equipment

Barbell

sets

3-4

reps

3-6

rest

3-5 min

1. Stand on a platform or plate one to two inches high.
2. Set your feet about hip width apart with the bar over your mid-foot.
3. Hinge down and take an overhand or mixed grip outside your legs.
4. Set your chest up, flatten your back and pull the slack out of the bar.
5. Brace hard — the deeper start makes holding position harder.

1. Push the floor away with your legs to break the bar off the ground.
2. Keep the bar close to your legs as it rises.
3. Once the bar passes your knees, drive your hips forward.
4. Finish standing tall with hips and knees extended.
5. Lower by pushing the hips back first, then bending the knees.

Take a big breath and brace before each repetition. Exhale at the top or once the bar is down.

• Start with a small deficit of one to two inches, not more.
• Keep your back flat — the lower start makes this harder to hold.
• Keep the bar against your legs the whole way.
• Reduce the load compared with your standard deadlift.
• Reset your setup for each repetition.

• Using a deficit so large that the back rounds at the start.
• Loading it the same as a conventional deadlift.
• Letting the hips shoot up first off the floor.
• Letting the bar drift forward away from the legs.
• Attempting these before the conventional deadlift is solid.

From the bar on the floor while standing on a small platform, to standing fully upright. The deficit adds range at the bottom only.