Deadlifts are possibly one of the most underrated exercises, and as a certified personal trainer, it’s one exercise that I make sure all my clients become familiar with. Many athletes also falsely believe that deadlift benefits are limited to strengthening their back muscles.
To help our readers better understand the benefits of deadlifts, I got together with three other personal trainers and a physiotherapist to research scientific studies.
After a couple of days of research, we had enough information to share in this post. Here’s what we found.
Quick Summary
- Deadlifts are a great way to target some major muscle groups as well as burn off more body fat, and prevent common gym injuries.
- Focusing on the technique with proper form is far more important than trying to pile on more weight plates for this type of resistance training.
- Getting the most out of your deadlifts also involves carefully looking at how your supplement stack is actually supporting your efforts.
8 Benefits of Deadlifts You Have To Consider
Here are the most important deadlift benefits that will make you want to do these more often.
1. Improving Core Strength and Stability
Deadlifting increases core stability while strengthening your body from the shoulders to the hips. This can result in improved posture, decreased risk of back pain, and greater overall fitness.
And this comes with a little-known advantage.
There are hardly any exercises you can do at the gym that require a strong core and upper body. From squats to the military press, you’ll quickly run into limitations if your core is weak.
What that means is that deadlifts really are the key to overall fitness and strength levels.
2. Strengthening the Spine
Incorporating deadlifts into your fitness routine is essential to build a strong and healthy spine. Deadlifting can help improve posture, reduce lower back pain, and increase protection against injuries.
By regularly performing these exercises, you target the erector spinae muscles that are key in helping maintain proper spinal health.
Strengthening this area with a regular deadlift exercise will give your body greater resistance from harm caused by daily activities as well as increased mobility for years to come.
3. Enhancing Athletic Performance
The deadlift is a great exercise to include in your training program if you want to improve your overall athletic ability.
Its core stabilizing effects, coupled with its strengthening of the grip and glutes, make it an excellent way to increase both functional strength and performance for athletes of any sport or physical activity, such as runners, cyclists, and basketball players alike.
One of the key reasons for this is that compound exercises like the deadlift and bench press have great impacts on overall muscle coordination.
The more muscles you engage in one movement, the more they have to learn to work well together.
4. Maximizing Calorie Burn
Deadlifts are an incredibly effective exercise for those looking to reach their weight loss goals due to the elevated calorie burn they provide. These exercises target larger muscle groups such as glutes, quads, hamstrings, and core muscles, requiring your body to work harder during activity.
Not only do deadlifts help burn plenty of calories when performed correctly, but they can also be beneficial after training by increasing your metabolism, meaning additional calories are burned.
By targeting multiple muscle groups at once, these lifts promote higher fat-burning potential while helping create a leaner physique through better definition and strength increases over time.
5. Building Lean Muscle Mass
Deadlifts can help you build lean muscle tissue and improve your overall body composition. By using multiple muscle groups at once in the exercise, it stimulates increased muscle growth.
An interesting thing about such compound exercises is that when multiple body parts work together, you can add more weight than you would with isolation exercises. And the more muscles that are engaged in one exercise, the better the anabolic hormone response can be.
This can then further boost your overall muscle mass at a faster rate.
6. Protecting the Lower Back
Including deadlifts in your exercise program can also help to strengthen the core and lower back muscles. This can help prevent common injuries related to weak or unevenly balanced muscle groups while promoting good spinal health.
Paying attention to proper form when doing deadlifts will also ensure maximum benefit for you and protect the lower back from injury.
As a personal trainer and based on my own experience when I first started going to the gym as a teenager, I can tell you that the lower back is one of the areas that most commonly causes issues for athletes.
7. Increasing Flexibility and Range of Motion
Deadlifts are a great way to increase flexibility and range of motion in your hips and back. They target the muscles responsible for supporting posture, thereby improving mobility and preventing stiffness.
With regular deadlift workouts, you can achieve an increased range of motion, which will help make activities such as daily tasks or physical exercise easier with less pain or strain on your body.
As a fitness coach, I have seen many people with stiff hips and lower back from sitting at a desk all day improve their flexibility a lot by adding deadlifts to their workout routines.
8. Improved Bone Mineral Density
One of the most fascinating studies we found during our research is one that looked at the effects of resistance training with deadlifts and squats on muscle mass and bone density.
We already covered the fact that it will help you build more muscle mass. However, this study also showed that doing deadlifts regularly can improve bone mineral density in the entire body.
That can be a particularly important benefit for older people, where natural aging tends to have a negative impact on bone mineral density.
“The deadlift is a staple of most strength-training programs, and it’s one of the three lifts performed in the sport of powerlifting.” – Daniel Bubnis, M.S., NASM-CPT.
