times over, and to be frank, Sally is fairly awesome. (Please don’t tell her that - she’ll be unbearable.) Over the years, she’s gotten quite strong - she regularly squats 200 lb, she’s deadlifted 300 lb, and she continues to train hard in the weight room.

Sally also goes to her primary physician every year for her checkup, and the topic of her strength training inevitably comes up. Sally knows the conversation is coming, she tells her doc about what she does - squatting, pressing, deadlifting, benching, etc. - and her doc always has the same response, which is something along the lines of “Why are you doing this? What are you trying to prove?”

This type of response drives me fairly nuts because what this doctor is really telling Sally - in no uncertain terms - is “Sally, just go home, get weaker, and die.” Of course, he’s not saying this out loud, and he doesn’t mean to tell Sally this, but it’s the message he’s preaching nonetheless.

Go home, get weaker, and die.

Fortunately, Sally is rather stubborn and doesn’t listen to her doc when he says such things. She returns to the gym, she continues to train, and she keeps striving to get stronger because she understands that strength is independence.

Strength is important at all ages of life, of course, but the older we get, the more important strength becomes. Strength is independence, it’s the ability to play with your kids, it’s the ability to pick up your grandkids, it’s the ability to get up off the toilet by yourself.

If you’re in your 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, or older (and if you’re not, you know someone dear to you who is) and you strength train, you too may have been told something like what Sally’s been told. It might not be your doc; instead, it might be one of your family members - one of the people that love and care for you. Yet, unfortunately, they say things like, “Why are you doing that? You don’t need to be lifting those heavy weights. Just lift some lighter weights, or maybe don’t lift at all - you don’t need to be doing that kind of thing. What are you trying to prove? Who are you trying to impress?”

Again, and although they don’t mean it, they’re simply saying, “Just go home, get weaker, and die.”

I challenge you - do not listen to them.

You know more about getting stronger than they do. Strength is not their specialty - it’s not their field of expertise, nor have they tried to learn about it like you have.

There are only two options - stronger and weaker. I exhort you to choose the former - get stronger. It’s good for your muscles, it’s good for your bones, it’s good for your tendons and ligaments.

We’re not talking about the sports of powerlifting, weightlifting, strengthlifting, or anything like that. Sure, many of our members have participated in those because they are fun ways to motivate one’s training, but most of our members didn’t start training with that in mind. Sally has done many lifting competitions, but she will be the first to tell you that she never thought she would do something like that when she started training with a light, empty barbell years ago. To this day, competitions are still not the reason she trains (although they do provide some fun and motivation!).

Sally and her friends at Testify train to get stronger. They know that stronger and weaker are the only options. Endeavor to get stronger so you can 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.)

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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?

A Simple Daily Habit May Explain Your Struggling Deadlift

If you're making this common deadlift mistake, a simple daily habit might be the key to solving your problem. Starting Strength Coach Phil Meggers explains with demonstrations.

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.

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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?

Easy Fix for a Slanted Lifting Platform (cheap & fast)

If you’ve got a slightly sloped platform, and if it causes the barbell to roll a bit when setting up for pulls from the floor (e.g., deadlifts, rows, snatches, cleans, etc.), this problem needs to be addressed. There are a few ways to fix the issue, so let’s cover them quickly.

Solution #1: Shim the Platform
If the slope is significant, the best solution is to shim your platform. My wife and I often train in our garage gym, and the garage floor has a pretty decent slope to it (as most garage floors do for drainage reasons). We shimmed our platform when we built it, and as a result, the platform is level and works wonderfully for training.

Although very effective, shimming a platform is a pretty involved project and a topic for another article or video as we’re talking about a relatively small slope today. With this in mind, let’s move on to . . .

figure 1: got a bar that rolls away from you? just stand on the other side of the bar.

Solution #2: Lift From the Other Side of the Barbell
If the barbell wants to roll away from you when you set up to deadlift, simply step over the barbell, turn around, and set up facing the opposite direction (Figure 1). The bar will still want to roll, but now it will roll toward you, and your shins will serve as a good barrier for the bar’s unruly behavior.

The drawback here is small but worth noting - we want to set up with the bar over the middle of the foot, and since the bar will roll toward your shins, you’ll need to actually roll the bar forward just a bit when setting up. In summary, it’s not ideal, but it works. Better yet, go with . . .

Solution #3: Use Your Wrist Wraps
The easiest way to solve the problem is to take your wrist wraps, lay one of them flat on the ground immediately in front of the plate(s) on the right side of the barbell, and lay the other wrap flat on the ground immediately in front of the plate(s) on the left side of the barbell (Figure 2). Of course, you can use socks, sponges, lifting straps, etc. - the key is to use something soft and relatively thin (i.e., just thick enough to keep the bar from rolling)

figure 2: Phil & Loren have put wrist wraps on the ground in front of the plates, and this solution stops the bar from rolling.

This solution will arrest the bar’s roll, so you can set up according to a stationary barbell, which is what you’d have if you were lifting on a level platform.

I do not recommend using a small metal weight plate (e.g., a 2.5 lb plate) for two reasons. The first reason is that if you set the bar down slightly forward of where you picked it up - thus landing on the edge of the plate - the bar may come careening back toward your shins, and shins and rolling barbells do not get along well (hint: the barbell wins every time). The wrist wrap solution is much better in this regard since you can set the bar down directly on the wrist wrap with no adverse effects - it has enough “squish” not to pose a problem.

The second reason to avoid using a small plate is that - again - if you set the bar down slightly forward of its original position, you may chip either the small plate or the larger plates on the barbell. Since you obviously don’t want to damage your equipment, just grab your wrist wraps, and you’ll be good to go.

Finally, if a wrist wrap won’t stop the barbell from rolling, your platform probably has enough of a slope that you need to shim it. More on that another day.

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.)

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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?

The FOUR Most Dangerous Deadlift Mistakes Lifters Make

These four errors ruin deadlifts all the time. Starting Strength Coach Phil Meggers covers each one as well as how to quickly fix it.

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.

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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?

Use This Grip for a BIGGER Deadlift! (Tension Grip)

What is a tension grip, and why should you use it for pulling movements like the deadlift, row, and clean? Starting Strength Coach Phil Meggers explains in the second video in our series on the correct grip for each lift.

(A Blast from the Past video originally published on 10/03/22)

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.

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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?