Stiff-leg deadlift

Why it's here

The stiff-leg deadlift bends at the hips with the knees only slightly unlocked, loading the hamstrings through a long stretch with a barbell. In a nine-week blinded randomised trial with a group that did not train, it grew the hamstrings by about 7%. It grew mostly the semimembranosus, where the Nordic curl grew mostly the semitendinosus, and the authors recommend using both ^[1].

The evidence

• Training study Thirty-six adults without resistance-training experience were assigned to stiff-leg deadlifts, Nordic curls or no training, three times a week for nine weeks. Both exercises grew the whole hamstrings significantly — stiff-leg deadlifts by about 7%, Nordic curls by about 11% — but each favoured a different muscle: the semimembranosus grew about 11% with stiff-leg deadlifts, the semitendinosus about 24% with Nordic curls ^[1].

How to do it

1. Stand with your feet about shoulder width apart, holding the bar in front of your thighs.
2. With your knees only slightly unlocked and your back neutral, push your hips back and lower the bar by bending at the hips. In the trial above, participants bent from upright to about 90° at the hip ^[1].
3. Stand back up by driving your hips forward, keeping the bar close to your legs.

Stop an exercise that causes significant or unusual pain and have it assessed. This page describes the movement; it is not rehabilitation advice.

Making it harder over time

This is a large compound exercise in the Progressive Overload Calculator, which adds weight in steps of 2.5%–5% once every set reaches the top of your rep range, and adds reps until then.

Alternatives

• Hip thrust — Works the glutes with your back on a bench. In a nine-week MRI trial, it grew them about as much as the back squat did.
• Nordic hamstring curl — Needs only something to hold your ankles. In trials with groups that did not train, it grew the hamstrings, most of all the semitendinosus.
• Seated leg curl — Curls the knee with the hips bent, which stretches the hamstrings further. In the same people, it grew them more than the lying curl did.