No Deadlift Jack? THREE Tips for Loading Your Deadlift SUPER Easy

Your deadlift is going well - you’re getting stronger. You’ve gotten to the point where you’ve got one, maybe two, perhaps even three 45-lb plates on each side.

What’s your reward?

You now have to deal with loading more full size plates (i.e., 45-lb metal plates) on the barbell each time you train, and this, of course, is a pain as you have to pick up the end of the bar enough to get the plate on and then slide it into place (the problem is even worse if you deadlift with bumper plates as most of your plates are full size plates).

Adding a 10-lb plate? A 25-lb plate? Piece of cake - they slide easily on as they are much smaller than a 45-lb plate. But those 45-lb plates? They can be a pain without knowing a few tricks of the trade, so let’s cover those right now to help you out.

Side note: If you have a deadlift jack, then loading 45-lb plates on the bar is smooth sailing. You can buy one, of course, or you can make The Fishhook deadlift jack as shown in the video above. It’s easy, and it makes loading your deadlifts easy as well.

If you don’t make or purchase a deadlift jack, then there are three specific problems to solve when loading your bar, and not surprisingly, there are three specific (but simple) solutions to use. We’ll cover them below, and if you’d like to see them demonstrated, check out the short video below (photos are great, but video is better).

Step #1: How to Get the First Plate on the Bar
In short, you don’t.

That is, you don’t put the plate (i.e., the 45-lb plate on the bar. Instead, you put the plate flat on the floor, put the end of the barbell sleeve into the center of the plate (Figure 1), tip the barbell back down to the floor, and then slide the bar through the plate (Figure 2).

figure 1: put the end of the barbell sleeve into the center of the plate.:

figure 2: slide the bar through the plate.

In other words, you don’t put the plate on the bar. You put the bar through the plate.

Step #2: How to Get the Second Plate on the Bar
This is the only step that requires a little bit of lifting, but you’re going to keep the effort involved as minimal as possible - after all, the deadlift itself is supposed to be your lifting for the day, not the loading of the bar.

First of all, keep the plate as close to the floor as possible - you can even roll it over to the bar if you don’t have much ground to cover. Situate the plate so it’s right next to the end of the bar.

Second, pick up the end of the bar and get the plate on the bar - but just barely. That’s all the lifting you’ll need to do.

figure 3: pull the plate toward the collar of the bar.

Next, straddle the bar (facing away from the middle of the bar), grab the plate (with both hands) just below the halfway mark, and then lean back as you pull the plate toward the collar of the bar (Figure 3). You’re essentially using your bodyweight as leverage to slide the plate toward you.

Step #3: How to Get the Rest of the Plates on the Bar
This is now the easiest part.

Grab a 2.5-lb plate (or another small, flat item), and roll one plate up onto the 2.5-lb plate. You’ve now elevated your barbell just enough that sliding subsequent plates onto the bar (Figure 4) will be no trouble at all since they won’t be sliding across the floor.

figure 4: Note that the inside plate is sitting on a 2.5-lb plate. this makes it easy to slide on subsequent plates.

This also works very well for unloading your bar when you’re done lifting.

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.

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Your Arms Are Ruining Your Deadlift. Here Is Why. (3 mistakes)

If your deadlift is harder than it should be, your arms might be the reason. Starting Strength Coach Phil Meggers covers 3 mistakes lifters make with their arms, cues that lifters often use incorrectly, and one fix to solve the entire problem.

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?

TWO Signs You're Accidentally KILLING Your Deadlift... (Starting Strength Coach Explains)

Within the first five seconds of the video below, I commit two rather hideous mistakes. Watch those first five seconds and see if you can identify the two errors.

Did you notice the mistakes?

The Two Mistakes
The first error I committed was that of not getting tight against the barbell when setting my back and therefore trying to yank the bar off the floor when I started to pull.

In other words, when you squeeze your chest up to set your back in rigid extension, you should be putting a lot of tension (i.e., upward pull) on the bar. I didn’t do that, and this caused me to try to yank or jerk the bar off the floor - a tactic that falls apart quickly as the weight gets heavy.

