The dumbbell deadlift is a variation of the standard deadlift and, like the deadlift, reinforces the safe and sound approach for lifting objects from the ground. The dumbbell deadlift trains the hip hinge movement pattern and, though generally uses lighter loads than a standard deadlift, develops full-body strength. Read further to learn everything you need to know about the dumbbell deadlift:
- What Is the Dumbbell Deadlift?
- Dumbbell Deadlift Benefits
- Muscle Groups Worked
- How To Prepare for the Dumbbell Deadlift
- Equipment Needed
- How To Warm Up for the Dumbbell Deadlift
- How To Perform the Dumbbell Deadlift
- Common Mistakes and How To Avoid Them
- Dumbbell Deadlift Modifications
- Common Dumbbell Deadlift Workouts
- Get Started Today!
What Is the Dumbbell Deadlift?
The dumbbell deadlift requires the athlete to crouch down and grasp the dumbbells from the ground, then drive their feet into the ground to stand tall while holding the weight at arm’s length.
The dumbbell deadlift is a relatively simple lift, allowing almost anyone to learn it and experience the tremendous benefits of head-to-toe strength this lift offers.
The dumbbell deadlift is a versatile movement that can be used in many different types of workouts, incorporating every variation from decently heavy loads and low reps to light loads and high reps.
Dumbbell Deadlift Benefits
The deadlift, whether done with a barbell or dumbbells, is a highly effective training tool for developing strength, building muscle mass, rehabilitating an injured back, improving athletic performance, or maintaining functional independence as we age.
Strength
The dumbbell deadlift is a full-body strength exercise, activating and strengthening virtually every muscle in the body. Specifically, the dumbbell deadlift develops strength in the quads, hamstrings, glutes, spinal erectors, lats, abdominals, and upper back.
Muscle Mass
The dumbbell deadlift has the ability to build muscle mass in athletes. With so many muscle groups engaged simultaneously to lift decently heavy loads, dumbbell deadlifts provide a great stimulus for muscle growth. As an athlete gains competence in the dumbbell deadlift and the weight they lift with proper form increases, they’ll notice increased development in the back, including lats, traps, and spinal erectors, as well as in the glutes and hamstrings. The full-body nature of this movement pattern also results in a strong neuroendocrine impact that promotes muscle gain.
Rehabilitation
Dumbbell deadlifts protect the back from potential injuries from sports, life, too much sitting, or the ravages of time. By placing a controlled stress on the vertebrae and muscles, tendons, and ligaments of the back, the dumbbell deadlift induces these structures to adapt and strengthen. This results in a back more resilient to compressive forces and the flexion and extension that many daily tasks require. Properly performed dumbbell deadlifts also improve glute and hip strength, allowing these muscles to become the prime movers in lifting heavy loads and shifting the emphasis off the spine. Finally, the hinge movement pattern of the dumbbell deadlift reduces pain and improves function by taking the structures of the back through their intended range of motion.
Athletic Performance
The dumbbell deadlift strengthens the muscles that help athletes run faster and jump higher: the glutes, hamstrings, quads, abdominals, and spinal erectors. The added muscle mass built when training with adequate load and volume in the dumbbell deadlift allows athletes to better receive and deliver contact in sports like football, hockey, basketball, and fighting. The ability to transfer forces into the ground or from the ground, through a strong core, into an external object such as a ball, bat, or racket, is an essential athletic trait that the dumbbell deadlift trains well by stressing and strengthening midline stability. Regarding conditioning, both heavy, low-rep sets and lighter, higher-rep sets of dumbbell deadlifts are great tools. Last but not least, the dumbbell deadlift develops the hip extension that is the driving force behind most athletic movements and is necessary for elite athletic performance
Functional Independence
Life regularly demands that we pick objects up off the ground: a bag of fertilizer for the lawn, a bag of dog food, or a 24-pack of our favorite beverage. The dumbbell deadlift represents a safe and sound method by which any object should be lifted from the ground, offering greater instability and requiring even greater range of motion than a traditional deadlift. As we grow older, if we continue to train deadlifts of all types, we’ll maintain the capacity to pick objects up off the ground and not rely on someone to do this for us.
Muscle Groups Worked
The dumbbell deadlift incorporates every major muscle group in the body and especially the muscles of the legs, core, and back.
Legs
As the athlete pulls the dumbbells from the ground, the muscles of the legs, including the hip flexors, quads, hamstrings, glutes, and even the calves, receive a tremendous stimulus.
Core
During the dumbbell deadlift, the muscles of the core, including the spinal erectors, abdominals, and obliques, isometrically contract to lock the spine in place and transfer forces from the ground to the dumbbells as the athlete moves through the required range of motion. Since dumbbells move independently, the core is also forced to stabilize the dumbbells and fight rotational forces.
Back
The dumbbell deadlift imparts stress on all of the muscles of the back from the spinal erectors to the rhomboids, lats, and traps. The erectors contract isometrically to lock the spine in place and preserve the strong, safe natural “S” curve of the lumbar spine. The upper-back muscles work hard to retract the shoulder blades and prevent the upper back from collapsing as the weight is pulled from the ground.
How To Prepare for the Dumbbell Deadlift
Preparing to deadlift requires assembling the proper equipment and performing a general and specific warm-up to get the body ready to move through the range of motion required.
Equipment Needed
To train the dumbbell deadlift, an athlete can use dumbbells of various weights, from 5 to 200 lb, or more as needed.
