Welcome to Modify This Move, the ongoing series where you'll find everything you need to amend a standard exercise to meet your goals, your body, and your mood. Each story breaks down how to perform a foundational fitness move, then offers various modifications based on your current fitness or energy level, present or prior injuries, or the muscles you want to target most. So check your ego at that door and ensure every workout meets you where you're at today.
The simple, everyday task of lifting heavy objects (think: your latest Amazon purchase or a fully loaded laundry basket) off the floor has the ability to really mess up your back if you aren’t doing it properly. But practicing one functional strength-building exercise — the deadlift — can help keep your back and the muscles around it feeling strong and pain-free, says Keri Harvey, a NASM-certified personal trainer in New York City.
"The deadlift is something that everyone should learn how to do," says Harvey of the exercise, which involves lowering weights to the floor and lifting them back up by hinging at the hips. "It's extremely important you understand that movement pattern to, one, alleviate the lower back pain that you already have and, two, hopefully, avoid injury in the future." If the possibility of easing your aches and minimizing your risk of injury isn't convincing enough, know that deadlifts engage both lower- and upper-body muscles. Specifically, the exercise will challenge your glutes, hamstrings, quads, back, lats, and forearms, says Harvey.
That said, the conventional deadlift isn’t the only way to nab those benefits. Weight lifting beginners and folks in need of a gentle workoutcan try a modified deadlift variation that allows them to focus on form, rather than how much load they can lift. Similarly, people dealing with lower back pain can choose a deadlift variation that’s designed to keep their discomfort in check while still helping them improve their fitness. And when you’re looking to target a specific muscle group to fix any potential imbalances, you have deadlift variations to choose from, too. No matter your reason, you should feel empowered to tweak the exercise so it works best for you — your body, goals, needs, experience level, and so on.
Ready to test out the classic strength-building exercise? Follow the instructions below to master the traditional deadlift, and then watch as Harvey demonstrates how to switch up the exercise with five different deadlift variations she shared that work for all abilities and fitness goals.
How to Do a Deadlift
A. Stand with feet hip-width apart and hold a dumbbell in each hand in front of thighs, palms facing body.
B. Engage core and pull shoulder blades down and back. Then, keeping arms straight, send hips back to lower both dumbbells down to the floor in front of legs. Continue lowering until hips are fully pushed back and the weights are as close to the floor as far as possible.
C. Keeping chest up, push through feet to return to standing, squeezing glutes at the top.
5 Deadlift Variations
Once you've given the classic deadlift a trial run, you might want to tweak the exercise so it fulfills your individual needs and goals. Whether the conventional version feels too challenging or too easy on a particular muscle group, feel free to try a deadlift variation that checks off all your boxes.
Here, you'll find deadlift variations that scale the exercise up or down, including a deadlift variation for lower back pain and deadlift variations to target the glutes and hamstrings. No matter which option you choose, continue checking in with your body as you power through your reps and try a different exercise if it doesn't feel right or, more importantly, you're experiencing lower back pain, says Harvey. In that instance, "you need to stop immediately, and it's time to go back to the basics," she explains. "Most of the time if people are feeling that pain while they're deadlifting, it's because they're squatting the weight and they're not actually hinging the hips and sitting them back far enough. You want to overexaggerate that portion of the move to really be doing it correctly."
Deadlift Variation to Scale Down: Kettlebell Deadlift
This deadlift variation is particularly useful for beginners, as it teaches you how to properly send your hips back and engage your lats, says Harvey. “You place the kettlebell right in between your feet, so you’re already having to start pushing the hips back just to touch the bell,” she explains. “Once you grab hold of it, you’re already able to feel your lats stretching forward, so that’s a good signal to your brain that it’s time to squeeze the shoulders backward and then you’re ready to stand up.” Even experienced lifters who know the movement pattern can use this variation if they notice their form starting to falter.
A. Stand with feet hip-width apart, arms at sides, and a kettlebell resting on the floor in between arches of feet.
B. Engage core and pull shoulder blades down and back. Then, send hips back to drop upper body toward the floor until both hands can hold onto the kettlebell handle. Place both hands on the handle, palms facing legs.
