Deadlifts and their many variations are great exercise options for golfers. They train the hips, legs and back to produce force together, similar to how they work on the way down in the swing. They’re also one of the best tools we have for holding on to muscle and strength as we get older. There are very few exercises that strongly stimulate so much of the body at once.
This article covers the muscles it works, how to do it, whether it’s safe for your back, which variations to use, how to set up your sets and reps, why it matters for clubhead speed, injury prevention and aging, how to use straps and belts, and strength benchmarks to aim for.
Muscles worked
The deadlift is primarily a hip extension exercise, with the knees and back helping out.
| Muscle | What it does in the deadlift |
|---|---|
| Glutes | Main hip extensor. Drives the hips forward from the initial flexed position |
| Hamstrings | Assist extending the hips, as both the hamstrings and glutes are hip extensors. |
| Quads | Extend the knee, which is prominent in the initial push off the floor, especially in the trap bar version. |
| Adductors | Help extend the hip, especially from the bottom position. |
| Spinal erectors | Hold the spine in position under load, and there is also some spinal extension and flexion. |
| Lats | Keep the bar close to the body and help brace the trunk. |
| Upper back and traps | Hold the shoulders in place and stop the upper back rounding. |
| Forearms and grip | The bar must be squeezed with maximum tension to help brace the upper body and keep hold of the bar |
| Abs and obliques | Brace the trunk so force transfers from the legs to the bar. |
Deadlift technique keys
These apply to the conventional barbell deadlift. Most carry over to the other versions.
- Set your feet. Stand with your feet about hip width apart, with the bar over the middle of your foot. From above, it should look like the bar cuts your shoelaces in half.
- Hinge down to the bar. Push your hips back and bend your knees until you can grab the bar. Hands just outside your legs.
- Set your back. Chest up, spine long, shoulders slightly in front of the bar.
- Take the slack out. Before the bar leaves the floor, pull up just enough that the bar and your body feel tight. You will hear a slight click as the bar pulls into the plates. No jerking the bar off the ground.
- Brace. Big breath into your belly, then tighten your trunk like you’re about to get punched.
- Push the floor away. Drive through your whole foot and let the bar slide up your legs. Hips and shoulders should rise at the same rate.
- Finish tall. Stand up straight at the finish, no need to lean back at the top.
- Lower with control. Slight flex in the knees, then hips back, and bar close to your legs as you hinge over to bring the bar towards the floor, then bend your knees once the bar passes them.
Common mistakes
- Excessive lower back rounding. This can happen when the lifter hasn’t learned how to “set” their back before initiating the lift. It can also be due to not having adequate mobility, or being tall, and in this case the bar should be elevated.
- Hips shooting up first. The legs straighten and hips elevate before the bar leaves the ground. This reduces contribution from the legs and hips and increases the load on the back. Keep your chest up and push through the floor.
- Bar drifting away from the body. Every inch the bar moves forward adds load on the lower back. Keep it close. Most people set up with the bar too far in front of them.
- Hyperextending at the top. Leaning back to finish puts pressure on the lower back. Stand tall and stop.
Is the deadlift safe for your back?
A lot of people worry that deadlifts cause lower back injuries. You’ll hear the phrase “risk versus reward,” along with stories of people who’ve been seriously hurt deadlifting.
If you have a history of lower back issues, particularly from deadlifting, there’s no need to force yourself to do it. But a deadlift is really just picking something up off the ground. If you rule out deadlifting, you’re essentially ruling out picking things up from the ground, which I assume you’re not doing.
Once you accept that bending over and picking something up doesn’t automatically mean injury, the only questions left are which variation you use and how much weight. As with any exercise, start conservatively, use reasonably good technique so the stress goes on the muscles you want to train, and be conservative with your build-up.
I think part of the deadlift’s bad rap comes from ego. It’s a lift where people attempt weights that are too heavy. One reason is that the bar starts from a dead stop on the floor, so you don’t get to feel the weight before you try to lift it. That makes it easy to add plates you’ve no business lifting yet. That doesn’t really happen in a squat or bench press, where the bar is already on you before the lift starts.
