10 Best Stiff-legged Barbell Deadlift Alternatives for Hamstring Strength

The Stiff-legged Barbell Deadlift keeps your knees still and hinges purely at the hips until you feel the stretch in your hamstrings, and every swap here stays on a barbell. The closest swap is the Clean Deadlift, which keeps you on the same bar for the same hamstrings, though you squat down to grip it from the floor and drive up through bent, flared knees instead. If you want that knees-still hinge instead, the Romanian Deadlift gives you one you already know.

Original Exercise: Stiff-legged Barbell Deadlift

Stiff-legged Barbell Deadlift
Primary Muscle
Hamstrings
Equipment
Barbell
Difficulty
Intermediate
Type
Compound
Secondary Muscles: Glutes, Lower Back
How to Perform Stiff-legged Barbell Deadlift
  1. Grasp a bar using an overhand grip (palms facing down). You may need some wrist wraps if using a significant amount of weight.
  2. Stand with your torso straight and your legs spaced using a shoulder width or narrower stance. The knees should be slightly bent. This is your starting position.
  3. Keeping the knees stationary, lower the barbell to over the top of your feet by bending at the hips while keeping your back straight. Keep moving forward as if you were going to pick something from the floor until you feel a stretch on the hamstrings. Inhale as you perform this movement.
  4. Start bringing your torso up straight again by extending your hips until you are back at the starting position. Exhale as you perform this movement.
  5. Repeat for the recommended amount of repetitions.
Pro Tips
  • Category: Strength
  • Force: Pull
  • Movement type: Compound

Ranked Stiff-legged Barbell Deadlift Alternatives

Best Match
Clean Deadlift

1. Clean Deadlift

95.2% Match
Hamstrings Barbell Intermediate Isolation
How to perform this exercise
  1. Begin standing with a barbell close to your shins. Your feet should be directly under your hips with your feet turned out slightly. Grip the bar with a double overhand grip or hook grip, about shoulder width apart. Squat down to the bar. Your spine should be in full extension, with a back angle that places your shoulders in front of the bar and your back as vertical as possible.
  2. Begin by driving through the floor through the front of your heels. As the bar travels upward, maintain a constant back angle. Flare your knees out to the side to help keep them out of the bar's path.
  3. After the bar crosses the knees, complete the lift by driving the hips into the bar until your hips and knees are extended.
Reverse Band Deadlift

2. Reverse Band Deadlift

92% Match
Hamstrings Barbell Advanced Isolation
How to perform this exercise
  1. Set the bar up in a power rack. Attach bands to the top of the rack, using either bands pegs or the frame itself. Attach the other end of the bands to the bar.
  2. Approach the bar so that it is centered over your feet. You feet should be about hip width apart. Bend at the hip to grip the bar at shoulder width, allowing your shoulder blades to protract. Typically, you would use an overhand grip or an over/under grip on heavier sets.
  3. With your feet, and your grip set, take a big breath and then lower your hips and bend the knees until your shins contact the bar. Look forward with your head, keep your chest up and your back arched, and begin driving through the heels to move the weight upward.
  4. After the bar passes the knees, aggressively pull the bar back, pulling your shoulder blades together as you drive your hips forward into the bar.
  5. Lower the bar by bending at the hips and guiding it to the floor.
Sumo Deadlift

3. Sumo Deadlift

92% Match
Hamstrings Barbell Advanced Isolation
How to perform this exercise
  1. Begin with a bar loaded on the ground. Approach the bar so that the bar intersects the middle of the feet. The feet should be set very wide, near the collars. Bend at the hips to grip the bar. The arms should be directly below the shoulders, inside the legs, and you can use a pronated grip, a mixed grip, or hook grip. Relax the shoulders, which in effect lengthens your arms.
  2. Take a breath, and then lower your hips, looking forward with your head with your chest up. Drive through the floor, spreading your feet apart, with your weight on the back half of your feet. Extend through the hips and knees.
  3. As the bar passes through the knees, lean back and drive the hips into the bar, pulling your shoulder blades together.
  4. Return the weight to the ground by bending at the hips and controlling the weight on the way down.
Sumo Deadlift With Bands

