Legs · Smith Machine
Smith Stiff Legged Deadlift
How to do the smith stiff legged deadlift, the muscles it works, and the mistakes to avoid. Pulled straight from the Kovo app's exercise library.
- Equipment
- Smith Machine
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Logged as
- Weighted reps
- Movement
- Hinge
- Mechanic
- Compound
How to do it
Stand with the Smith machine bar at your thighs, feet hip-width, holding it with an overhand grip. With only a slight bend in your knees, hinge at the hips to lower the bar along your legs, keep your back flat, then squeeze your glutes and hamstrings to stand back up.
- 1Hinge at your hips and feel a strong stretch in your hamstrings as the
- 2bar lowers
- 3Keep your spine neutral and shoulders back while the bar tracks your legs
- 4Drive your hips forward and squeeze your glutes to return to standing
Common mistakes
- Do not lock your knees completely or round your lower back
- Avoid lowering so far that your form breaks down
- Do not jerk the bar up; use a smooth, controlled motion
Muscles worked
The smith stiff legged deadlift mainly works the glutes, lower back, and hamstrings, with the forearms, quads, upper traps, upper abs, and calves assisting.
- GlutesPrimary
- Lower BackPrimary
- HamstringsPrimary
- ForearmsSupport
- QuadsSupport
- Upper TrapsSupport
- Upper AbsSupport
- CalvesSupport
Kovo programs the smith stiff legged deadlift for you and tracks it every session.
We build your whole program, drop the right lifts into each workout, and adjust your weights as you get stronger. Free on iOS and Android.
More glutes exercises
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- How to do the arc trainer
- How to do the assault bike
- How to do the medicine ball atlas stone lift
- How to do the b stance hip thrust
Last reviewed June 2026.