Starting Strength

below the knees the pins are set determines the amount of overlap that the halting and the rack pull have with each other. Just below the patellas is probably not enough, while down to mid-shin defeats the purpose of dividing the whole pull into two movements. Three or four inches below the joint line is about right, just below the tibial tuberosity. The point of the halting deadlift is to work the initial drive off the floor, which depends heavily on the quads for the drive and on the hamstrings to anchor the back angle. The rack pull should use as little quadriceps drive as possible, with the main emphasis on hip extension – working the hamstrings and glutes, and above all, keeping a flat back while this happens. With hip extension as the primary point of the exercise, rack pulls are obviously also done from a dead stop.

    Figure 7-2. The start (A), middle (B), and finish (C) of the rack pull.

    Your stance for the rack pull will be the same width as for the deadlift, but with your shins more vertical than they’d be in the start position off the floor. The bar should be in the position it would be in were it deadlifted to that height off the floor – bar over mid-foot and in contact with the shins, just barely below the knees. Your shoulders should be in front of the bar, and it is very important that they stay there until the bar is well up your thighs; in this respect, both haltings and rack pulls differ from deadlifts, which allow the natural change in back angle to occur when the bar is below the knees. Your back must be locked hard in both lumbar and thoracic extension – the chest is up, and the lower back is arched but not overextended – a normal anatomical position of extension, the position described for the squat and deadlift and for all barbell pulls. It is easier to get in this position when the bar is higher up the shins because less hamstring tension is pulling on the pelvis/lumbar lock at this point. As with the halting deadlift, the rack pull is performed with a double overhand grip, usually with straps due to the heavy weights used.
    From the starting position, drag the bar up your thighs, keeping it in constant contact with the skin, with your shoulders out over the bar, your chest up, and your knees held in position with no forward movement. When the bar is high enough up the thighs that you cannot keep your shoulders forward, extend your hips forcefully – “shoot the hips” is a good cue for this movement. The finish position is the same as for a deadlift, with shoulders back, chest up, knees and hips straight, and eyes focused on the floor about 12-15 feet ahead. No exaggerated shrug is necessary or useful; the hips are shoved forward into extension with the chest held up, and this is all that needs to be done at the top. Breathing is also the same as for the deadlift, with a big breath taken and held before each rep. Sets of five work well for rack pulls. The weights that can be used are quite heavy, due to the shorter range of motion, and it is not uncommon to do a 5RM rack pull with very close to 1RM deadlift weight. Again, they should be warmed up with the same progression as for a deadlift.
    As simple as this movement sounds, it is very easy to do wrong. Most people will allow their knees to come forward as soon as the bar passes them, making the back angle more vertical and dragging the bar back up the thighs along an angle – and supporting some of the weight on the thighs – instead of keeping the bar path vertical. This knee shift is illegal in the deadlift in a powerlifting meet, since the bar will actually go down a little, and it is referred to as a “hitch.” Your body wants to do this for the same reason the second pull on a clean works: you get a second opportunity to use the quads to straighten out the knees if you re-bend them. But unlike a clean, the rack pull is specifically used to strengthen the hamstrings, and they must be made to do their job as intended to pull the hips into extension while the back stays flat. It is important to stay out over the bar, keep the knees back, keep the bar on the legs, and extend the hips only after the bar is well up the thighs.
    Barbell shrugs
     
    The barbell shrug is a type of rack pull that starts up above the knees, at about the point where the hips shoot forward at the very top of the deadlift. Barbell shrugs can be done with very heavy weights, 100 pounds over your PR deadlift or more, due to their very short range of