Training guide
The deadlift is picking a heavy bar up off the floor, done well: the bar over the middle of your feet, a long, braced back, and the floor pushed away until you stand tall. It needs no spotter: if a rep stalls, you put it down. Small changes in your back's shape under a heavy bar are normal; a big change means the weight is too heavy for now.
The evidence on the questions people argue about is thinner than the arguments. Rounding while lifting hasn't been linked to back pain in pooled studies, but no trial has counted injuries by back position. Sumo and the trap bar change where the load goes rather than making the lift safe or unsafe. And in the main back pain trial, deadlift training helped pain about as much as gentler exercise.
This guide covers the set-up, the hip hinge and bar path, conventional, sumo and trap bar deadlifts, Romanian and stiff-leg variations, belts and grips, and the progression from your first hip hinge to the barbell, with a 3D demo of every step. It also covers the back pain trials and the warning signs to act on.
Stand with the bar over the middle of your feet and close to your shins, grip just outside your legs, and set your hips between your knees and shoulders, with your shoulders over or just in front of the bar. Take the slack out, brace, and push the floor away, keeping the bar against your legs. If a rep stalls, put it down: no spotter is needed.
Lifters' lower backs flatten a little from their standing curve at the start, and round a little more as the weight gets heavier: that's normal. Rounding while lifting hasn't been linked to back pain in pooled studies, though the evidence is of low quality. A big or sudden change from the shape you set means the weight is too heavy for now.
Sumo uses a wide stance and a shorter pull, with about 10% less load on the lower back in model estimates. A trap bar often lifts a little more in some studies but not others, and its lower back load is modelled, not shown in injury outcomes. Pick the one that suits your body and goal.
Hip hinge practice first, then the kettlebell deadlift, the dumbbell Romanian deadlift, and then a trap bar or barbell from the floor. Add about 2.5 kg a session while every rep looks the same, as in our beginner strength programme.
A belt added a few reps, or about 5%, to heavy squats in recent studies, but it didn't change how the muscles worked on its own, and belts didn't prevent back pain in workers. Learn to brace without one first.
In the main trial, deadlift training matched gentler exercise for pain but did worse for daily activity at 2 months, and the groups were similar at 1 and 2 years. The pooled review of back strength training wasn't about deadlifts specifically.
These steps describe the conventional barbell deadlift. The trap bar deadlift follows the same steps, with your hands on the side handles.
Our deadlift demo starts the way the clean and snatch do: the bar over the middle of the foot and close to the shins, hips between the knees and the shoulders, shoulders over or just in front of the bar, arms straight. The National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) describes the same start for the clean: back neutral, hips lower than the shoulders, shoulders over or slightly in front of the bar.
Stand with your feet about hip- to shoulder-width apart, toes straight or turned out a little, and the bar over the middle of your feet. Beginners often stand too far back from it. With light weights, use full-size plates or raise the bar on plates or blocks, so it starts where a full-size plate would put it (competition plates are at most 45 cm across).
Push your hips back and bend your knees until your shins touch the bar, then grip just outside your legs. Start with both palms facing you (double overhand). As the weight rises, chalk, a hook grip (thumb wrapped under your fingers) or a mixed grip (one palm forward, one back) holds more; competition rules let you choose.
Hips above your knees and below your shoulders, shoulders over or slightly in front of the bar, arms straight, neck in line with your spine and eyes on the floor a metre or two ahead.
Tighten your upper back as if bending the bar around your shins, and pull up gently until the plates click against the bar, so you're pulling against it before it leaves the floor. Take a big breath into your belly and brace, as for the squat.
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Your hips and shoulders rise together, so your back angle holds until the bar passes your knees. Then bring your hips through to stand tall, the bar sliding up your thighs. Keep it close: a bar that drifts forward lengthens the lever on your hips and back.
Finish with your knees and hips straight, standing tall without leaning back or shrugging; competition asks only for straight knees and shoulders back. To lower, push your hips back first and bend your knees once the bar passes them. While you're learning, set the bar down fully and reset your brace for every rep.
There's nothing to save and no spotter is needed, as our beginner strength programme says. Dropped equipment caused 12 to 19% of the strength-training injuries treated in US emergency departments in one analysis, so clear the space around you and use collars.
