The Testify Sun - April 13, 2026

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

THIS WEEK'S SUBMISSION

From our video This Obsession is RUINING Your Deadlifts (click the title to watch):

John
Hi coach phil. Question. What did you mean by one of your videos saying "don't stand up" on one of your deadlift video?

Phil
Thanks for the question, John, and “don’t stand up“ is simply a way of cueing the same concept that I cover in the second half of this video.

When people think about standing up in the deadlift, they often try to raise their torso/back angle too soon. Thus, “don’t stand up“ is another way of reminding yourself to stay over the bar, push the floor, straighten the knees, etc.

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

What Most Lifters Never Learn About Arms in the Press
Does your press feels stuck or inconsistent? Phil covers 8 common errors lifters commit involving their arms as well as how to fix them. Click here to watch.

 

The Knees Problem: If You Don't Change This, Your Deadlift Will NEVER Grow
There are 2 deadlift mistakes you're making with your knees. Fix both of them with one simple concept. Click here to read.

 

Blast from the Past: DISASTROUS Weight Lifting Accident | Don't Let This Happen!
It's easy to make mistakes in the weight room, but some are more disastrous than others. Phil explains and discusses how to avoid one particularly nasty error. Click here to watch.

 

Blast from the Past: 2 Deadlifting Pieces of Equipment You NEED to Have!
Want a bigger deadlift? We cover two pieces of equipment that will immediately strengthen your deadlift. Click here to read.

TESTIFY CAMPFIRE MUGS ARE AVAILABLE!

For lifters who train hard . . . and like a little campfire-style to go along with their training sessions. Durable, no-frills, and proudly wearing the Testify logo. From campsite to squat rack, this mug's for you.

Click here to head to the Testify Store.

WHAT'S COMING UP

The annual Testify Strengthlifting Challenge was a great success this weekend, and we are immensely thankful to everyone who helped out! Loaders, judges, table officials, those who helped setup and tear down - we could not have hosted this meet without you all!

Below are a few 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 Barbell MAYhem - The Clean & Press Classic

  • May 1, 2026

  • The annual Barbell MAYhem is back, and this year's event is a Friday night clean-and-press!

  • This is a single-lift weightlifting meet wherein competitors will perform the clean-and-press. Each lifter will receive 3 attempts, and the heaviest successful lift will determine their score.

  • There will be prizes - for feats both serious and outlandish - throughout the night!

  • Click here to register or for more information.

Testify IronFest VIII

  • July 10, 2026

  • IronFest is a team-based strength meet wherein the contested lifts will be the squat, press, bench press, and deadlift. Competitors will form teams of 2 lifters/team and perform all 4 lifts; each lifter will perform one upper body lift and one lower body lift, and each lifter will receive 3 attempts for each lift.

  • Click here to register or for more information.

Minneapolis, MN: Starting Strength Squat & Deadlift Camp

  • October 3, 2026

  • Spend the day learning the theory and practice of the low bar back squat and the deadlift.

  • Participants will spend lots of time on the platform receiving coaching and instruction on the squat and deadlift in a small group setting. We will also have a lecture and discussion on programming and cover how to identify and correct common technical problems.

  • Click here to register or for more information.

THIS WEEK’S CONDITIONING

Option 1
Sled
Outdoors:
10-20 x 25 yds EMOM at a weight of your choice

Every minute, push the sled 25 yards, i.e., if pushing the sled takes 20 seconds, then you have 40 seconds to rest. Perform 10-20 rounds.

Indoors:
10-20 x 100 ft EMOM at a weight of your choice

Every minute, push the sled 100 feet, i.e., if pushing the sled takes 20 seconds, then you have 40 seconds to rest. Perform 10-20 rounds.

Compare to 2026.03.09.

Option 2
Bike/row:
4 x 800m

Rest 3 minutes between each round. Score = slowest time.

Compare to 2026.01.19.

Option 3
Outdoors:
5-10 rounds:
10 sledgehammer strikes (5R, 5L)
50 yd farmer carry (25 yd down-back)
Rest 1 minute

Indoors:
5-10 rounds:
10 sledgehammer strikes (5R, 5L)
100 ft farmer carry (50 ft down-back)
Rest 1 minute

Compare to 2025.12.22.