The second error I committed was that of releasing my breath - releasing my Valsalva maneuver - at the top of the lift. Breath is support, so I should have simply held my breath for the extra half-second that it took me to set the bar down.

Holding your breath at the top of the deadlift isn’t difficult, of course, but the habit of releasing your breath at the top can be a tough one to break, so let’s fix this error as well as the previous one.

The Solutions
The solution to the problem of releasing your breath at the top of your pull comes courtesy of fellow Starting Strength Coach Mia Inman (click here for her excellent article).

The cue is simply: “Lift silently.”

During the actual lift, your mouth shouldn’t make any noise (since you already inhaled before starting the lift). Therefore, remind yourself that your mouth should be silent until the bar is back on the floor.

The solution to the problem of not applying tension to the bar during the setup (and thus yanking the bar at the start of the pull) is opposite that of the previous solution.

The cue is “Get loud.”

When you squeeze your chest up to apply tension to the bar, the bar will get pulled up slightly due to the slop between the shaft of the bar and the collars of the bar as well as due to the slop between the sleeves of the bar and the plates sitting on the bar.

Because of this slightly upward movement, you will hear - if you do this correctly - a click when this happens. We often refer to this movement as “pulling the slack out of the bar” or even “pulling the click out of the bar.”

When you squeeze your chest up, you’ll feel the tension in your arms (it should feel as though your arms are being stretched out), you’ll feel the weight of the bar in your hands, and you’ll hear the bar make noise.

You want that noise.

Yes, you’ll still hear some rattling as the plates shift when you pull the bar off the floor (and the more plates on the bar, the more you’ll hear that), but you should absolutely hear the bar make noise before you pull it off the floor.

Combining Things
To bring it all together, the single cue becomes: “Loud - then silent.”

Get loud - make that bar make noise when you apply tension to it.

But then - be silent. Don’t let your mouth make noise until the bar is back on the floor.

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.

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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?

Why You Must NOT Use Your Shoulders in the Deadlift

Let’s quickly discuss a problem lifters often have in their deadlift - specifically a problem with their shoulders. There are two places in the deadlift that these errors can show up, and either way, the result is that of unnecessary and counterproductive movement of the shoulders.

With this in mind, let’s identify and fix these errors in short order.

Error #1
You’re performing your setup correctly - you have a stance with the barbell over midfoot, you’ve taken your grip, and you’ve bent your knees to touch your shins to the bar.

Then, as you endeavor to squeeze your chest up to set your back in extension, you accidentally retract your shoulder blades, i.e., you try to pull your shoulders back (Figure 1).

figure 1: Joy has accidentally retracted her shoulders during her setup. this is no good.

This is great for the bench press, but it’s terrible for the deadlift for several reasons. One, you’ve introduced slack into the setup - you are now in a position which you will not be able to maintain (nor do you need to) under a challenging load. You might be able to maintain that retracted position when the weight is light, but you certainly won’t be able to when the deadlift gets heavy, so you’re wasting energy putting yourself into this position.

Two, you’ve introduced an unnecessary variable to your setup since you’ve put yourself into a position that won’t work when the weight gets heavy. You’re practicing something that doesn’t work when it matters the most.

figure 2: This . . . is much better.

Three, it’s counterproductive as this movement pulls you down closer to the bar, i.e., you end up giving yourself artificially shorter arms, which is never an advantage in the deadlift. You want your arms to be as long as possible (Figure 2) when pulling heavy weights from the floor.

Error #2
The second type of shoulder mistake happens at the top of the deadlift when a lifter tries to shrug the shoulders upward when locking out the deadlift (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Becky has made the error of shrugging at the top of her deadlift. Don’t do this.

Again, this is unnecessary as a finished deadlift occurs with the chest lifted - but not the shoulders. Also - and again - it’s counterproductive because you can’t shrug upward when the deadlift gets heavy, so you’re wasting energy by trying to do so, and you’re again practicing something that won’t work when the weight becomes challenging (Figure 4).

figure 4: becky understands how utterly pointless it would be to shrug during her 300 lb deadlift . . . so she wisely doesn’t try to do something that silly.

