Five Best Deadlift Variations | Myprotein Masterclass

Content Executive3 years ago

Leg day? Sorted. Deadlift your way to gains.

In this episode of Myprotein Masterclass, PTs Calvin Crooks and Kay Johnson take us through five of the best deadlift variations to train your glutes, hamstrings and lower back. So, take notes, save your bookmarks and prepare for leg day DOMS.

Remember: Form is extremely important when completing any movement with heavy weights, so pay attention to what Calvin says about form, and only lift what you’re comfortable with.

You might not want to miss your post-workout stretches after this one.

Conventional deadlift

Muscles targeted: lower back, hamstrings, glutes — squeeze at the top to really target them

Keep your feet shoulder-width apart
Take a step in to make sure your shins are close to the bar
Place your hands on the bar in a neutral grip
Pull the bar up, keeping your chest up high
Keep a neutral spine through the movement
Breathe out as you move up and squeeze your core and glutes at the top

Tip: Ensure the movement is controlled. You don’t want to wobble, as that’ll make you break form.

Sumo deadlift

Muscles targeted: hamstrings and glutes

Adopt a wide stance with your feet at a 45-degree angle
Place your hands at either a neutral, or a mixed grip
As you pull the bar up, keep your chest up, squeeze your glutes and drive up through your heels

Romanian deadlift AKA RDL

Muscles targeted: glutes, hamstrings and lower back

Place your feet shoulder-width apart
Make sure your shins are close to the bar
Use a neutral or mixed grip
Keep your chest up high with a neutral spine
As you pull the bar up squeeze your glutes
Move the bar slowly back down, hinging your hips forward
Keep the bar close to your body throughout the movement

Stiff leg deadlift

Muscles targeted: hamstrings

Feet shoulder-width apart, with the bar close to your shins
Pull the bar up as you would for a normal deadlift (link to that)
As you move the bar back down, go as close as you can towards your shoelace keeping the bar as close to your body as possible.

Tip: Keep a slight bend in the knees and your legs stiff as you move the bar back down.

Single leg Romanian deadlift/unilateral deadlift

Muscles targeted: glutes

Start in a standing position
Hold the weight on the same side of your body that you’re hoping to target.
Move the weight down as close to your shoelace as you can
As you do this, bring your supporting leg up until it’s at a right angle with your other leg, so you’re leaning over and performing a deadlift on one leg.
As you pull the weight back up, your leg should come back into the standing position
Don’t roll back onto your heel and keep your foot fully planted in the floor

Tip: To help with your balance, squeeze your core. Or if you’d prefer, hold on to something — you can still get the range of motion and the isolation that you need.

Take home message

Spice up leg day with all these variations of the deadlift— it’s bound to be your favourite day once you swap out the split squats.

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Emily Wilcock

Content Executive

After completing an internship with Myprotein, Emily returned to university to finish her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management and Marketing. With experience in lifestyle writing, Emily aims to entertain and educate through her work. Her focuses include recipes, real and inspiring stories, and working with writers to help provide easy-to-digest evidence-based research. Her work on recipes has been previously featured in The Supplement magazine, with a particular focus on high-protein, nutritious meals, plus advice on how to properly fuel your body. Outside of work, Emily’s top priority is food. She’s a self-professed star baker and a connoisseur of all things baked. In her spare time, she’s either cooking up a storm, our looking out for the opportunity to try out Manchester’s newest restaurants. But as a huge fan of carbs, if it’s not pasta or pasta-adjacent, she’s not interested. If she’s not in the kitchen, she’s tucked up with a book for an early night, or you’ll find her in the gym working up a sweat. Afterall, all those carbs require quite the appetite.