Often regarded as the king of lifts, the deadlight is an all-encompassing compound movement that targets a series of major muscle groups. They can be used for improving strength, power, and improving lean muscle mass, but due to the involvement of multiple body area, deadlifts are also great for increasing heart rate and can be added to cardiovascular focused weight circuits. You can characterise the muscle groups worked into three sections.

Here, we walk you through how to do a deadlift correctly to maximise your strength and muscle growth. When starting out, we suggest loading the barbell with light weights (or even just the bar itself) so you can get a feel for the technique before you start lifting heavier.

Position your feet hip-width apart, angled slightly outward where you feel most comfortable. Ensure your midfoot is under the bar without your shins touching the bar. You can do deadlifts barefoot or in flat sole shoes, but we prefer barefoot.

Grip the barbell shoulder-width apart in an overhand grip (knuckles facing forward). You may see other people use a mixed grip (one hand each way), but when starting out, we suggest an overhand grip as it’s safer.

Move into position by bending your knees so that your shins nearly touch the bar. Lower your glutes as much as possible to incorporate maximum leg drive.

Straighten your back by raising your chest, this will activate your latissimus dorsi muscles. Think, “Butt to ground, chest to roof”.

Take a big breath in and brace your core (flex your abs and your glutes). Lock your elbows and arms in position.

Push your feet through the ground and lift the bar. As the bar passes your knees, drive your hips forward to stand up straight, and lockout your glutes.

Reverse the movement until the bar returns to the ground and you release tension.

There’s a reason they call the deadlift a complete exercise – it benefits just about every area of your health. Check out the top 7 benefits of deadlifting:

As you’ve probably heard before, deadlifts are notorious for injuries. Ninety per cent of these injuries are the result of improper form, which means you can avoid most of them by taking the time to learn the correct form.

Once you master the traditional deadlift, you can begin to incorporate different variations of the movement into your training depending on your goals, strengths, and preferences. Remember, each variation has its own challenges and risks so treat them like different exercises.

Just like the sumo squat, you position your legs wider apart with your arms straight down. The sumo deadlift is great to work on quad development and, with practice, you can even lift heavier than your traditional deadlift because the range of motion is shorter.

Using a specialised bar, this variation of the deadlift distributes the weight much more evenly across your body. With the handles of the bar on your sides, this lift also puts less stress on your lower back.

In this advanced variation of the traditional deadlift, you place your hands much wider on the bar. Because of the grip, you work more of your upper back and must start deeper in the movement, engaging more of your lats and hamstrings.

Known as the Romanian Deadlift, this variation focuses on the hamstrings. During the lift, your back stays straight and your legs remain stiff, with all bending coming from the torso and all the power from your hamstrings.

The deficit deadlift is performed while standing on a 2-10cm raised platform for a greater range of movement. Good for people who struggle with the first half of the deadlift movement, this variation recruits more of the posterior chain and quad muscles to perform the lift.

In contrast to the deficit deadlift, rack pulls shorten the range of motion of the traditional deadlift. With the bar resting on a rack around knee height, you focus on the top half of the deadlift movement. The partial range of motion of the rack pull targets the trapezius and upper back muscles to a greater extent, helping you to lock out your deadlift once past the knee.