4. Sumo Deadlift With Bands

91.7% Match
Hamstrings Barbell Advanced Isolation
How to perform this exercise
  1. To deadlift with short bands, simply loop them over the bar before you start, and step into them to set up. Ensure that they under the back half of your foot, directly where you are driving into the floor.
  2. Begin with a bar loaded on the ground. Approach the bar so that the bar intersects the middle of the feet. The feet should be set very wide, near the collars. Bend at the hips to grip the bar. The arms should be directly below the shoulders, inside the legs, and you can use a pronated grip, a mixed grip, or hook grip.
  3. Take a breath, and then lower your hips, looking forward with your head with your chest up. Drive through the floor, spreading your feet apart, with your weight on the back half of your feet. Extend through the hips and knees.
  4. As the bar passes through the knees, lean back and drive the hips into the bar, pulling your shoulder blades together.
  5. Return the weight to the ground by bending at the hips and controlling the weight on the way down.
Sumo Deadlift With Chains

5. Sumo Deadlift With Chains

91.7% Match
Hamstrings Barbell Advanced Isolation
How to perform this exercise
  1. You can attach the chains to the sleeves of the bar, or just drape the middle over the bar so there is a greater weight increase as you lift. Attempt to keep the ends of the chains away from the plates so you don't hit them when you lower the weight.
  2. Begin with a bar loaded on the ground. Approach the bar so that the bar intersects the middle of the feet. The feet should be set very wide, near the collars. Bend at the hips to grip the bar. The arms should be directly below the shoulders, inside the legs, and you can use a pronated grip, a mixed grip, or hook grip. Relax the shoulders, which in effect lengthens your arms.
  3. Take a breath, and then lower your hips, looking forward with your head with your chest up. Drive through the floor, spreading your feet apart, with your weight on the back half of your feet. Extend through the hips and knees.
  4. As the bar passes through the knees, lean back and drive the hips into the bar, pulling your shoulder blades together.
  5. Return the weight to the ground by bending at the hips and controlling the weight on the way down.
Reverse Band Sumo Deadlift

6. Reverse Band Sumo Deadlift

91.2% Match
Hamstrings Barbell Advanced Isolation
How to perform this exercise
  1. Begin with a bar loaded on the floor inside of a power rack. Attach bands to the top of the rack, using either pegs or the frame itself. Attach the other end to the barbell.
  2. Approach the bar so that the bar intersects the middle of the feet. The feet should be set very wide, near the collars. Bend at the hips to grip the bar. The arms should be directly below the shoulders, inside the legs, and you can use a pronated grip, a mixed grip, or hook grip. Relax the shoulders, which in effect lengthens your arms.
  3. Take a breath, and then lower your hips, looking forward with your head with your chest up. Drive through the floor, spreading your feet apart, with your weight on the back half of your feet. Extend through the hips and knees.
  4. As the bar passes through the knees, lean back and drive the hips into the bar, pulling your shoulder blades together.
  5. Return the weight to the ground by bending at the hips and controlling the weight on the way down.
Snatch Deadlift

7. Snatch Deadlift

91.2% Match
Hamstrings Barbell Advanced Isolation
How to perform this exercise
  1. The snatch deadlift strengthens the first pull of the snatch. Begin with a wide snatch grip with the barbell placed on the platform. The feet should be directly under the hips, with the feet turned out. Squat down to the bar, keeping the back in absolute extension with the head facing forward.
  2. Initiate the movement by driving through the heels, raising the hips. The back angle should remain the same until the bar passes the knees.
  3. At that point, drive your hips through the bar as you lay back. Return the bar to the platform by reversing the motion.
Good Morning

8. Good Morning

89.4% Match
Hamstrings Barbell Intermediate Isolation
How to perform this exercise
  1. Begin with a bar on a rack at shoulder height. Rack the bar across the rear of your shoulders as you would a power squat, not on top of your shoulders. Keep your back tight, shoulder blades pinched together, and your knees slightly bent. Step back from the rack.
  2. Begin by bending at the hips, moving them back as you bend over to near parallel. Keep your back arched and your cervical spine in proper alignment.
  3. Reverse the motion by extending through the hips with your glutes and hamstrings. Continue until you have returned to the starting position.
Romanian Deadlift

