Muscles worked
The dumbbell deadlift trains your glutes, hamstrings, quads and spinal erectors, much like a barbell deadlift. With the dumbbells beside your legs rather than in front of them, your upper body can often stay a little more upright, giving your quads slightly more to do. Your forearms work hard to hold on, and your traps carry the weight through your arms. It is a good way to learn to lift from the floor before you take on the barbell.
Common mistakes
- The dumbbells end up in front of your feet. They then pull you forward and give your back a longer lever. Let them hang straight below your shoulders, along the outside of your legs.
- Pulling with your arms. Bent elbows do not make the lift easier, they just tire your arms. Let your arms hang like two ropes and lift with your legs and hips.
- Bouncing the dumbbells off the floor. A bounce adds momentum and costs you your position. Set them down or touch the floor lightly, and start each rep from a standstill.
Variations and alternatives
- The barbell deadlift takes over once the dumbbells get too light, as the bar can be loaded far heavier.
- The dumbbell Romanian deadlift starts from the top with less knee bend and puts more on your hamstrings.
- The farmer's walk builds on the same lift: stand up with the dumbbells and walk, for grip and trunk.
Sets and reps
To build muscle, 8 to 12 reps over 3 to 4 sets works well. With heavy dumbbells, 5 to 8 reps suits strength, but usually the dumbbells or your grip set the limit before your legs do. Then do 12 to 15 reps and lower more slowly, over about three seconds. Warm up with one or two lighter sets, as the guide to warming up shows. The guide to sets and reps has more on how the goals differ.
Add reps first and move to heavier dumbbells once you reach the top of your range in every set. Dumbbells often go up a few kilos at a time, so extra reps bridge the gap. That is progressive overload with dumbbells. If your back hurts during or after lifting, rather than just feeling tired, stop deadlifting until a doctor or physiotherapist has looked at it.