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.

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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?

Get a Bigger Deadlift in Five Seconds

How can you possibly improve your deadlift in only five seconds? What is the problem we’re trying to solve?

I’m glad you asked.

The Situation
This is a common problem with all lifters, and it runs especially rampant among newer lifters. The situation is as follows . . .

You are set up to pull the deadlift. You start pulling on the barbell. You barely break the weight off the floor - it moves a couple of inches - and you set it back down on the floor.

To be blunt - you bail on the lift.

anjali gets an oscar nod as she demonstrates a typical failed deadlift.

You’ve been there, and sometimes, the weight didn’t even come off the floor before you stopped pulling. You know you need a solution so that you stop bailing on your pulls, but you’re not sure what to do.

Why Is It So Easy to Bail on the Deadlift?
Make no mistake - it is easier to bail on the deadlift than on any other lift. After all, the bar starts on the floor, and if you fail, the bar just goes right back to where it started.

Not only that - you don’t get to feel the weight of the deadlift before you start the ascent, and this is different from the other lifts. In the squat, you become acclimated to the weight during the descent - you know how hard you’re going to have to drive up out of the hole because you can feel that load on your back on the way down. The same is true for the descent of the bench press. Even in the press, you support the weight of the bar for a bit before launching it upward.

The deadlift is different - you don’t get to feel the weight of the bar before you start pulling, so it can be a mental shock once you actually start the lift.

How Do You Learn to Grind?
For these reasons, it’s easy to bail on a deadlift, so you need a way to teach yourself to grind on the lift. To Just. Keep. Pulling.

(It’s worth noting that the lift almost always goes faster than you think - record yourself deadlifting and watch the video afterward if you don’t believe me.)

The solution is mind-numbingly simple - you must pull for five seconds.

here, anjali keeps pulling and successfully pulls 102 kg (225 lb) for three smooth reps.

From the moment you start pulling, you pull for one-thousand-one, one-thousand-two, one-thousand-three, one-thousand-four, one-thousand-five.

Ideally, you get someone to count for you so that you can’t stop pulling until your buddy stops counting. A typical situation is that your lifting partner starts counting, “One-thousand-one, one-thousand-two, one–” and bam - you’ve already locked out your deadlift successfully.

You’ll be amazed how fast it goes even though it doesn’t feel nearly that fast.

If you train on your own, you take a different approach. As you gain experience, you can tell yourself to “just keep pulling,” but for now, record yourself on video and watch both the good and the bad lifts.

See how long you pull. It’s probably only a second or two even though it feels like forever.

You can also find a song with a memorable section that’s about five seconds long. Start pulling at the start of that section and don’t let yourself stop until the end of the section.

You can even make a recording of yourself counting for five seconds, and although it is rather annoying to listen to yourself count as you pull a heavy deadlift, it’s remarkably effective.

The concept is simple, but the results are profound.

You need the ability to pull on the bar for longer than you think - this will help you develop that ability - and nine times out of ten, the pull will be finished sooner than you expect.

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?

Easy Setup for Deadlift, Snatch, & Clean

(A Blast from the Past article originally posted on 07/28/23)

Whether you’re deadlifting, cleaning, or snatching, we’d like a setup process that is as simple, efficient, and consistent as possible. With that in mind, we’re going to take the 5-step deadlift setup process and quickly learn how to apply it - with very minor modifications - to the clean and the snatch.

DEADLIFT SETUP
Let’s briefly recap the 5-step deadlift process, and for a more detailed treatment, you can watch the included video.

Step 1: Stance
The stance is narrow (heels about hip width apart), your shins are one inch from the barbell, which places the bar over the middle of your foot, and your toes are pointed out slightly (roughly 10-15 degrees).

Step 2: Grip
Bend over and take your grip on the barbell. Your grip is relatively narrow - just outside the legs. Don’t let your shins touch the bar during this step, and DO NOT move the bar (i.e., don’t let the bar roll forward or backward at all).

tyler demonstrates the deadlift start position and is ready to pull.

Step 3: Shins
Bend your knees slightly until your shins touch the bar (this means your hips should drop, but only a bit). Also, shove your knees out slightly - your knees should touch the insides of your arms. Again, do not move the bar.

Step 4: Chest
Squeeze your chest up to set your back in rigid, flat extension. Your hips DO NOT drop during this step, and you still DO NOT move the bar.

Step 5: Pull
Pushing the floor away from you with your legs, drag the bar up your legs until you’ve locked out the bar at the top of the lift.

CLEAN SETUP
Moving on to the clean, there are two small changes. Step 1 (stance) is the same, and we then encounter the first change in Step 2 (grip): your grip for the clean is one hand-width wider than it was for the deadlift.

maddie demonstrates the start position for the clean.

Step 3 (shins) brings about the other small change. You still bring your shins to the bar by bending your knees slightly, but since your grip is a bit wider, you also shove your knees out a little more than you did in the deadlift so that the knees still touch the insides of your arms.