9. Romanian Deadlift

89.4% Match
Hamstrings Barbell Intermediate Isolation
How to perform this exercise
  1. Put a barbell in front of you on the ground and grab it using a pronated (palms facing down) grip that a little wider than shoulder width. Tip: Depending on the weight used, you may need wrist wraps to perform the exercise and also a raised platform in order to allow for better range of motion.
  2. Bend the knees slightly and keep the shins vertical, hips back and back straight. This will be your starting position.
  3. Keeping your back and arms completely straight at all times, use your hips to lift the bar as you exhale. Tip: The movement should not be fast but steady and under control.
  4. Once you are standing completely straight up, lower the bar by pushing the hips back, only slightly bending the knees, unlike when squatting. Tip: Take a deep breath at the start of the movement and keep your chest up. Hold your breath as you lower and exhale as you complete the movement.
  5. Repeat for the recommended amount of repetitions.
Romanian Deadlift From Deficit

10. Romanian Deadlift From Deficit

88.9% Match
Hamstrings Barbell Advanced Isolation
How to perform this exercise
  1. Begin standing while holding a bar at arm's length in front of you. You can stand on a raised platform to increase the range of motion.
  2. Begin by flexing the knees slightly, and then flex at the hip, moving your butt back as far as possible, lowering the torso as far as flexibility allows. The back should remain in absolute extension at all times, and the bar should remain in contact with the legs. If done properly, there should be heavy tension felt in the hamstrings.
  3. Reverse the motion to return to the starting position.

Why You Might Need a Stiff-legged Barbell Deadlift Alternative

You reach for a swap for plain reasons: you want to pull from the floor instead of starting standing, a wide stance sits better with you, or the hinge you know feels stale and you want a fresh stimulus on the same muscles. Every alternative still uses a barbell and still trains hamstrings through a hip hinge, so nothing changes your equipment problem, only stance, grip and how much else gets pulled in along the way. Some swaps add a wider sumo stance, some add bands or chains to change how the weight feels off the floor, and the Good Morning puts the bar across your shoulders instead of in your hands the way the Stiff-legged Barbell Deadlift does.

How to Choose the Right Substitute

Start with the Clean Deadlift if a full pull off the floor suits you: same bar, but you squat down to grip it and drive up through bent, flared knees, so your legs do the first part of the lift before your hips finish it. If a wide stance suits your hips better, the Sumo Deadlift sets your feet out near the collars with your hands inside your knees, and you spread the floor as you drive up. For the same slight-knee hinge without a jump in load, the Romanian Deadlift pushes your hips back with your shins vertical, much as this lift does, and the Good Morning moves that hinge onto a bar racked across your shoulders. The chain and band variations then change how heavy the bar feels through the lift.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does the Clean Deadlift differ from the Stiff-legged Barbell Deadlift?

The Clean Deadlift starts with the bar on the floor: you squat down to grip it, then drive up and flare your knees as you stand. The Stiff-legged Barbell Deadlift instead starts standing with the bar in your hands and keeps your knees still while you hinge from the hips the whole way, so the change is a bent-knee start from the floor, with your legs driving the bar past your knees before your hips finish the pull.

Which swap is easiest for someone still learning this hinge?

The Romanian Deadlift pushes your hips back with only a slight knee bend, just like this lift, so the setup barely changes. The Good Morning racks the bar across your shoulders instead of your hands, which takes the grip out of the lift while you learn the hinge. Save the Sumo Deadlift, the Reverse Band Deadlift and the chain and band variations for once that hinge feels solid.

Do any of these alternatives need a wider stance?

Yes. The Sumo Deadlift, Sumo Deadlift With Bands, Sumo Deadlift With Chains and Reverse Band Sumo Deadlift all use a wide stance instead of the narrow pull of the Stiff-legged Barbell Deadlift. That stance puts your hands inside your knees and has you spread the floor as you drive, with the lift still finishing by driving your hips into the bar.

How do bands or chains change these alternatives?

They change how heavy the bar feels through the lift. The Reverse Band Deadlift, Reverse Band Sumo Deadlift, Sumo Deadlift With Bands and Sumo Deadlift With Chains all add resistance that builds or eases as you move, so the hinge gets harder or easier at different points instead of staying constant like the plain barbell version.

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