C. Keeping chest up, push through feet to return to standing, squeezing glutes at the top.
D. Keeping shoulder blades down and back and arms straight, send hips back to lower the kettlebell toward the floor in front of legs until the weight is as close to the floor as possible.
E. Keeping chest up, push through feet to return to standing, squeezing glutes at the top.
Deadlift Variation to Level Up: Single-Leg Deadlift
If you barely break a sweat doing a traditional deadlift, consider upping the difficulty by performing the exercise on just one leg at a time. “This is going to challenge your balance and also allow you to look at the possible imbalances on either side of your body,” says Harvey. “Everybody has one side that’s weaker than the other, and you may be able to see that in your single-leg deadlift.” Since it’s easy to let your arms hang limply in front of your body during this deadlift variation, you’ll also need to work even harder to keep your lats engaged, she adds.
A. Stand with feet hip-width apart and arms at sides, holding a dumbbell in each hand with palms facing body.
B. Engage core and pull shoulder blades down and back. Shift weight into right leg and bend right knee slightly.
C. Keeping arms straight, send hips back to lower both dumbbells down to the floor in front of legs while simultaneously lifting left leg off the floor and extending it behind body. Continue lowering until hips are fully pushed back and the weights are as close to the floor as far as possible.
D. Keeping chest up, push through right heel to lower left foot back to the floor and return to standing, squeezing glutes at the top.
Deadlift Variation to Target Hamstrings: Romanian Deadlift
The difference between this deadlift variation and the conventional move is subtle, but it has a big impact on your hamstrings. During this move, your knees won't bend as much, and you won't lower the weights all the way to the floor, says Harvey. "With this one, you truly are using your hips and only your hips to get the weight up and down," she says. "Because of that, you're going to feel a much stronger stretch in the hamstrings."
A. Stand with feet hip-width apart and hold a dumbbell in each hand in front of thighs, palms facing body.
B. Engage core and pull shoulder blades down and back. Then, keeping arms straight, send hips back to lower both dumbbells down to the floor in front of legs. Continue lowering until you feel a stretch in hamstrings, roughly when the weights reach your lower shins.
C. Keeping chest up, push through feet to return to standing, squeezing glutes at the top.
Deadlift Variation to Target Glutes: Sumo Deadlift
This deadlift variation fires up your glutes largely due to the wider stance, says Harvey. Still, it’s important to maintain a mind-muscle connection, she says. “I really want you to focus on the glutes,” she adds. “As you’re lowering, you’re going to [think about] sending the glutes outward in order to really feel them turn on and target them.”
A. Stand with feet wider than shoulder-width apart, toes pointed outward, and hold a dumbbell in each hand in front of thighs, palms facing body.
B. Engage core and pull shoulder blades down and back. Then, keeping arms straight, send hips back to lower both dumbbells down to the floor in front of legs. Continue lowering until hips are fully pushed back and the weights are as close to the floor as far as possible.
C. Keeping chest up, push through feet to return to standing, squeezing glutes at the top.
Deadlift Variation for Low Back Pain: Good Morning with Dowel
This deadlift variation — known as the good morning exercise — not only helps you learn the proper form without the bells and whistles, but it also gives your lower back a feel-good stretch when you're experiencing discomfort in the area, says Harvey. "It's something you would practice until you started feeling comfortable with it and then you'd get rid of the dowel and practice it bodyweight-only," she adds. Once you're pain-free and have nailed down the bodyweight deadlift, you can graduate to a kettlebell deadlift, she says.
A. Stand with feet hip-width apart and hold a dowel resting against top of shoulder blades, palms facing forward.
B. Engage core and pull shoulder blades down and back. Then, send hips back to lower upper body down to the floor. Continue lowering until hips are fully pushed back.
C. Keeping chest up, push through feet to return to standing, squeezing glutes at the top.
Photography and art: Jenna Brillhart
Model and fitness expert: Keri Harvey
Hair and makeup: Tee Chavez
Leggings: Aerie
