The deadlift is a well-known favorite for building strength and power in the posterior chain, but even experienced lifters can benefit from mixing up their routine.
Whether you’re looking to overcome a plateau, work on your weaknesses, or find ways to work around an injury or similar, a deadlift variation can add some diversity to your training.
So, let’s guide you through the wide stance of sumo deadlifts, where to pause in the paused deadlifts and the snatch grip’s challenging range of motion. In this article, we’ll dive into a range of deadlift variations that can help you unlock new gains and keep challenging you on your deadlifting journey.
What if I’m Not Able to Deadlift at All?
If you’re in a position where the deadlift isn’t an alternative, regardless of variation, we have an article that offers 9 deadlift alternatives instead.
Deadlift Variations
1. Pause Deadlift
The pause deadlift is a good way to work your muscles and strength effectively, but with less weight than you’d need for a similarly stimulating workout of regular deadlifts. This can help decrease joint stress while still providing a great training stimulus.
By pausing for a few seconds at the beginning of the lift, you must focus on maintaining proper form and engaging the correct muscles. This variation helps improve stability and build strength in weak spots. It will also help you maintain a good position throughout the movement in regular deadlifts, even when it gets heavy.
2. Deficit Deadlift
The deficit deadlift is a variation that lifters usually add to their routine when they need to work on the starting phase of the deadlift. It can be effective for breaking through plateaus and strengthening any weaknesses at the beginning of the deadlift.
Just like the paused deadlift, this variation is a bit more challenging, which means that you might need to lower the weights a bit compared to the regular deadlifts.
Due to the longer range of motion, the quadriceps’ workload is higher in the regular deadlift.
3. Rack Pull
The rack pull is a variation in which you can usually pull heavier loads because of the shorter range of motion and better leverage in the starting position.
It shifts more of the work to your posterior chain muscles, which could help build strength and mass in those areas.
If you have problems with your lockout strength in deadlifts, this could be a valuable variation for you to add to your routine.
4. Snatch Grip Deadlift
The snatch grip deadlift is a variation that targets the upper back a bit more, thanks to the wider grip.
The wider grip also means that you will have to lean forward more to reach the bar, which will challenge the mobility in your hips, knees, and ankles.
If your upper back is the weakest link in the regular deadlift, it might be a good idea to incorporate these into your workout routine.
5. Fat Bar Deadlift
The fat bar deadlift is an excellent variation if you want to challenge your grip strength further. If you don’t have access to a fat bar, you can use fat grips that you attach to a regular barbell.
Incorporating fat bar deadlifts into your routine can help address grip-related weaknesses, leading to better control and stability during your regular deadlifts.
6. Single-Leg Deadlift
The single-leg deadlift is a variation where the movement is more similar to the Romanian deadlift than the regular deadlift.
It’s a unilateral exercise, which means that it’s great for working on any imbalances you might have between the sides.
The single-leg deadlift is a challenging exercise for your hamstrings and glutes, as well as for your balance and coordination.
If you have trouble keeping your balance, you can keep the toes of your lifted leg touching the floor to add some stability.
How to Implement Deadlift Variations in Your Workout Routine
Implementing one (or several) variations of the deadlift can be a good way to work on your technique without increasing the volume too much.
It can also be a good way to shift focus in your training or boost your motivation if your deadlift hasn’t been improving for some time.
However, make sure to have a plan, and let your body adapt to the variation you pick. If you go to the gym without a plan and try a new variation each session, you probably won’t see any results.
If you want to grow bigger and stronger, the key to fast and consistent gains in strength and muscle is to increase the weight you use in your training or to do more reps, regardless of which exercises you’re doing.
To help with this, you might want to track your workout progress, preferably in our workout log app.
It’s almost impossible to keep track of your progress without a workout log. Our app StrengthLog is 100% free to download and use as a workout tracker and general strength training app. All the basic functionality is free – forever.
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Training Programs That Include Deadlift Variations
If you feel that building a workout routine on your own is a bit overwhelming, we’ve got you covered! We have several programs that include both regular deadlifts and some variations.
- Deadlift Disco. 2x/week. One of the most popular training programs in our app, which have helped many lifters to hit new deadlift PR’s.
- Intermediate Deadlift Program. 2x/week. A six-week-long deadlift program designed to increase your deadlift strength and build thicker back muscles.
- Deadlift Builder. 2x/week. A hypertrophy training program for deadlifts, focusing on building a good foundation.
Apart from these three, we’ve gathered all our programs focusing on the deadlift below, so that you can easily find one that suits your needs. Of course, they are all available in our workout log app StrengthLog.