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Across studies of muscle activity, the back muscles (erector spinae) and the front of the thighs worked harder in the deadlift than the glutes and hamstrings. In 21 men, the conventional deadlift worked the glutes and the front of the thigh more than the Romanian deadlift.
Powerlifting had 1.0 to 4.4 injuries per 1,000 hours of training, low next to contact sports, with the spine, shoulder and knee injured most. Only 3 of 38 published powerlifting injury reports blamed poor technique; heavy loads and fatigue were also suggested. Most of these studies were of low quality.
In 101 women with low bone mass, 8 months of supervised heavy lifting and impact training (5 sets of 5 above 85% of maximum, twice a week) raised spine bone density by 2.9%, while the comparison group lost 1.2%. There was one minor back spasm.
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In the main trial, supervised deadlift training matched gentler exercise for pain but did worse for daily activity at 2 months. The trials section below has the detail.
No trial has compared injuries between back positions, deadlift styles or bars. The lower back loads quoted for sumo and the trap bar come from models of lab lifts, and the studies of rounding were small and mostly took one measurement in time. Treat the doses on this page as starting points.
In 24 lifters, the lower back flattened from its standing curve by about 13 degrees in its upper part and 20 in its lower part at the start of the deadlift, and in 24 competitive lifters it moved much the same way from rep to rep. In 13 people, the lower part of the upper back and the top of the lower back rounded more as the load rose from 60 to 90% of their maximum. In 4 national-class powerlifters filmed with X-ray video, the lower back stayed short of its full bend even in very heavy lifts.
Across 11 studies, how much people rounded their lower backs while lifting wasn't a risk factor for back pain, and people with back pain didn't round more than people without it. The studies were of low quality. In 26 pain-free people lifting with maximal effort, a rounded back produced more force from the back muscles for less muscle activity than an arched one.
In pig spine segments, highly repeated bending under modest compression produced disc herniations, and in biomechanical analyses rounding under load raises shearing forces on the lower spine. Neither is a study of people lifting, but both are reasons not to grind out reps with a collapsing back.
A 2026 narrative review argues that trained lifters round moderately without clear evidence of more injury, that sudden jumps in training load predict injury more consistently than posture, and that a neutral spine is still worth teaching to beginners and for near-maximal lifts. It is a review of other studies, not a trial.
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Some coaches insist on a perfectly flat back on every rep; others, and some researchers, say a little rounding is harmless. The evidence can't settle it, because no trial has compared back positions and counted injuries. It does support a middle path: set a long, braced back, accept small changes, and put the bar down if it changes a lot. A review of lifting technique found no support for teaching one style, such as bending the knees rather than the back, to prevent back pain.
Set your back long and braced before the bar moves, film a set from the side now and then, and take weight off if your back changes shape a lot as you pull. With osteoporosis, keep your back long and avoid rounding under load, as the UK consensus advises. This agrees with our spine guide.
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Feet about hip-width apart, hands outside your legs. You lean further forward than in sumo and the bar travels further, and in 13 athletes the calf worked harder.
Feet wide and turned out, hands inside your knees, knees pushed out. At a national championship, sumo lifters stood 70 cm wide against 32 cm, turned their feet out 42 degrees against 14, and kept their trunks 5 to 10 degrees more upright; the conventional lifters moved the bar 25 to 40% further and did more work. In models of 57 powerlifters, sumo put about 10% less turning load on the lower back and 8% less shear. In 13 athletes it worked the front of the thighs and the shins more.
Some lifters call sumo "cheating" because the pull is shorter. It is legal in powerlifting: the rules set the grip and the lockout, not the stance. The evidence shows how the loads differ, not which style suits your body, so it can't predict which one you'll lift more with. Try both for a few weeks and choose by comfort, your hips and your goal.
You stand inside a hexagonal bar and hold handles at your sides, so the load sits in line with your body. In 19 powerlifters it lowered the peak turning loads on the lower back, hips and ankles, raised the load on the knees and produced more power.
A trap bar often lifts a little more in some studies but not others: 6 to 8% more in two studies, the same in a third, and slightly less in trained women in a fourth (100 against 103 kg for 3 reps). Its lower back load is modelled, not shown in injury outcomes. The straight bar worked the hamstrings harder, by 28% across the lift in one study.
