There’s No One Right Way to Lift: How We Coach for Your Body
At Iron + Mettle, we hear it all the time:
“Am I doing this right?”
“I thought you were supposed to lift like this…”
“Is sumo cheating?”
There’s a lot of pressure in the fitness world to find the one right way to lift, move, or perform a certain exercise. But here’s the truth: real training is not about chasing a perfect version of a lift but about finding the version that works best for your body.
That’s exactly what we teach in our coaching sessions. There is no single “correct” deadlift or squat or bench press - there are many variations, and they all exist for a reason!
Why One-Size-Fits-All Doesn’t Work in Strength Training
Every person has a unique skeletal structure, injury history, mobility profile, and training background. So why would we expect everyone to squat, deadlift, lunge or press the exact same way?
Whether you’re joining us for one-on-one personal training or in a small group session at our Noe Valley gym, our coaches are trained to assess what movements work best for you. That means offering options and adjustments throughout sessions, in a collaborative manner, and not enforcing a rigid standard.
Teaching the Lift, Not Forcing the lift
At Iron + Mettle, our strength training sessions prioritize education and autonomy. While we want to help every woman get strong and reach her goals - this can be done through numerous ways! We help come up with appropriate movements throughout each session that maximize strength gains, take into account your injury history and anthropometry, and most importantly - keep things exciting and fun!
Some examples of the variations we regularly use:
Deadlifts:
Conventional deadlift
Sumo deadlift
Trap bar deadlift
Stiff-legged deadlift
Romanian deadlift (RDL)
Each of these has a different purpose and benefit. If you have long femurs and a shorter torso, you may find sumo deadlifts feel more stable and comfortable (this is also true if you’re pregnant!). If you’re working on glute and hamstring development, RDLs may be a better fit. If you’re easing into pulling from the floor, the trap bar may be a great starting point! Sometimes we will have you pull off blocks, for extra support.
Squats:
High bar back squat
Low bar back squat
Front squat
Goblet squat
Box squat
Different bar positions shift the center of gravity and affect how much stress is placed on the knees, hips, and spine. High bar squats are more quad-dominant, while low bar recruits more hips and posterior chain. Neither is better - they’re just different tools for different outcomes.
Bench Press & Upper Body:
Standard grip bench press
Close grip bench press
Dumbbell bench press
Incline press
Push-up variations
A close grip bench press can be more shoulder-friendly or target the triceps more intentionally. Some clients might not tolerate barbell benching well due to prior injuries - we’ll often swap in dumbbells or floor press instead!
Pulling Variations:
Chin-ups (underhand grip)
Pull-ups (overhand grip)
Neutral grip pulls
Ring rows and assisted pull-ups
Not every client will be able to do a bodyweight pull-up - and that’s okay. We offer band-assisted versions, eccentric-focused work, or other pulling variations that build the same muscle patterns while honoring your starting point. A ton of our clients come to us with the goal to get their first pull-up and we have a huge movement library to choose from!
Autonomy Is Part of Strength
We don’t believe in blind obedience to coaching cues. We believe in collaboration.
Our coaching team is there to help guide you and educate you but we also want you to understand how a movement feels in your body. That might mean exploring different stances, grips, or angles to see what gives you the most power and control.
The goal isn’t to copy someone else’s lift but to own your own.
Technique vs. Dogma
There’s a difference between solid technique and rigid dogma. Technique is adaptable. It evolves based on who’s lifting, what the goal is, and where that lifter is in their training journey.
Dogma, on the other hand, says there’s only one right way and anything else is wrong.
That mindset doesn’t help beginners. It creates fear, confusion, and sometimes even injury. At Iron + Mettle, we don’t buy into that. We’d rather show you the “why” behind your lift, teach you how to adjust as needed, and build a foundation you feel confident in.
Real Coaching Looks Like This
When a client tells us their hips feel tight in a conventional deadlift, we try a sumo stance. We adjust foot width. We try elevating the bar. We explore.
When a client has wrist pain in a front rack, we don’t skip squatting all together - we find a version of the lift that still builds similar strength without causing discomfort.
That’s real coaching. And that’s what every session at our training gym in SF is built on.
the Lift Should Fit You
This is one of our core coaching philosophies:
We can always find a way to train!
We’ve worked with:
New moms returning to movement post-pregnancy
Pregnant women who had been lifting for over a dedade
Clients managing scoliosis, arthritis, or joint limitations
Women in their 40s, 50s, and 60s learning to lift for the first time
Lifters coming from other gyms who were never taught proper mechanics
And so many others. All of them have found strength by adapting their training to where they are in their lives. Fitness is something we want to do regularly - not something that we just abandon when injuries or life changes occur.
Final Thoughts: There’s More Than One Way to Be Strong
You won’t hear us say, “this is the only way to squat.” You’ll hear us say, “let’s try this and see how it feels.”
That openness is what makes strength training at Iron + Mettle different. We don’t just teach the lifts, we teach you how to lift in a way that’s smart, safe, and sustainable.
If you’re tired of being told there’s only one right way, or feeling like no one is coaching you during your group fitness classes, we’d love to work with you!