Option 4
5-8 rounds:
50 ft sled push
50 ft sled pull (hand over hand)
Row 1 minute
Rest 1 minute

This can also be done in a group of three where the sledder determines how long the other two people row and rest.

Compare to 2025.12.22.

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.

The Knees Problem: If You Don't Change This, Your Deadlift Will NEVER Grow

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

Are you making a mistake with your knees in the deadlift?

If you are, you’re doing one of the following:

  1. Pulling the bar around your knees during the ascent, or . . .

  2. Setting the bar down in a curved path around your knees during the descent.

Both of these make the deadlift harder, less efficient, and fabulously uncomfortable, so let’s fix them both with the same concept and cue.

If you want to see these errors and their solutions in action, check out the short video below.

Error 1: Pulling Around Your Knees
We use cues such as “push the floor,” “straighten the knees,” and “pull your kneecaps back” regularly to drive home the idea that the deadlift starts with knee extension. This knee extension helps lift the barbell and gets the knees out of the way, so understandably, it’s critical to the lift.

figure 1: Mike and phil demonstrate the error of pulling around the knees.

However, if these cues aren’t working for you, and you’re still pulling in a curved path around your knees (Figure 1), try reminding yourself to “make the bar move vertically” and “get your knees out of the way.”

That’s it.

Picture the correct bar path and get your knees slowly but surely out of the way of that bar path, and you’ll be executing the lift correctly.

Error 2: Setting the Bar Down Around Your Knees
After you lock out your deadlift, you should reach backward with your hips, bow to the floor, and set the bar down in a nice, vertical path so that it ends up on the floor directly over the middle of your foot.

However, many lifters try - whether consciously or subconsciously - to keep their torsos vertical when lowering the deadlift, and this results in a bar path that curves out and around the knees (Figure 2).

figure 2: mike demonstrates the error of setting the bar down around the knees.

This is inefficient, inaccurate, and it feels awful on the knees and back. If setting your deadlift down isn’t the easiest thing you do all day, you’re absolutely committing this error.

Again, remind yourself to “make the bar move vertically” and “get you knees out of the way” (or “keep your knees out of the way” if you prefer).

Visualize the bar traveling vertically - and quickly - downward, and keep your knees out of the way until the bar passes your knees, and you’ll have nailed it.

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?

book a free intro

DISASTROUS Weight Lifting Accident | Don't Let This Happen!

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

It's easy to make mistakes in the weight room, but some are more disastrous than others. Starting Strength Coach Phil Meggers explains and discusses how to avoid one particularly nasty error.

(A Blast from the Past video originally published on 05/13/23)

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.

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?

book a free intro

2 Deadlifting Pieces of Equipment You NEED to Have!

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

(A Blast from the Past article originally posted on 10/13/23)

Let’s quickly cover two pieces of equipment that will make you better at deadlifting . . . instantly.

Item #1: Long Socks
We are talking very long - socks that go above your calves (i.e., almost to your knees). You will simply be better at keeping the bar close when wearing long socks. Sweatpants and leggings will do just fine as well, but long socks are so much more stylish.

“But Phil, I’m already pretty good at keeping the bar close.” Good for you, and in this case, you already know that - every once in a while - you nick your shin with the bar. Shins bleed easily, and now that you’ve done this, it is annoyingly easy to catch that new scab with the bar and break it open again.

Because of this - whether consciously or subconsciously - you now try to avoid hitting that scab. As a result, you are suddenly worse at keeping the bar close to your legs, and this makes your deadlifts that much harder. So . . . wear long socks.

As an additional note, you might not care if you get a little bloody when you deadlift, but everyone else who has to use that same barbell does indeed care, so do your training companions a favor. Wear long socks and keep your DNA off the bar.

Item #2: Chalk
We’ve covered this before, and we’ll cover it again - chalk is hugely useful for all of the lifts, but it is especially useful for pulling lifts such as the snatch, clean, and deadlift. Rock climbers and gymnasts use it to save their lives - we’re just using it to save our deadlifts. But the reason for its use remains the same - it absorbs the sweat and natural oil from your hands so that you have as much friction as possible when taking your grip.

Side note: If you’re training at a commercial gym and don’t feel like sneaking in the usual chalk, you can also use liquid chalk.