For many beginners the trap bar is the easiest barbell deadlift to learn (our view), and NASM, the National Academy of Sports Medicine, suggests it for people with back concerns; the high handles shorten the pull further. Choose the straight bar if you want to compete or work your hamstrings harder, and sumo if a wide stance suits your hips. All three are good deadlifts.
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Start standing, with your knees soft and fixed. Push your hips back and let the bar or dumbbells slide down your legs until your hamstrings stop you, usually around knee height to mid-shin: the floor isn't the target. It works the hamstrings with less back muscle activity, relative to them, than the deadlift, while the conventional deadlift works the glutes and the front of the thighs more.
Knees nearly straight, and a longer range. In 10 bodybuilders it worked the glutes more than the Romanian deadlift, which worked the inner hamstrings more, and a Romanian deadlift standing on a step worked the whole back of the body most. The American Council on Exercise (ACE) keeps the stiff-leg version for experienced lifters with good control.
3 sets of 8 to 10, lowering for 3 seconds and stopping before your back position changes (the move page's dose).
A belt raised the pressure in the abdomen during deadlifts at 90% of maximum. In recent squat studies, a belt let 49 men and women do more reps at a weight they could lift 6 times (8.1 against 6.5) and let 25 athletes lift about 5% more (119 against 114 kg). On its own, a belt didn't change muscle activity in the trunk or legs, while bracing your abdomen did raise the activity of your abdominal muscles. A stiff belt cut modelled spinal compression by about 10%, but only when lifters breathed in before lifting.
No trial shows that belts prevent lifting injuries. In workers, back supports didn't prevent back pain (7 trials, 14,437 people), and back belts didn't reduce episodes of back pain. They aren't a back pain treatment either: see our back pain guide.
A belt is optional. Use it for heavy sets, roughly 85% of your maximum and above or sets of 5 or fewer near your limit, once you can brace without it; NASM sees belts mainly for advanced lifters near maximal lifts. In a survey of 352 gym members, many belt users wore one for light loads and exercises that don't load the trunk, where it does nothing.
Wear it around your waist over your belly button, snug enough to brace against but not so tight you can't breathe in. Competition belts are at most 10 cm wide and 13 mm thick.
2 or 3 sets of 8, hands at your hip creases, tapping your hips back to a wall. Move on when you can do 10 to 15 good hinges with a steady back, as ACE advises. ACE also suggests glute bridges before you load the hinge.
Stand over the bell, between your feet: 3 sets of 8 to 10, light to start, the dose in our back pain plans. Move on at 3 sets of 10 with the heaviest bell you have, your back steady. NASM and ACE both use it as the first loaded deadlift.
3 sets of 8 to 10, lowering for 3 seconds (the move page's dose). Move on when you can lower under control to about knee height with a steady back. ACE puts dumbbells before the bar.
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In weeks 1 and 2, do one work set of 5 after your warm-up sets, then build to 2 or 3 sets of 5, as in our barbell strength workout B. Add about 2.5 kg a session while every rep looks the same (our beginner strength programme). A barbell Romanian deadlift fits alongside.
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ACE teaches the Romanian deadlift before the deadlift from the floor; others go from the kettlebell deadlift straight to the trap bar, which many people find easier to set up. Both are fine: every version teaches the hip hinge first.
Sumo, the single-leg Romanian deadlift, the stiff-leg deadlift (for experienced lifters), deficit deadlifts and rack pulls. Each has its own move page.
Strength rises fastest in the first months: in 14,690 people training once a week, it rose 30 to 50% in the first year and levelled off after 1 to 2 years. Our estimate, not a trial result: most people learn the hinge in one or two sessions and are ready for a light trap bar or barbell deadlift after 2 to 6 weeks of kettlebell and Romanian deadlifts.
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NASM suggests 1 or 2 deadlift sessions a week for beginners and calls it one of the most taxing lifts. Our beginner strength programme deadlifts in one of its two alternating workouts.
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In weeks 1 and 2, one work set of 5 after 2 or 3 warm-up sets; then 2 or 3 sets of 5 (our barbell strength workout B). Past the beginner stage, 3 to 5 sets of 3 to 6 (the move page's dose), and Romanian deadlifts 3 sets of 8 to 10. Rest 2 to 3 minutes, and 3 to 5 once sets are heavy, as our beginner strength programme advises.
