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Exercise Profile
  • Target Muscle Group
    Hamstrings
  • Exercise TypeStrength
  • Equipment RequiredBarbell
  • MechanicsCompound
  • Force TypeHinge (Bilateral)
  • Experience LevelIntermediate
  • Secondary Muscles
    Abs, Adductors, Calves, Forearms, Glutes, Lats, Lower Back, Quads, Traps, Upper Back
Target Muscle Group

Hamstrings

Hamstrings Muscle Anatomy Diagram

Straight Leg Deadlift Overview

The straight leg deadlift is a variation of the deadlift. It is an exercise used to strengthen the muscles of the entire posterior chain including the hamstrings, glutes, calves, and back.

The straight leg deadlift differs from its conventional deadlift counterpart in that one must keep their legs straight during the eccentric portion of the lift. This places more tension on the hamstrings as they stretch when lowering the weight.

One can utilize the straight leg deadlift to build bigger hamstrings or to strengthen their personal records on the conventional deadlift.

Straight Leg Deadlift Instructions

  1. Set a bar at just below hip height and load your desired weight.
  2. Hinge forward slightly and grasp the bar with a double overhand, shoulder width grip.
  3. Stand up by extending your hips and knees and take two steps back from the rack.
  4. Keeping the knees extended, push your hips back, and hinge forward until the bar is just below your knee cap.
  5. Drive through the whole foot and focus on pushing the floor away.
  6. Finish the movement by squeezing the glutes and posteriorly tilting the pelvis.
  7. Once you have locked out the hips, reverse the movement by pushing the hips back and hinging forward.
  8. Return the bar to the floor, reset, and repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

Straight Leg Deadlift Tips

  1. Make no mistake, your lower back should not round during this exercise. Those who perform it on a raised platform with a rounded back are doing it incorrectly. You should only utilize the range of motion which you can move through with control.
  2. Even though the knees are meant to be mostly locked out with this variation, you shouldn’t be focused on squeezing your quads. If you notice pain at the back of the base of the knees, simply switch to another slightly bent knee variation.
  3. This style of deadlift will look VERY similar to a conventional deadlift only the lifter will start with higher hips and a vertical shin angle. The hips and shoulders will likely be at just about the same height.
  4. Do not allow the bar to drift away from your body during the lift.
  5. Always start these out of a rack, don’t go off the floor. Most won’t have the requisite hamstring mobility to complete the movement from the floor.
  6. The movement occurs primarily at your hips. There shouldn’t be any movement within your spine - don’t focus on arching your back.
  7. Neck position is highly individual - Some prefer a neutral neck position (i.e. keeping the chin tucked throughout the lift) while others do well with looking slightly up. Here’s some factors to consider:
    • If you’re someone who is more globally extended (i.e. athletic background), then you will likely be able to keep a neutral position more effectively by packing the chin.
    • On the opposite end of the spectrum, if you tend to be more flexion dominant (especially in your thoracic spine - upper back) then it would behoove you to look up slightly as this will drive more extension.
    • Experiment with each and see which one works best for your individual anatomy and biomechanics.
  8. Do not worry about retracting your shoulder blades, this is unnecessary and doesn’t carry over to your deadlift.
  9. Make sure you wrap your thumbs around the bar and don’t utilize a false grip. Squeeze the bar as tight as possible like you’re trying to leave an imprint of your fingerprints on the bar.
  10. When you hip hinge, you should naturally notice a weight shift to your heels. However, don’t shift your weight so aggressively that your heels come up.
  11. To follow up on my previous point, if you focus on keeping the weight entirely on the heels, you won’t be able to effectively recruit your quads at the beginning of the lift and thus you’ll be slow off the flow. So, to combat this, you should focus on driving through the whole foot - you want 3 points of contact: big toe, little toe, and heel.
  12. Ensure the elbows stay locked out. Don’t actively flex the triceps but make sure that your elbows doesn’t break neutral.
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