Barbell Deadlift
The barbell deadlift lifts a loaded bar from the floor to your hips until you stand tall, then sets it back down. It trains the whole back of your body, glutes, hamstrings and the muscles along your spine, with the quads, traps and grip working hard too, and it is the lift where most people move their heaviest weight.
How to do the barbell deadlift
Stand with the bar over your mid-foot, feet about hip width apart, toes turned out a little.
Hinge at the hips and bend your knees until you can grip the bar just outside your legs, palms facing you.
Bring your shins to the bar, lift your chest and pull your shoulders down so your back is long and flat.
Breathe into your belly, brace and pull the slack out of the bar until the plates are about to leave the floor.
Push the floor away; hips and shoulders rise together while the bar slides up your shins.
Once the bar passes your knees, drive your hips forward and stand tall with glutes squeezed.
Lower the bar on the same line, hips back first, knees bending once it has passed them.
Setup at the bar
Walk up until the bar sits over the middle of your foot, feet about hip width apart and toes turned out a little. Push your hips back and bend your knees only as far as you need to reach the bar. Your shins touch it, your shoulders sit slightly in front of it and your hips end up between knees and shoulders.
Grip for the deadlift
Grip the bar just outside your legs so your arms hang straight down. Start with both palms facing you and wrap your thumbs around the bar. Your arms are hooks, not levers: keep the elbows straight and squeeze the bar hard before you pull.
Bracing and breathing
Take a big breath into your belly and tense your trunk as if you were about to take a punch. Hold it while the bar leaves the floor and passes your knees, breathe out at the top or after setting the bar down, then brace again for the next rep.
Bar path and pulling the slack out
The bar travels in a straight vertical line over your mid-foot. Before it leaves the floor, pull up until the bar clicks against the plates and your whole body is tight. Think of pulling your shoulders toward your back pockets to keep the bar close. Hips and shoulders rise at the same rate until the bar passes your knees; then your hips come forward to meet it. At the top, stand tall with glutes squeezed and shoulders over your hips, without shrugging or leaning back.
Tempo and resets
Pull with intent: try to move the bar fast even when it moves slowly. Lower it under control rather than dropping it, and let the plates settle between reps. A short reset at the bottom, with a new breath and a new brace, makes every rep look the same, and only comparable reps tell you when to add weight.
Muscles worked by the barbell deadlift
- Primary
- Glutes
- Hamstrings
- Lower back
- Secondary
- Quads
- Adductors
- Traps
- Forearms
The glutes and hamstrings extend your hips and do the main job of standing up, while the muscles along your spine hold your back flat under the load. A systematic review of EMG studies found the spinal erectors and the quads more active in the deadlift than the glutes and hamstrings; the quads straighten your knees as the bar breaks from the floor. The adductors help the hips, the traps keep your shoulders set and your forearms hold the bar.
Common deadlift mistakes
Rounding the lower back
When the lower back bends under the bar, the spine loses the position it is meant to hold. Brace before every rep, keep your chest up and lower the weight if your back rounds.
Letting the bar drift forward
Every bit of distance between bar and legs makes the lift heavier for your back. Keep the bar touching your shins and thighs the whole way up and down.
Hips shooting up first
If your hips rise before the bar moves, the lift turns into a stiff-legged pull and your back does the work. Push the floor away so hips and shoulders rise together.
Yanking the bar off the floor
A jerk at the start throws you out of position before the bar has even moved. Pull the slack out of the bar first, then press through the floor.
Leaning back at the top
Throwing the shoulders behind the hips at lockout adds nothing to the lift. Finish by squeezing your glutes and standing tall.
How Muscla coaches the deadlift
- Warm up with two ramp sets: about 50% of your working weight for 8 reps, then about 75% for 3. Muscla adds them to every heavy compound lift.
- End working sets with about two reps in the tank, two to three when you train for strength. Going to failure adds little or no extra muscle, but more fatigue.
- Rest about 3 minutes between sets for strength, 2 minutes for muscle and 90 seconds for other goals. In trained men, 3-minute rests built more strength and muscle than 1-minute rests.
- Once every set reaches the top of your rep range, add one step of about 5%, rounded to your plates: at 100 kg the next step is 105 kg.
- After the last set, Muscla asks “How heavy was that?” Light adds weight, Good keeps the normal progression, Heavy holds it, At the limit holds it or takes off one step.
Barbell deadlift sets, reps and rest
| Goal | Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Strength | 3–6 → 2–5 → 4–8 | 3 min |
| Muscle | 6–10 → 8–12 | 2 min |
| Lose fat | 6–12 | 90 s |
| Fit | 8–12 | 90 s |
| Comeback | 8–10 | 90 s |
An arrow marks the range for the next 4-week block.