Stop with 2 or 3 reps in reserve (how many more reps you could have done), and add weight only when every rep looks the same: about 2.5 kg a session. People misjudge the reps they have left by about one, so film a set. A 2026 review argues that sudden jumps in load predict injury more consistently than back shape.
A bar that drifts forward lengthens the lever on your hips and back. Start with the bar over the middle of your foot and drag it up your legs.
Too low and your shins push the bar forward; too high and your back does more of the work, and straightening your knees too early tips your trunk forward. Set up in order: feet, grip, shins to the bar, chest up, hips between your knees and shoulders.
Your body loses its shape as the slack comes out. Take the slack out first, then squeeze the bar off the floor.
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Big rounding under fatigue and heavy loads is where the risk is argued to sit, though rounding as such hasn't been linked with back pain. Take weight off, reset each rep and film a set from the side.
Over-arching at the top loads your lower back for no gain. Stand tall and squeeze your glutes; competition asks only for straight knees and shoulders back.
Each rep then starts out of position. While you're learning, settle the bar and reset your brace every rep, as the move page advises.
Use chalk: double overhand for warm-ups, then a hook or mixed grip, or straps for lighter back-off sets (our suggestion).
Sudden increases in load are the risk factor the 2026 review argues matters most. Add small steps, about 2.5 kg a session.
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Many gym belt users wear one for light sets, where it does nothing. Learn to brace without it and save it for heavy sets.
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In 70 people with recurring low back pain, 12 sessions over 8 weeks of supervised deadlift training plus pain education were compared with individual low-load motor-control exercise (gentle training of trunk and hip control) plus the same education. Both groups improved.
Deadlift training matched the gentler exercise for pain and strength, but did worse for daily activity at 2 months: on a scale of everyday activities people found hard, the motor-control group improved by 4.2 points and the deadlift group by 2.5. At 1 and 2 years, the groups no longer differed for pain or disability.
Among the 35 people who did the deadlift training, those with less pain and disability, and better back muscle endurance, at the start benefited most. The authors advise checking that people have enough back endurance and low enough pain before deadlifting.
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A review of 8 small trials (408 people) found that strength training for the back of the body (the posterior chain) beat general exercise for pain, disability and strength in chronic low back pain, especially over 12 to 16 weeks, with no more side effects. The advantage for pain was moderate and uncertain. The trials used different strength programmes for the back and hips, so the review wasn't about deadlifts specifically.
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In a pilot trial of 30 men with chronic low back pain, adding deadlifts to core stability exercise brought no extra benefit. A 16-week free-weight programme improved pain and disability in 30 people, but with no comparison group.
Follow the staged plans in our back pain guides, which bring in the kettlebell deadlift at 3 sets of 8 to 10, light at first. The trial programme ran 12 sessions over 8 weeks with pain education, and programmes of 12 to 16 weeks did better than shorter ones in the review. Keep the pain within the guides' rules, and stop for pain that travels down a leg.
Start with the kettlebell deadlift, light, as in our back pain plans, and build up. Deadlift training helped most in people whose pain was milder and whose back muscles had more endurance at the start.
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While symptoms are irritable, reduce the weight and range of heavy bending lifts, then rebuild, as our herniated disc guide explains. Trap bar and kettlebell deadlifts keep the load close, and the trap bar lowered modelled lower back loads (our suggestion).
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The UK consensus recommends strength training while avoiding a lot of spinal rounding, and supervised heavy lifting raised spine bone density in women with low bone mass. Learn the deadlift with a coach, keep your back long and don't round under load.
Leave stiff-leg and deep Romanian deadlifts until the later stages of our hamstring guides (our suggestion).
Straps, or the trap bar's neutral handles, take strain off your hands and elbows (our suggestion).
The deadlift raised abdominal pressure more than most lifts across 16 studies, and holding the breath drives blood pressure up sharply. If your blood pressure is controlled, low- to moderate-intensity strength training is safe: breathe out on each effort, use weights you could lift 10 to 15 times, and leave maximal lifts until you've had advice, as our high blood pressure guide says. With heart disease, glaucoma or diabetic eye disease, ask your specialist before lifting heavy.
