equipment

Dumbbell

sets

3

reps

10-15

rest

60-90 sec

1. Stand holding a dumbbell in each hand in front of your thighs.
2. Set your feet about hip width apart.
3. Put a soft bend in your knees and keep it there.
4. Pull your shoulder blades back and set a flat back.
5. Brace your midsection with the dumbbells resting against your legs.

1. Push your hips backward, letting the dumbbells slide down your thighs.
2. Keep the knee bend fixed — this is a hip movement, not a squat.
3. Lower until you feel a stretch in your hamstrings, usually around mid-shin.
4. Stop when your back would otherwise start to round.
5. Drive your hips forward to stand tall, squeezing your glutes at the top.

Inhale as you hinge down, exhale as you drive your hips forward to stand.

• Keep the dumbbells close to your legs the whole way.
• Move from the hips, not the lower back.
• Keep the knee angle fixed throughout.
• Let hamstring flexibility set your depth, not the floor.
• Start light — this teaches the hinge that deadlifts are built on.

• Bending the knees more as you descend, turning it into a squat.
• Rounding the back to chase extra depth.
• Letting the dumbbells drift forward away from the legs.
• Leaning back and overextending at the top.
• Going by a fixed depth rather than where the hamstring stretch ends.

From standing to a point where the hamstrings are stretched and the back is still flat — for most people mid-shin. Stop where the back would begin to round.