The deadlift counts as a heavy compound lift in Muscla, so it gets the lowest rep ranges when you train for strength and the longest rests. With the comeback goal it stays at 8–10 reps, never above 10. A training day holds only one hip hinge, so Muscla never puts the deadlift and the Romanian deadlift on the same day; on the second lower-body day of the week a hip hinge comes first. After every third 4-week block comes a deload week with 90% of the weight and one set fewer.
Estimate your deadlift one-rep max
Filled in with example values. Replace them with yours.
Estimated 1RM
Brzycki 112.5 · Lombardi 117.5
Epley: 100 × (1 + 5 ÷ 30) = 116.7 kg
Load 117.5 kg on the bar →| Reps | Weight | % of 1RM |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 117.5 kg | 100 % |
| 2 | 110 kg | 94 % |
| 3 | 105 kg | 91 % |
| 4 | 102.5 kg | 88 % |
| 5 | 100 kg | 86 % |
| 6 | 97.5 kg | 83 % |
| 7 | 95 kg | 81 % |
| 8 | 92.5 kg | 79 % |
| 9 | 90 kg | 77 % |
| 10 | 87.5 kg | 75 % |
| 11 | 85 kg | 73 % |
| 12 | 82.5 kg | 71 % |
What is a good deadlift? Strength standards
| Level | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|
| Beginner | under × 1.25 | under × 1 |
| Advanced | × 1.25 | × 1 |
| Strong | × 1.75 | × 1.25 |
| Very strong | × 2.25 | × 1.75 |
| Elite | × 3 | × 2.5 |
Estimated one-rep max as a multiple of body weight, where each level starts. The same in kg and lb.
Barbell deadlift alternatives
- Barbell Romanian Deadlift
- Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift
- Lever deadlift
- Cable deadlift
- Dumbbell Single Leg Deadlift
- Kettlebell Swing
- Band stiff leg deadlift
- Band pull through
- Machine Back Extension
- Barbell Squat
Barbell deadlift questions
What is a good deadlift for my body weight?
In Muscla's strength levels, men count as advanced from a one-rep max of 1.25 times body weight, strong from 1.75 and very strong from 2.25. For women the same levels start at 1.0, 1.25 and 1.75 times body weight.
Sumo or conventional deadlift: which is better?
Neither suits everyone. In a study of competitive lifters, sumo lifters stood wider with a more upright trunk, while conventional lifters moved the bar 25–40% further and did more mechanical work. Pick the style that keeps your back flat.
Is the trap bar deadlift easier?
In one study, powerlifters lifted more with a hexagonal bar, with lower peak moments at the lower back and hips and higher ones at the knees. It is a good variation, not a copy of the straight-bar lift.
Should I use straps or a mixed grip?
Pull with both palms facing you as long as your grip holds. When your hands give out before your legs and back, straps, a hook grip or a mixed grip let you keep training the big muscles.
How often should I deadlift?
Muscla trains every muscle at least twice a week and plans one hip hinge per training day. It varies the hinge over the week, so the deadlift takes turns with the Romanian deadlift and other hinge variants rather than coming back every session.
Train it with Muscla
Muscla plans your sets and reps, sets the next weight after every session and shows your estimated 1RM and strength level for each lift.
Coming to the App Store. Free to start.
Sources
- Martín-Fuentes I, Oliva-Lozano JM, Muyor JM. Electromyographic activity in deadlift exercise and its variants. A systematic review. PLoS One. 2020;15(2):e0229507. PubMed
- Escamilla RF, Francisco AC, Fleisig GS, et al. A three-dimensional biomechanical analysis of sumo and conventional style deadlifts. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2000;32(7):1265-1275. PubMed
- Swinton PA, Stewart A, Agouris I, Keogh JW, Lloyd R. A biomechanical analysis of straight and hexagonal barbell deadlifts using submaximal loads. J Strength Cond Res. 2011;25(7):2000-2009. PubMed
- Schoenfeld BJ, Pope ZK, Benik FM, et al. Longer interset rest periods enhance muscle strength and hypertrophy in resistance-trained men. J Strength Cond Res. 2016;30(7):1805-1812. PubMed
- Refalo MC, Helms ER, Trexler ET, et al. Influence of resistance training proximity-to-failure on skeletal muscle hypertrophy: a systematic review with meta-analysis. Sports Med. 2023;53(3):649-665. PubMed