Barbell Deadlift
Also works: Calves · Forearms · Glutes · Hamstrings · Lats · Middle Back · Quadriceps · Traps
The conventional deadlift is the simplest hard thing in the gym: pick a loaded bar up off the floor and stand with it. It trains the whole posterior chain — hamstrings, glutes, spinal erectors, lats and grip — and it is usually the heaviest number in anyone's logbook.
Own the movement
Set up first, then execute. Every cue below is something you can check on your next set.
Before the first rep
- Stand with the bar over your mid-foot — roughly an inch from your shins. It should not move toward you when you bend down.
- Take a shoulder-width stance, feet roughly under your hips, toes slightly out.
- Bend at the hips and grip just outside your knees. Do not squat down to the bar.
- Pull the slack out: take the tension into your arms until you hear the bar click against the plates, before anything moves.
- Set your lats by squeezing as if holding a sheet of paper in each armpit, then take a big breath and brace.
Every rep
Breathing & tempo — Breath in and brace before the pull, hold it for the whole rep, exhale at the top. Reset your breath and your brace on the floor between every rep — deadlifts are singles strung together, not a continuous cycle.
Before you load it
- Reset your setup between reps rather than touch-and-go once the weight is heavy. Most deadlift injuries happen on rep three of a set that started fine.
- Use a mixed or hook grip only once your double-overhand grip genuinely fails. Alternate which hand is supinated if you pull mixed.
Sets, reps & load
Where to start, and what to change when it stops being hard.
Pull from a standard 45 cm bar height — if you cannot reach that with a neutral spine, pull from blocks rather than rounding to the floor. Deadlifting 1.5x bodyweight is a solid intermediate target and 2x bodyweight is strong for a non-competitor. Progress in 5 kg jumps while they stay easy, then 2.5 kg.
What goes wrong
The errors that show up most often, and the cue that fixes each one.
Take three seconds to build tension before the bar moves. You will feel the bar click into the plates. It is worth 10 kg on its own.
Set your lats and brace before you pull, and drop the weight until you can hold a neutral spine for every rep. A rounded upper back is a debatable technique choice; a rounded lower back is not.
Start with the bar over mid-foot and cue dragging it up your legs. A bar an inch further out is a dramatically longer lever on your lower back.
Stand tall, squeeze the glutes, stop. Lockout is standing up straight — nothing more is being trained by leaning back.
Why bother
The deadlift has no eccentric to survive before the hard part. You either break the bar off the floor or you do not, which makes it the cleanest test of whole-body strength there is, and the least forgiving of a sloppy setup.
It also trains a pattern you use constantly outside the gym. Hinging at the hips with a neutral spine, under load, is how you pick anything heavy off the ground. Very few exercises transfer that directly.
Where it fits
Once a week is plenty for most people. Deadlifts cost more recovery than they look like they should — heavy sets tax the lower back and the nervous system, and stacking them on top of heavy squats in the same week is how people stall. Two to four working sets is usually the whole session's worth.
If this one isn't it
No kit, too hard, or too easy — here's where to go instead.
Same job, different kit
Start here instead
When this gets easy
Asked and answered
Should I use straps?
Use them once your grip is the reason your sets end rather than your hips and back. Below that, train the grip — it is a real part of the lift. Above it, straps let you load the muscles you actually came to train.
Touch-and-go or dead stop every rep?
Dead stop. Resetting each rep removes the stretch reflex and forces every rep to be a genuine pull from the floor, which is what you are logging. Touch-and-go is a legitimate variation, but it inflates the number.
Conventional or sumo?
Whichever your build favours. Long femurs and short arms usually suit sumo; the reverse suits conventional. Neither is cheating. Pick one to progress and use the other as an accessory.
Can I deadlift and squat on the same day?
You can, but put the one you care about more first and keep the other's volume low. Both are heavy hip-dominant work and stacking them at full effort is the fastest route to a stalled lower back.