Stiff-Legged Dumbbell Deadlift

What it is

This is a compound, multi-joint pulling exercise that strengthens the entire posterior chain. It primarily targets your hamstrings, with significant involvement from your glutes (buttocks) and lower back. You perform it by hinging at your hips to lower dumbbells, keeping your legs mostly straight.

Technique tips

• Keep a slight bend in your knees throughout the movement.
• Initiate the descent by hinging at your hips, pushing them back.
• Maintain a neutral spine; avoid any rounding in your lower back.
• Lower the dumbbells until you feel a deep stretch in your hamstrings.
• Exhale as you lower the weight, then inhale as you stand tall.

How to track your progress

Log the weight and reps of each set. Straddly turns every set into an estimated one-rep max, so a heavier single and a strong set of eight both count as progress, and it flags a personal record the moment you beat your best.