Half the women in a survey of 384 powerlifters and weightlifters reported leaking urine. Leaking when you lift is a reason to see our pelvic floor guide and a pelvic health physiotherapist, not to stop lifting. In pregnancy, follow our pregnancy guide.
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Work up in order, moving on when every rep of the current step looks the same; the targets are in the progression above.
3D demoHip-hinge practiceBeginner · No equipment
3D demoGlute bridgeBeginner · No equipment
3D demoKettlebell deadliftBeginner · A kettlebell
3D demoDumbbell Romanian deadliftIntermediate · A dumbbell
3D demoBarbell Romanian deadliftIntermediate · A barbell
3D demoTrap bar (hex bar) deadliftIntermediate · Other / check instructions
3D demoBarbell deadliftAdvanced · A barbellChoices once the conventional or trap bar deadlift is solid; the stiff-leg, deficit and rack pull versions are for experienced lifters.
3D demoSumo deadliftAdvanced · A barbell
3D demoSingle-leg Romanian deadliftAdvanced · A dumbbell
3D demoStiff-legged dumbbell deadliftIntermediate · A dumbbell
3D demoStiff-legged barbell deadliftAdvanced · A barbell
3D demoDeficit deadliftAdvanced · A barbell + Weight plates
3D demoRack pullAdvanced · A barbell
3D demoCable pull-throughBeginner · A cable machine
3D demoBarbell good morningIntermediate · A barbell
3D demoBack extension on a 45-degree benchIntermediate · A bench or boxCarries build grip and a braced trunk for heavier pulls: 2 or 3 walks of 20 to 30 m, as in the deadlift technique workout.
The deadlift technique workout walks the ladder from the hip hinge to your first barbell or trap bar deadlift; the others use the hinge as one exercise among several.
A 30-minute session from the hip hinge to your first deadlift: hinge practice, kettlebell deadlifts, slow Romanian deadlifts, a light bar and a carry.
30 minBeginner9 movesA kettlebell, A dumbbellA 20-minute kettlebell swing workout: 30 seconds of swings, 30 seconds of rest, building to the 12 rounds a training trial used, then carries.
20 minIntermediate7 movesA kettlebell, A dumbbellA 30-minute full-body kettlebell workout: deadlifts, swings, cleans, presses, rows, halos and carries.
30 minIntermediate9 movesA kettlebell, A dumbbellLegs and glutes with dumbbells: goblet squats, Romanian deadlifts, step-ups, split squats and calf raises.
35 minIntermediate10 movesA wall, A dumbbellA beginner full-body gym workout: goblet squats, dumbbell bench press, lat pulldowns, Romanian deadlifts and dead bugs, with sets, reps and rest.
45 minBeginner12 movesCardio machine, A bandFull-body gym workout B: trap bar deadlifts, cable rows, seated dumbbell press, step-ups, leg curls, push-ups and a Pallof press.
50 minBeginner13 movesCardio machine, Other / check instructionsA gym lower body workout for legs and glutes: trap bar deadlifts, hip thrusts, reverse lunges, leg curls, hip abduction, calf raises and core.
50 minIntermediate13 movesOther / check instructions, A barbellImpact, strength and balance for stronger bones, following UK osteoporosis consensus advice, with options for every level.
40 minBeginner14 movesA kettlebell, Other / check instructionsWorkout B of the beginner strength program: back squats, overhead presses and deadlifts in sets of five, plus chin-ups, with the safety pins set.
55 minBeginner10 movesA band, A barbellThe NHS says to call 999 if back pain comes with pain, tingling, weakness or numbness in both legs; loss of feeling around your genitals or anus; difficulty peeing, or peeing or pooing yourself; changes in how your penis or vagina feels during sex, or problems getting an erection or orgasming; or chest pain, or if it follows a serious accident.
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If you have back pain and feel hot, cold, shivery or unwell, or the pain is severe, came on suddenly or is getting worse quickly. In the US, contact your doctor or urgent care.
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If back pain hasn't improved after a few weeks at home, stops you doing daily activities, is worse at night or when you sneeze, cough or poo, comes with weight loss you can't explain or a lump, or is between your shoulder blades.
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For chest pain or pressure, unusual breathlessness, dizziness or fainting, or a racing or irregular heartbeat during exercise, as our plans advise.