Still don’t like using chalk? You have two options - pull a Kelly Clarkson and just walk away since you’ve decided not to lift today or put on your big boy (or big girl) pants and use chalk because it’s the intelligent thing to do.

It makes your current deadlifts easier, and it allows you to lift more weight with less effort, which allows you to get stronger more efficiently. We’ve had numerous conversations with members who started using chalk a bit later than they should have (which is on day one) and were astounded at how much of a difference it made.

A reasonable approach is to rub some chalk onto your hands when you start warming up the deadlift (brush your hands together lightly to get rid of any loose chalk) and then chalk up again when you get to your work set.

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:

  • Follow Testify on Instagram HERE.

  • Subscribe to Testify’s YouTube channel HERE.

  • 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.

(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?

book a free intro

What Most Lifters Never Learn About Arms in the Press

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

Does your press feels stuck or inconsistent? Starting Strength Coach Phil Meggers covers 8 common errors lifters commit involving their arms as well as how to fix them.

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?

book a free intro

Testify Post - April 6, 2026

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

THIS WEEK'S SUBMISSION

From our video This Obsession is RUINING Your Deadlifts (click the title to watch):

soberpert
Excellent video as usual but I’m struggling with squeezing my chest up how do I do that?

Michael
I struggle with this as well. Have a tendency to lower my hips instead

Phil
Thanks very much, and here are a couple of cues that you might find useful:
1. Lift your chest
2. Push your belly down between your thighs
3. Show your shirt to the wall
4. Wrinkles in your shirt

Here’s a video that we did a while back that goes more in depth:
3 Cues to Set Your Back in the Deadlift
https://youtu.be/cH0j8C5Ezn0

Phil
Michael, you might find it useful to give yourself the cue “chest up and hips up“ when you set your back. The “hips up” part is an overcue as we don’t actually want to raise the hips, but trying to raise the hips could help you fight the tendency to drop the hips.

Edwin Dekker
"Long arms"

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

This Obsession is RUINING Your Deadlifts
Many lifters obsess over the wrong details in the deadlift - and it holds them back. Phil covers the one thing he'd fix first with a lot of lifters. Click here to watch.

 

What Lifters with Bad Knees Get Wrong About Squatting
Bad knees aren’t a reason to avoid the squat - they’re a reason to do it correctly. Here are 9 key adjustments that allow your knees to keep working and getting stronger. Click here to read.

 

Blast from the Past: Don't Let This Mistake RUIN Your Deadlift!
With a very simple cue, Phil addresses a common deadlift mistake that lifters make when setting their backs and starting to pull the bar off the floor. Click here to watch.

 

Blast from the Past: The Squat: Hips and Knees Together!
If you descend into your squat by breaking at the hips first instead of hips-and-knees together, that's a problem. In this article, we help you fix it. Click here to read.

TESTIFY CAMPFIRE MUGS ARE AVAILABLE!

For lifters who train hard . . . and like a little campfire-style to go along with their training sessions. Durable, no-frills, and proudly wearing the Testify logo. From campsite to squat rack, this mug's for you.

Click here to head to the Testify Store.

WHAT'S COMING UP

Reminder: We will be closed for training on Saturday, 04/11/26, as we are hosting the annual Testify Strengthlifting Challenge.

Below are a few 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, 2026

  • 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.

Testify Barbell MAYhem - The Clean & Press Classic

  • May 1, 2026

  • The annual Barbell MAYhem is back, and this year's event is a Friday night clean-and-press!

  • This is a single-lift weightlifting meet wherein competitors will perform the clean-and-press. Each lifter will receive 3 attempts, and the heaviest successful lift will determine their score.

  • There will be prizes - for feats both serious and outlandish - throughout the night!

  • Click here to register or for more information.

Minneapolis, MN: Starting Strength Squat & Deadlift Camp

  • October 3, 2026

  • Spend the day learning the theory and practice of the low bar back squat and the deadlift.

  • Participants will spend lots of time on the platform receiving coaching and instruction on the squat and deadlift in a small group setting. We will also have a lecture and discussion on programming and cover how to identify and correct common technical problems.

  • 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 2026.03.02.

Option 2
Bike/row:
4 x 3 minutes

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

Compare to 2026.01.12.

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

Compare to 2025.12.15.

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 2025.12.15.

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.