Barbell Stiff-Leg Deadlift
The barbell stiff-leg deadlift is a hinge with nearly straight knees that usually lowers the bar further than a Romanian deadlift, often to the floor. Straighter legs put more stretch on your hamstrings, with glutes and back assisting. Choose it when hamstring stretch is the target and your mobility allows a flat back.
Muscles worked
The barbell stiff-leg deadlift trains the hamstrings, with glutes, back helping.
Primary
Weekly sets for hamstrings
Hard sets per week that Swole.fit plans for hamstrings, counting every exercise that trains it. Start a cycle near the growth line and climb toward the recovery limit before a deload.
How to do the barbell stiff-leg deadlift
- 01Stand with the bar over your midfoot, feet hip width apart, and grip just outside your legs.
- 02Keep your knees almost straight, with only a slight bend you hold for the whole set.
- 03Hinge at the hips and lower the bar close to your shins as far as a flat back allows.
- 04Touch the floor lightly, or stop just above it if your back starts to round.
- 05Drive your hips forward to stand tall, keeping the bar close to your legs.
Coaching cues
- Legs long, hips back.
- Feel the stretch behind your knees.
- Spine flat from start to finish.
Common mistakes
- Locking your knees hard puts the strain on the joint rather than the hamstrings, so keep a small, fixed softness.
- Rounding your back to reach the floor trades position for range, so stop at the depth where you can stay flat.
- Using a weight you can only move with a jerk hides bad positions, so pick loads you can lower slowly.
How Swole.fit programs it
Log it once and the app plans the next session for you.
- Most sets land between 8 and 15 reps, the range the plan steers compound lifts toward for size.
- Week one starts around 2 to 3 reps in reserve. Each week you train a little closer to failure, ending around 0 to 1 in reserve before a deload week.
- Hit the top of the range on every set and the next session adds the smallest real jump in weight, rounded to the plates, dumbbells or stack you actually have.
- Sets for this exercise count toward your weekly volume for every muscle it trains: a full set for the primary muscles, half a set for the helpers.
The full method, with the maths, is in how mesocycles work.
Barbell Stiff-Leg Deadlift alternatives
Same muscles, different tool. Swap in one of these when the equipment is taken or your joints want a change.
- Dumbbell Stiff-Leg DeadliftDumbbell, hamstrings
- Kettlebell SwingKettlebell, band and specialty bar, glutes, hamstrings
- Trap Bar DeadliftKettlebell, band and specialty bar, glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps
- Barbell Good MorningBarbell, hamstrings, back
- Barbell Romanian DeadliftBarbell, hamstrings, glutes
- Cable Pull-ThroughCable, glutes, hamstrings
Free programs that use it
Ready-made splits from the Swole.fit library. Pick one and the app runs the progression.
- Core Four3 days a week, chest, back, shoulders, quadriceps
- Deadlift Religion3 days a week, back, hamstrings, glutes
- Glute Lab3 days a week, glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps
- Leg Specialization4 days a week, quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes
- Powerbuilder Classic4 days a week, chest, back, quadriceps, shoulders
- Squat Science4 days a week, quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings
Log it. Let the app plan the next one.
Track your barbell stiff-leg deadlift free. Swole.fit picks the next weight, counts your weekly sets and tells you when to deload.