24/7 Barbell Gym

Since we have a few lifters doing Stiff Leg Deadlifts for the first time in their new training blocks, here's a video going over the set up and ex*****on of this deadlift variation.


The SLDL set up has one key difference from the regular conventional deadlift: we skip step 3 in the traditional 5 step set up, and do not bring our shins to the bar. This keeps the back angle more horizontal and leaves the hamstrings stretched more at the bottom of the lift, giving both of those muscle groups more work to do while being less mechanically efficient than our usual deadlifts, which works keep the weight on the bar (and overall fatigue) lower.


First you want to line the bar up with the middle of your foot, about an inch away from the shins. The stance should be relatively narrow, 4-8 inches apart with the feet at same width as your hips.


Next you'll grab the bar just outside your legs and grip tightly. From this point on you have to keep your grip on the bar.


Now we'll keep our shins vertical, and with a tight grip on the bar, pull the chest+shoulders up while pressing our abs down to the floor, which will get the back to go from a rounded position to flat. Once your back is tight and hamstrings stretched, you can drive through the legs to get the bar moving in a straight line off the floor. The bar will make contact with the legs again right above the knee, and you'll stand up with hips+knees fully extended and shoulders back to complete each rep.

Little known fact: The post workout window for protein is actually less than 30 seconds after you set a new max, so it's important to have space for a bagel on your bench.

Inspired by 's post regarding back rounding in the barbell lifts, how do we decide what constitutes too much back rounding for the deadlift?


Although we strive for a seemingly neutral spine in the squat and deadlift, there's still a significant degree of spinal flexion even when visually the back looks "flat". It's fairly well established that this spinal flexion isn't inherently dangerous and can be trained, but in the deadlift more flexion does come with some mechanical trade-offs that will effect your strength in the lift and how much volume you can do in a given program.


Increased rounding of the back can make the movement feel easier off the floor as it artificially increases the length of the arms, and brings the hips closer to the bar. With excessive back flexion comes the trade-off of a much slower finish to the lift as the hips won't be able to fully extend until the back itself extends. Additionally this can produce more localized back fatigue and may effect how much volume can be done compared to a "flat" back.


These issues can be partially mitigated by maintaining the same back position off the floor, vs increasing back flexion during the lift itself. It may also help to maintain bar speed by timing the hip+back extension to happen at the same time so you don't get stuck right before finishing a rep. Ideally we want the lifter to set the back as flat as possible, but there is likely an inflection point for the amount of back flexion that will both be strongest mechanically and allow enough training volume to appropriately develop the involved musculature. Too much would result in either missed reps at the top of the deadlift, or limited training volume due to back fatigue, and will vary between lifters and deadlift stances.

Ben hitting 97.5 for a nice set of fahve at RPE 8. When he initially joined our gym he hit a very grindy 5rm at 100kg, so while the numbers are different, assigning a qualitative value through RPE has allowed us to see solid progress over the past 6 weeks.


In addition to RPE, we've increased the squat volume and made it more manageable by using squat variations that limit the weight on the bar and often allow for technical improvements that carryover to the main squat movement.

In today's post, we have Ron PRing his press with an easy rep @8.


The press is ostensibly the fourth main lift after the 3 powerlifts, and for non-powerlifters with an interest in strength training can have just as much importance in their programming. For powerlifters it's a useful way to get extra pressing volume in the shoulders and triceps with lighter weights and a much lower fatigue cost, despite it's lack of specificity to the bench. For a general strength trainee, it's an excellent movement to involve the full body. Additionally, it looks much cooler than a bench press, and sometimes that's the most important thing of all.

Today we have a nice top set of pin squats from our lifter Jackie. In these you want to lower the bar under control to gently touch the pins before coming up. The pin squat tends to help raise awareness of upperback tightness in the squat, and find an appropriate knee position/back angle in the bottom of the squat, which can then be implemented in the competition lift.

Continuing with our bench series: We've recently added a slingshot to the gym, which is a useful bench variation that lets you overload the movement by 5-10% and tends to reinforce a proper bar path where the bar returns from the sternum to back over the shoulder joint fairly early in the ROM, reducing the moment arm between the weight and shoulder joint.

Starting off our synchronized bench series featuring our two star lifters, Jackie and Ron. These are a little harder to synchronize than deadlifts due to the lack of audio cues from your partner, but the Close-Grip Bench Press is an excellent variation to manage fatigue by reducing the weight on the bar needed, and increasing the the demands on the triceps in elbow extension. To maintain a vertical forearm in the bottom position, you'll have to touch lower on your torso, but still need to press the bar back over the shoulder joint aggressively for an efficient bar path.