EXERCISE · BARBELL
Pause Deadlift
Back
Before you pull, get the pause right in your head — you're stopping the bar an inch or two off the floor, not resetting your whole position. Set up as you would for a normal deadlift: bar over mid-foot, shins close, hips down enough that your chest is up and your back is flat. Break the floor and lift until the bar just clears it, pause there without losing tension in your lats or letting your hips rise, then finish the pull. The pause exposes any looseness in your setup — if the bar drifts forward or your back rounds during the hold, that's the leak to fix before you add weight.