Muscle soreness for a day or two after a new or heavier session is common and fades. Sharp pain, pain that travels down a leg, or pain that keeps getting worse isn't: stop, take the weight down, and get checked if it doesn't settle.
Across 11 studies, rounding while lifting wasn't linked to back pain, trained lifters round a little under heavy loads, and a rounded back produced more back-muscle force for less effort in one lab study. But repeated loaded bending can injure discs in the lab, so set a long, braced back and lower the weight if it changes a lot.
Supervised deadlift training improved pain in people with recurring back pain about as much as gentler exercise, strength training for the back of the body beat general exercise in pooled trials, and supervised heavy lifting raised spine bone density in women with low bone mass. Like any lift, it needs sensible loads and gradual progress.
It is a different leverage with a shorter pull (the conventional bar travelled 25 to 40% further), and it is legal in competition.
A belt helps you lift a little more, but it doesn't change how your muscles work on its own, and belts didn't prevent back pain in workers. Bracing is the skill; the belt is optional.
A review of biomechanical studies found no support for teaching the bent-knee lifting style to prevent back pain. In the deadlift, your legs and back work together.
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It bends the knees more and puts less load on the lower back and hips than a straight bar, and more on the knees, so it sits between a squat and a straight-bar deadlift. It's still a pull from the floor.
A little rounding under heavy weights is normal, and rounding while lifting hasn't been linked to back pain. But repeated loaded bending can strain discs in the lab, so set a long, braced back before you pull and lower the weight if your back changes shape a lot. Sudden jumps in weight look like a bigger risk than the shape of your back.
Neither. Sumo uses a wide stance, a more upright back and a shorter pull, with a little less load on the lower back and more work for the thighs; conventional loads the lower back a little more and works the calves more. Try both and choose the one that suits your build and your hips.
It's different, and many people find it easier to learn. It loads the lower back less in lab models and the thighs more, and a trap bar often lifts a little more in some studies but not others. The straight bar works the hamstrings harder.
The Romanian deadlift starts standing and lowers the bar only until your hamstrings stop you, with soft knees, so it works the hamstrings with relatively less back muscle activity. The deadlift starts from the floor each rep, bends the knees more and works the glutes and the front of the thighs more.
The stiff-leg deadlift keeps your knees nearly straight and lowers further, working the glutes a bit more; the Romanian deadlift works the inner hamstrings more. The stiff-leg version is for experienced lifters with good control.
It's optional. A belt raises the pressure in your abdomen and can add a few reps or kilos on heavy sets, but it doesn't brace for you and won't prevent back pain. Learn to brace without one, and save it for your heaviest sets.
They can be part of the answer. In people with recurring back pain, supervised deadlift training improved pain about as much as gentle motor-control exercise, though it did worse for daily activity at 2 months, and people with milder pain and better back endurance did best. Start light, with the kettlebell deadlift, as in our back pain plans.
Learn the hip hinge first, until you can do 10 to 15 good reps, then the kettlebell deadlift, the dumbbell Romanian deadlift, and finally the trap bar or barbell. Add about 2.5 kg a session while every rep looks the same.
Start double overhand, with chalk. When your grip fails before your legs and back do, a hook grip or a mixed grip (one palm facing you, one away) holds more, and straps are fine for training. Competition rules let you choose your grip.
No. If a rep stalls, put the bar down: there's nothing to save. Dropped equipment caused 12 to 19% of the strength-training injuries treated in US emergency departments in one analysis, so clear the space around you and use collars.
Once or twice a week is plenty for most people. The National Academy of Sports Medicine calls the deadlift one of the most taxing lifts, and our beginner strength programme deadlifts in only one of its two alternating workouts.
Muscle soreness for a day or two after a new or heavier session is common and fades; sharp pain, pain down a leg or pain that keeps getting worse isn't. Reduce the weight and get checked if it doesn't settle. Weakness or numbness in both legs, or changes in your bladder or bowels, need 999 or A&E.
Exercise education, not a personal prescription, and clinical review of these guides is pending. Check with a GP before starting hard training if you have a heart condition, chest pain, dizziness or breathlessness when active, and stop for sharp or increasing pain. Health disclaimer.