How To Warm Up for the Dumbbell Deadlift
To warm up for the dumbbell deadlift, the lifter should perform general movements that work every joint through its full range of motion. Air squats, ring rows, lunges, shoulder circles, and push-ups are good choices for the general warm-up. For the specific warm-up, a great option is Romanian deadlifts with a pause in the bottom position. Another one is a 3- to 5-second tempo dumbbell deadlift on the way down and a 1-second count on the way up with light dumbbells. The athlete should then be ready to transition to their warm-up sets in the dumbbell deadlift.
How To Do the Dumbbell Deadlift
Performing a dumbbell deadlift requires mastering the setup, the liftoff to full extension of the legs and hips, and the descent.
Setup
The initial setup for the dumbbell deadlift has the feet set under the hips. The hands grasp the dumbbells just outside the feet. The dumbbells point forward and back with the shoulders slightly in front of the dumbbells. The arms are locked out with the insides of the elbows facing each other, the chest is up to lock in the natural “S” curve of the lower back, the abdominals are braced, and the shoulder blades are slightly retracted and depressed. The lats and triceps are contracted and pressing into each other, and the glutes and hamstrings are stretched and active, creating tension through the entire posterior chain. This is the strong, active start position from which the athlete initiates the pull from the ground.
The Lift
To initiate the lift, the athlete fills their belly and chest with air with a deep breath and pushes their feet (with an emphasis on weight in the heels) into the ground to squeeze, not jerk, the dumbbells off the ground. As the dumbbells leave the ground, they run straight up the side of the legs — remaining in contact with the legs — while the torso’s angle of inclination remains constant, with the shoulders and hips rising at the same rate with the dumbbells below the knees. Once the dumbbells pass the knees, the hips extend, and the shoulders rise to directly above the hips in the finish position. Throughout the lift, the head looks straight ahead, the lumbar curve is maintained, and the arms remain locked out.
The Descent
To return the dumbbells to the ground from the top position of the dumbbell deadlift, where the athlete is standing holding the dumbbells, the athlete initiates the descent by hinging at the hips and lowering the dumbbells along the legs until they pass below the knees. Once the dumbbells have passed the knees, the athlete will bend their legs and lower the dumbbells to the ground — touching just the front of the dumbbells to the ground — before beginning the next rep. Working the eccentric portion of the rep in this manner helps groove proper technique, as well as improve strength.
Common Mistakes and How To Avoid Them
There are several common deadlift mistakes lifters should be aware of and avoid.
Loss of Lumbar Curve
During the execution of the dumbbell deadlift, it is not uncommon for the athlete to lose their lumbar curve into flexion. This rounding of the lower back is a vulnerable position for loading the spine and may put the athlete at a greater risk of injury. By losing the proper lumbar position, the athlete is also losing midline stability, and the forces generated as the legs drive into the ground will not be efficiently transferred to the dumbbells, making the lift hard to complete. To avoid losing the lumbar curve, athletes should focus on maintaining a tall, chest-up posture as they drive their feet into the ground to lift the dumbbells. Adequate stretching and mobility work for the hamstrings will help ensure tight hamstrings do not pull the athlete into a rounded position.
Weight in the Toes
When an athlete begins to pull the dumbbells off the ground and their weight shifts toward the balls of the feet, they decrease the contribution of the powerful muscles of the posterior chain (glutes and hamstrings) to the lift. To eliminate this inefficiency, athletes should focus on shifting their weight back toward their heels as they push their feet into the ground to lift the dumbbells. Actively engaging the glutes and hamstrings to lift the dumbbell will also help keep athletes from being pulled forward toward their toes.
Hips Rise Without the Chest Rising
During the execution of a proper dumbbell deadlift, the hips and shoulders/chest rise together when the dumbbells are below the knees. This keeps the torso angle constant in this initial phase of the lift. If an athlete’s butt shoots up as they pull the dumbbells off the ground, they may need to slow down and work on squeezing the dumbbells off the ground instead of jerking the dumbbells off the ground. Or they may need to raise their starting position slightly, keep the dumbbells closer, or work on not extending the knees too early in the lift.
Shoulders Rise Without the Hips Rising
In this scenario, the fault of the shoulders rising without a matching rise of the hips as the dumbbells are pulled from the ground may be due to a “squatty” setup position, where the shoulders are behind the bar. This fault may also be due to an athlete focusing too much on keeping their chest up and attempting to initiate the lift with their low back instead of a leg drive.
Dumbbell Deadlift Modifications
In training the dumbbell deadlift, modifications can be made to the setup and load to accommodate any lifter.
The Setup
In the dumbbell deadlift, the athlete must reach down further than in a traditional deadlift. For some, this increased range of motion may make it difficult to maintain the arch in the low back in the bottom position. The athlete may use mats or boxes to raise the dumbbells up off the ground to a height where the dumbbells can be grasped with the lumber curve maintained.
Load
The load in the dumbbell deadlift can be adjusted from very light to as heavy a dumbbell as can be found.
Common Dumbbell Deadlift Workouts
AMRAP 15: 100 double-unders / 12 dumbbell deadlifts (35/50 lb) / 12 kettlebell swings (35/50 lb) 12 dumbbell thrusters (25/40 lb)
For time: 100 dumbbell bench presses (35/50 lb) *Every time you rest, complete a 200-meter run / 100 dumbbell deadlifts (35/50 lb) *Every time you rest, complete 8 burpees
**Dumbbell deadlifts can be used to replace deadlifts in any workout.