The Solution
First of all, record and then watch yourself on video to see if you’re committing either one of these mistakes as lifters who make these mistakes are often unaware of the problem.

Next, simply remind yourself: Don’t do anything with your shoulders.

(Watch the video below to see these errors and their solutions in action.)

At no point in your deadlift do you need to be thinking about your shoulders. The five step set up process - stance, grip, shins, chest, and pull (watch the video below to see this in action) - has no step dedicated to doing anything with your shoulders. Likewise, you should finish the deadlift by standing tall, but standing up has nothing to do with your shoulders, so simply cue yourself to “stand tall” or to “lift your chest” and don’t try to do anything with your shoulders.

What If I’m Still Committing These Errors?
If you still find yourself retracting your shoulders when setting up to pull, remind yourself that when you squeeze your chest up to set your back in extension, you want to be as far away from the barbell as possible (while still being connected to the bar via your grip, of course). In other words, squeezing your chest up to set your back should stretch out your arms - not shorten them.

With this in mind, you can use the cues “long arms,” “stretch out the arms,” or even “get away from the bar.”

If your shrugging error is particularly persistent, you can use the cue “shoulders down” when locking out your deadlift. Using the cue “don’t shrug” will generally not be as useful - giving yourself something to do (such as “shoulders down”) tends to be more productive than an avoidance cue such as “don’t shrug.”

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?

This Simple Tactic Fixed His Squat & Deadlift in One Rep

How can a cue actually help improve every lift?

Let’s dive in.

What Aspect of a Lift Does This Cue Help?
Today’s cue is useful at the beginning of the lift. It can be used over a broad range of lifts - from squats to deadlifts to bench presses to snatches - but it is specifically useful to address technical issues present at the start of the lift.

figure 1: becky demonstrates the error of breaking at the hips before before the knees at the start of the squat.

Here are a few examples of when today’s cue could be useful:

• In the squat, you tend to break (i.e., bend) at the hips before the knees as you start your descent (Figure 1) instead of bending the hips and knees simultaneously.

• In the deadlift, you try to yank or jerk the barbell off the floor (which causes all manner of problems).

• In the bench press, you pop your shoulders and the bar slightly upward before starting each rep’s descent.

• In the press, you “wind up your hips” and reach backward with your hips before pushing them forward at the start of the rep.

• In the snatch, you have the same problem as in the deadlift, and you try to yank the bar off the floor (instead of accelerating it smoothly).

The Solution
The cue is simply “Smooth start.”

As with many solutions, this may seem a bit underwhelming, but the execution of it is both important and potentially profound in terms of its impact on your lifting, so let’s discuss how this applies to the errors above.

figure 2: becky correctly bends the hips and knees simultaneously as she starts her descent.

• Squat: Cueing “smooth start” or even “slow start” allows you to focus on simultaneously bending both the knees and hips as you initiate the descent (Figure 2). Remember that this is a cue for the first few inches of the lift’s movement, and that’s where this simultaneous movement needs to happen in the squat.

• Deadlift: You now are focused on pulling smoothly and not trying to yank the bar off the floor. This allows you to keep your back rigid and pull in a nice, vertical path.

• Bench Press: The error of “popping” the shoulders up before starting the descent tends to be a quick movement, so cueing “smooth start” helps eliminate this bench press twitch.

• Press: “Slow start” can again be a useful variation of the “smooth start” cue as both cues will tend to slow you down a bit at the start, and this allows you to focus on only pushing the hips forward (and thus not allowing them to move back).

• Snatch: As with the deadlift, cueing “smooth start” encourages you to gradually accelerate the bar at the start of the pull instead of jerking the bar off the floor. The “slow start” variation of today’s cue can work when learning how to snatch and clean, but this cue usually needs to be abandoned as the weights get heavier, whereas “smooth start” remains useful at all weights.

Be sure to watch the included video (click here or scroll up) to see this cue in action, and 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?

Deadlift Explained in 3 Minutes

A clear, no-nonsense explanation of the deadlift. No fluff, no confusion — whether you’re a beginner or need a quick refresher, Starting Strength Coach Phil Meggers covers setup, execution, and consistency from rep to rep.

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?