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.

• 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?

Testify Source - December 15, 2025

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THIS WEEK'S SUBMISSION

From our video Understanding barbell rings is easy, actually (click the title to watch):

Laurynas Zubavičius
Now, why are the middle parts smooth?

Phil
In short, the smooth part is for the pulls – deadlifts, cleans, and snatches. You want to keep the bar as close to your body as possible, and simultaneously, you don’t want to carve up your shins.

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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.

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ARTICLES & VIDEOS

What Gear Actually Matters for Building Strength in the Gym? (14 items)
Not all gym gear is created equal. In this quick guide, Phil breaks down 14 pieces of equipment—from “nice to have” to “you absolutely need this”—so you can stop wasting money and start lifting stronger. Click here to watch.

TWO Signs You're Accidentally KILLING Your Deadlift... (Starting Strength Coach Explains)
Two deadlift mistakes: one simple cue to fix them both. We address two common deadlift errors and cover how to correct them with only one cue. Click here to read.

Blast from the Past: What is the BEST time of day to workout? (it's NOT what you think)
What time of day should you train? Morning or evening? Maybe lunchtime? Click here to watch.

Blast from the Past: The Jerk: Landing Positions
Phil covers the three different landing positions for the jerk as well as the advantages that go with each position. Click here to read.

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“GET STRONGER - LIVE BETTER” SHIRTS ARE AVAILABLE!

Why do you train? Because getting stronger makes everything else easier. Get stronger. Live better. “Testify” to this message and represent your favorite gym with this shirt in several color options.

Click here to head to the Testify Store.

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WHAT'S COMING UP

The Christmas Classic team event was a blast, and the annual Testify Christmas party afterward was a ton of fun as well! Additionally, you folks brought some amazing dishes. Thank you to everyone who was there!

Reminder: Below are the hours for the weeks of Christmas and New Year's (you can also find these on our Location & Hours page). Any days not listed retain their normal hours.

Christmas Week (2025)
Wednesday, 12/24/25: 5:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. (closed in the evening)
Thursday, 12/25/25: Closed
Friday, 12/26/25: 4:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. (closed in the morning)

New Year’s Week (2025-2026)
Wednesday, 12/31/25: 5:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. (closed in the evening)
Thursday, 01/01/26: Closed
Friday, 01/02/26: 4:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. (closed in the morning)

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 11, 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.

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THIS WEEK’S CONDITIONING

Option 1
Sled Pyramid – 4, 5, or 6 tiers
Go up and down a 4, 5, or 6 tier “sled pyramid” – rest as needed. The distance for each round is 80 m indoors (a down-back on the 40m course) or 200 ft outdoors (2 down-backs on the 50 ft course). Rest as needed.

For example, Bob does the following (4 tiers):
Round 1: Empty sled
Round 2: 25#
Round 3: 50#
Round 4: 75#
Round 5: 50#
Round 6: 25#
Round 7: Empty sled

Compare to 2025.11.10.

Option 2
Bike/row:
4 x 3 minutes

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

Compare to 2025.09.22.

Option 3
5-10 rounds of:
30 sec ME tire flips
30 sec rest

Compare to 2025.08.25.

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 2025.08.25.

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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.

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.

• 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?

What is the BEST time of day to workout? (it's NOT what you think)

What time of day should you train? Morning or evening? Maybe lunchtime? Starting Strength Coach Phil Meggers cuts to the chase.

(A Blast from the Past video originally published on 03/13/23)

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 Jerk: Landing Positions

(A Blast from the Past article originally posted on 07/02/21)

We’ve covered the three landing positions for both the snatch and the clean in past articles, and not surprisingly, there are also three landing positions for the jerk. Again, each has its own advantages, so let’s briefly cover them:

POWER JERK

Landing Position: Partial squat

Jonny performs a power jerk.

Advantage: The power jerk is the simplest to learn as your feet do not travel far from their original position. Your feet don’t move very much as they barely leave the ground and then immediately land in a squat-width stance. You receive the bar overhead with your hips and legs in a partial-depth squat position. Due to its simplicity, the power jerk often serves as an intermediate step on the way to learning either the squat jerk or the split jerk.

Note: If your feet never leave the ground during this movement, many coaches will call this a push jerk to distinguish it from a power jerk (but some coaches use the terms interchangeably).

SQUAT JERK

Landing Position: Squat (i.e., full-depth squat)

Jonny performs a squat jerk.

Advantage: Of the three landing positions, the squat jerk allows lifters to drop the farthest under the bar, which means the barbell doesn’t have to be lifted as high before locking it out overhead. With this in mind, there is great potential with the squat jerk, but this potential is tempered by two drawbacks - first, the lifter needs excellent flexibility to achieve what is essentially a narrow-grip overhead squat position in the receiving position for this jerk, and second, the lifter has relatively little stability from front-to-back due to the lack of a split (see the split jerk below), so the squat jerk is extremely unforgiving of jerks that are slightly forward or backward.

SPLIT JERK

Landing Position: Split stance

Jonny performs a split jerk.

Advantage: The split jerk allows the lifter to drop further under the bar than the power jerk without requiring the ability to drop into the squat jerk position, and due to the front-to-back split, the split jerk is more stable. For this reason, the split jerk is - by far - the most commonly executed jerk in training and competition.

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?

What Gear Actually Matters for Building Strength in the Gym? (14 items)

Not all gym gear is created equal. In this quick guide, Starting Strength Coach Phil Meggers breaks down 14 pieces of equipment—from “nice to have” to “you absolutely need this”—so you can stop wasting money and start lifting stronger.

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?