After this, you then move on to Step 4 (chest) and Step 5 (pull).

SNATCH SETUP
Moving on to the snatch, we have three changes. The first change shows up right away in Step 1 (stance): point your toes out wider than they were in the deadlift and clean - roughly 30 degrees (you’ll see the reason for this shortly).

The second change arrives in Step 2 (grip): your grip is significantly wider than it was in the deadlift or the clean. It should be wide enough that the barbell hangs at the crease of your hips when you are holding the bar with straight arms in a completely upright (i.e., standing) position.

becky demonstrates the start position for the snatch.

The third and final change shows up in Step 3 (shins): once again, you still bend your knees to bring your shins to the bar, but since your grip is significantly wider than that of the deadlift or clean, you also shove your knees out significantly wider than you did with the other two lifts. This very noticeable “knees out” position is why you point your toes out quite a bit in Step 1 of the snatch setup.

After Step 3, you then move on to Step 4 (chest) and Step 5 (pull).

SUMMARY
To recap, the 5 steps are always as follows: stance, grip, shins, chest, and pull. However, the execution of certain steps changes due to the grip width of the clean and the snatch.

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 1 Minute Routine Makes Your Deadlift Instantly Stronger

One minute. One habit. A huge difference in how your deadlift feels and performs. Try this before your next pull—you’ll feel it immediately. Starting Strength Coach Phil Meggers explains.

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?

The Deadlift: Sock it to Me, Baby

effective . . . and stylish

(A Blast from the Past article originally posted on 05/28/21)

Want an easy way to improve your deadlift?

Wear long socks. Seriously. When you deadlift, wear socks that go over your calves and up to a point just below your knees. Of course, sweatpants or leggings will work as well, but for pure fashion - and I’m an expert on this topic - I recommend the classic, old-school tube sock with the horizontal stripes.

Why long socks? Two reasons:

First, you’ll keep the bar closer. Remember, step 5 in the deadlift setup is “drag” - i.e., drag the bar up your legs. This keeps the bar close to your body, over the middle of your foot, and it makes for the most efficient pull. Have you ever tried holding a jug of milk out at arm’s length? It’s a lot easier when you keep it close to your body, and the deadlift is no different. Lifters will automatically keep the barbell closer to their legs when they’re not worried about scraping their shins, which brings us to . . .

Second, you’ll prevent yourself from having bloody shins when you actually succeed in keeping the bar close. You don’t want bloody shins - once they bleed, it’s amazingly easy to break those scabs back open again in successive workouts - and we don’t want your DNA on the bar.

Now, if you’ve never let a deadlift drift away from your shins, and if you’ve never had bloody shins when pulling, then feel free to ignore this advice, but your day will come too, my friend, and when it does, you’ll wish you had a pair of those sweet socks.

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?

2 Clues to SPOT Your Terrible Deadlift EARLY!

If you've got a deadlift that's drifting away from you as you pull, that's a problem.

Let’s fix it.

Why Does This Happen?
This problem is often caused by accidentally “getting forward” during the setup process. In other words, during the five-step setup for the deadlift, you accidentally allow your balance to shift forward, and this almost always happens during either step two or step three of the setup process. 

I would strongly recommend watching the short video below to see these errors and their solutions demonstrated.

A brief recap of the five-step setup for the deadlift:

1. Stance: Take a relatively narrow stance wherein your vertical shins are one inch from the barbell.

2. Grip: Bend over to grab the bar, but do not move the bar, and don’t touch the bar with your shins (keep the shins vertical) just yet.

3. Shins: Bend you knees slightly until your shins touch the bar.

4. Chest: Squeeze your chest up (without dropping your hips) and set your back in flat, rigid extension.

5. Pull: Drag the bar up your legs.

Problem During Step 2
Remember that midfoot balance is assumed, i.e., you want to be balanced on the middle of your foot and not on either the balls of your feet or on your heels. However, people often allow their balance to shift forward to the balls of their feet when - during step 2 - they bend over to take their grip.

step 2: Taking the grip incorrectly with balance forward (left) and taking the grip correctly with balance over midfoot (right)

If you find yourself doing this, simply cue yourself “midfoot,” or you can even overcue yourself “heels.” We don’t actually want to be balanced on our heels, but this type of overcue can be useful to prevent ourselves from rocking forward.

Problem During Step 3
During step 3, you should bend your knees slightly (i.e., drop your hips slightly) until your shins touch the barbell, but people will sometimes accidentally rock forward to bring their shins to the bar instead.

step 3: bringing the shins to the bar incorrectly by rocking forward (left) and bringing the shins to the bar correctly by bending the knees (right)

If you are committing this error, use the cue “hips drop slightly” or simply “bend your knees” to ensure that you’re bringing your shins to the bar by bending the knees and not by shifting your balance forward.

After that, squeeze your chest up and pull as usual, dragging the bar up your legs.

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?