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

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

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.

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?

Testify Courant - February 10, 2025

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

THIS WEEK'S SUBMISSION

From our video A Simple Daily Habit May Explain Your Struggling Deadlift (click the title to watch):

MadBrax
Where do you shop for your socks? I'm being serious.

Phil
Ha! I don't get that question all that often. They're soccer socks, and I've gotten a few pairs locally at Scheels and the rest of them on Amazon:

TCK Soccer Socks
https://amzn.to/3SlKCwu

Very convenient for deadlifts, snatches, and cleans.

TESTIFY ONLINE COACHING

Interested in getting stronger working one-on-one remotely with us? Click here to book your free strategy session.

Get Stronger. Live Better. Start Today.

ARTICLES & VIDEOS

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. Click here to watch.

 

"Go Home, Get Weak, and Die" | Why Your Doctor is Wrong about Lifting Weights
You've heard it before: "Why are you doing this? You don't need to be lifting those heavy weights." And they're all wrong. So wrong. Click here to read.

 

Blast from the Past: Correct Grip for Snatch, Clean, and Jerk | Olympic Weightlifting Technique
Gripping the bar for the Olympic lifts shouldn't be complicated, but there are a few simple things you must do to ensure you're getting the most out of your lifts. Click here to watch.

 

Blast from the Past: Fix Your Press - Part 2: Your Hideous Wrists
Phil discusses how to correct the positioning of your wrists when you press. Click here to read.

TESTIFY BEANIES ARE AVAILABLE!

Represent your favorite gym - even when it's cold outside!

And, it gets better - you can choose your beanie from EIGHT different colors!

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.

THIS WEEK’S CONDITIONING

Option 1
Sled
Outdoors:
10 rounds of:
Push sled 100 ft
Pull sled 100 ft (hand over hand)

Indoors:
20 rounds of:
Push sled 50 ft
Pull sled 50 ft (hand over hand)

Compare to 2024.12.09.

Option 2
Bike/row:
4 x 3 minutes

Rest 3 minutes between each round. Score = lowest distance.

Compare to 2024.11.18.

Option 3
1. Work up to a heavy single on the axle clean-and-press (i.e., ground to overhead).
2. 5 x 100 ft Zercher carry (50 ft down-back). Add weight each round. Rest as needed.

Compare to 2024.10.21.

Option 4
Outdoors:
5 rounds:
15 cal row
50 yd sled push, 100#/50#

Indoors:
5 rounds:
15 cal row
100 ft sled push, 250#/125#

Push sled slow for recovery. Score is slowest row.

Compare to 2024.10.21.

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.

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

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

“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.)

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?

Correct Grip for Snatch, Clean, and Jerk | Olympic Weightlifting Technique

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

Gripping the bar for the Olympic lifts shouldn't be complicated, but there are a few simple things you must do to ensure you're getting the most out of your lifts. Starting Strength Coach Phil Meggers explains.

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

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?

Fix Your Press - Part 2: Your Hideous Wrists

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

(A Blast from the Past article originally posted on 02/03/23)

This is the second article in our series on helping you improve your press. Today’s topic - the correct positioning of the wrists. In this article, you’ll also find a couple of videos related to this issue.

You’ve read the book, you’ve watched the videos, and you’re ready to press. You walk up to the bar and take a nice narrow grip - you’ve even pronated your hands slightly to make sure that the barbell is being supported on the base of the palms (i.e., over the bones of the forearm). On top of this, you’ve got relatively neutral wrists - roughly 10-15 degrees of extension - which is great.

And then it happens. You rotate your elbows forward and under the bar, and somehow, you end up with your wrists bent backward in extreme extension or, on the opposite end of things, you try unracking the bar with your wrists flexed over the top of the bar (watch the “Fix your Weak Wrists…” video to see examples of each error). Both are inefficient positions from which to press, and the latter position makes it practically impossible to even support the bar.

Let’s fix this.

The first solution is to remember that once you’ve grabbed the bar with neutral wrists, you must make your wrists behave as if they’re in a cast. Don’t let them change shape after this point - treat them as if they don’t exist anymore - that joint has been permanently fused into its current shape, and you’re going to hold that shape as you unrack the bar and while you press.

The second solution is to allow the bar to rotate when you bring your elbows forward and under the bar. You’re rotating your elbows forward, so be sure to let the bar rotate in the rack as well - the bar should rotate with you as you prepare to unrack it. Dip down with your legs as low as you need to so that you’ve got room to rotate your elbows forward and under the bar while maintaining those “frozen” wrists (again, watch the video above to see these solutions in action).

If you notice that you’ve still allowed your wrists to change shape, don’t unrack the bar. Fix the wrist position now - before you’ve unracked it - because fixing it while supporting a heavy bar in your hands is much tougher to accomplish. Once the wrists are correctly positioned, you can then stand the bar up and back out from the rack to begin pressing.

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?

A Simple Daily Habit May Explain Your Struggling Deadlift

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

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.

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?