Deadlift Variations
Deadlift variations are an incredibly useful tool to progress towards fitness objectives since they can be tailored for different muscle groups and their needs. There is a deadlift variation that
works perfectly in every situation, whether it’s focusing on inner thigh muscles or providing a safer alternative to those with back issues.
If you want your training program to stay challenging while also progressing steadily, incorporating various types of deadlifts will help achieve this goal.
Sumo Deadlift
Sumo deadlifts are a great way to target and strengthen your inner thigh muscles. To do this exercise, you need to have an exceptionally wide stance with feet turned outward around 45 degrees or even more.
This position provides greater leverage, which makes the sumo deadlift particularly beneficial for individuals with longer torsos who wish to gain strength by lifting heavier weights compared to regular exercises.
This can also help with improved grip strength, as your hands will need to work harder.
Romanian Deadlift
If you want to build leg strength while decreasing stress on your back, then incorporating the Romanian deadlift into your workout routine is a great idea.
For this variation of the traditional deadlift, you keep your knees slightly bent in order for it to target and train hip extensors effectively, all with less strain put on the spine.
Romanian deadlifts are an ideal choice for people who have experienced or currently suffer from any sort of spinal issues since they can still reap similar benefits that come along with other forms.
“An individual can perform deadlifts with various barbells, weights, and repetition ranges. When executed with proper form, deadlifts are a safe and effective exercise for building muscle and strength.” – Micky Lal, MA, CSCS.
Trap Bar Deadlift
The trap bar deadlift offers numerous benefits for those with back problems or limited hip mobility. This specific type of exercise is done using a hexagonal-shaped bar, allowing the user to stand within it and lift in a manner similar to lifting suitcases.
Not only does this variation emphasize lower body strength growth, but it also reduces strain on the lumbar spine as well.
Mastering Proper Deadlift Technique
To truly take advantage of deadlifts and avoid any injuries, it is essential that you learn and apply the correct form for these exercises. When done correctly, this encourages the right muscles to be used, as well as avoiding strain on your spine.
By mastering proper deadlift technique, you can enhance strength gains, burn additional calories, and stay safe when working out, an important goal no matter whether you are a beginner or advanced lifter.
Importance of Alignment
Maintaining proper alignment is essential to complete deadlifts safely and efficiently. Keeping your head up, chest out, and back straight throughout the exercise will ensure that you are targeting the correct muscle groups with no strain on your spine.
To help set yourself up correctly, it’s necessary to align shoulders with hips in order to avoid any forward drift, as this enables you to fully benefit from performing a deadlift whilst also keeping safe without risk of injury.
Progression for Beginners
To build a successful workout regimen that includes deadlifting, start out with lightweight exercises or even just bodyweight moves to practice the correct way of doing it. This step-by-step progression will help you build core strength and gain confidence while reducing the potential risk of injury.
As your skill level and confidence grow, steadily increase the load so that there’s always a challenge for optimum results toward fitness targets. Having a strong foundation from mastering proper technique is important for long-term success when working on these lifts regularly.
FAQs
Q1. Do Deadlifts Reduce Belly Fat?
Yes, deadlifts can reduce belly fat and help you achieve weight loss. To gain the maximum benefit, deadlifting must be included in an overall workout plan. This will ensure that stubborn belly fat is decreased successfully.
Q2. Does Deadlifting Release Testosterone?
Yes, deadlifting with heavy weight and short rest periods can increase your production of testosterone. Research has found that intense powerlifting training, such as 8 to 10 repetitions of heavy deadlifts, increases the response of testosterone in the body.
Q3. Why Is Deadlifting So Important?
Deadlifting is so important because it engages a large number of muscle groups in the upper and lower body compared to any other weight-lifting movement. This incredible full-body workout promotes muscle growth, grip strength, and improved functional fitness.
Q4. What Does a Deadlift Work?
The deadlift works your lower back, core, glutes, hamstrings, and forearms. But you’ll also feel the strain in your arms, shoulders, and upper back muscles. That makes it one of the most comprehensive compound exercises available.
Q5. How Often Should I Incorporate Deadlifts Into My Workout Routine?
You should incorporate deadlifts into your workout routine 1–3 times each week to yield optimal results. It is important to ensure that all essential components of the activity are included in order to acquire knowledge.
Take the Right Approach to Deadlifts
As a personal trainer, I highly recommend that you start doing regular deadlifts as part of your core, back, and even leg training days. This is one exercise that will help you build an incredibly strong foundation.
I would also recommend that you invest in a top-quality pre-workout supplement to maximize the benefits of deadlifts:
These won’t turn you into The Hulk overnight, but they can help you add a few extra pounds or reps to each workout. And this will add up to achieving your goals a lot faster.
