Stiff legged deadlifts can be compared to the quiet kid who sits in the corner at school. You know he\'s there, but you ignore him most of the time. If everyone else stays home sick, you might sit near him. But most of the time, you\'d just as soon forget he exists. Uninteresting and boring, you forget he\'s there for months at a time. But, when you need someone to chat with (or copy answers from), you can always fall back on Mr. Stiff-legged deadlifts.

Stiff-leg deadlifts used to be a mainstay in everyone\'s leg routine. While traditional deadlifts hit the back, the stiff-leg variety focuses more of the work upon the glutes and hamstrings. For this reason, many bodybuilders, particularly those who lacked great hamstring shape naturally, swore by stiff-leg deadlifts for many years. However, recently, many machines have allowed bodybuilders to train the hamstrings from a variety of angles. Gone are the days where the bodybuilder was limited to solely using set after set of lying leg curls to build hamstring mass. While this exercise is still very useful and popular, there are now many different machines which allow the bodybuilder to train hamstrings in seated or elevated positions. These machines are often safer, more comfortable, and very effective for targeting the hamstrings using the appropriate angles.

However, something has been lost along the way. Many bodybuilders have forgotten the rush that comes from grabbing the bar, locking the knees, and picking up while stretching the hamstrings to their mortal limits. With the comfort of advanced hamstring machinery comes an abandonment of the traditional mass-building movements from the past. For every hyperextension machine in the gym, you have 20 less gym members who are using deadlifts. For every new leg press machine, there are 50 members who abandon the squat. With the advent of useful new technologies often arrives a betrayal of the movements which led to bodybuilding success in the first place.

Stiff-leg deadlifts have seem to be making a return, particularly among this new crop of top amateurs who are realizing that superior leg shape and possessing shredded glutes is almost a pre-requisite for winning a pro card and making any sort of meaningful impact upon the pro stage. Now we are at a point where both isolation movements, as well as power movements such as the still-leg deadlift, are required to build hamstrings and glutes that are not only large, but shaped and conditioned as well.

To get the most out of the movement, keep your knees slightly bent when completing stiff-leg deadlifts. Use heavy weight, but never so much that the movement isn\'t completed in a slow and controlled movement. \"Control\" is really the name of the game when completing this movement. Unlike the bench press, which can be described as controlled, explosive chaos at time, the stiff-leg deadlift should be a safe, deliberate movement where every inch of the stretch is felt in order to make gains. Focus, and find results!