I don’t think it’s an inherently dangerous lift. It can actually be one of the best lifts for people with lower back issues. It strengthens the muscles involved in picking things up, and it can give people huge confidence that they have more function and aren’t as brittle and fragile as they may have been led to believe.
Variations
The conventional barbell deadlift is just one option. If you don’t have access to a barbell and plates, or don’t want to use a barbell, there are other options.
Dumbbell or kettlebell deadlift
What Changes
One bell between the feet, lighter loads.
Useful for
Beginners learning the hinge.
Trap bar / hex bar deadlift
What Changes
Handles at your sides, weight distributed around your body, more knee bend.
Useful for
Easier on the back, easy to load heavy, and train the legs and hips. Downside is turning it into a squat, and not training the “hinge”.
Conventional barbell deadlift
What Changes
Bar in front of the shins.
Useful for
Experienced lifters who move well.
Sumo deadlift
What Changes
Wide stance, hands inside the knees.
Useful for
Lifters with long legs or who feel the conventional version in their back.
Elevated deadlift
What Changes
Bar starts higher, at or above the knee.
Useful for
Anyone who can’t get to the floor with a good back position.
Romanian deadlift (RDL)
What Changes
Starts from standing, less knee bend, stops below the knee.
Useful for
Hamstring strength and the hinge pattern.
Staggered stance or single leg RDL
What Changes
Staggered stance or one leg, instead of a regular two-foot stance.
Useful for
Targeting each side individually or when weight availability is limited.
You can vary the deadlift you do in different training blocks, and on different training days in the week. For example you may opt for hex bar deadlifts in one workout, and RDLs in another workout.
Sets and reps
The deadlift is a tiring lift. It stresses a huge amount of our total muscle mass at once, which makes it very fatiguing overall. It’s generally wise to keep the total volume (sets x reps) low and the quality of reps high, stopping every set with one to three good reps left in the tank. It’s not an exercise where you want to grind out reps to failure, like you might with a leg extension or push-up.
- Sets: Two to four working sets per workout. One to three warm-up sets are generally recommended, as the weight lifted is generally quite heavy.
- Reps: Three to six reps per set when treating the lift as a primary strength exercise leaving one to three reps in reserve. Five to ten reps per set when treating the exercise as a slightly lighter assistance lift, generally using a variation like the RDL, with one to two reps in reserve.
- Frequency: Once or twice a week is plenty. One heavier day and one lighter or single-leg day works well.
- Progression: Once you hit the top of a rep range with a certain weight with good form, add 5 to 10lbs, and start from the bottom of the rep range again. For example, start with 100lbs x 3 reps. Once you can do 100lbs x 6 reps, add 5 to 10lbs, so you are now back to 105-110lbs x 3 reps. Build this up to 6 reps. Repeat this cycle over and over again.
- In season: Drop to 1 to 2 working sets, keep the weight heavy, and reps at 3 to 5 per set. It’s not heavy weight alone that causes most soreness and fatigue. It’s grinding through really slow reps close to failure, and doing high rep sets where you “feel the burn”.
Why golfers should deadlift
Clubhead speed
Speed in the golf swing starts with force into the ground. The legs and hips push against the ground, and that force gets passed up through the trunk, arms and club. The deadlift trains the hips and legs to produce a lot of force, and to do it together.
There is some research in support of this. In a study of 27 highly skilled male golfers, peak force in the isometric mid-thigh pull, which is basically a deadlift from the mid thigh against an immovable bar, was significantly correlated with clubhead speed (r = 0.48) (Wells et al., 2018). An earlier study in recreational golfers found a similar moderate relationship between mid-thigh pull force and clubhead speed (Leary et al., 2012).
These are correlations, not proof that deadlifting adds speed. But stronger golfers tend to swing faster, and the deadlift is one of the most direct ways to build lower body and core strength. Golfers interested in maximizing clubhead speed should also include swing speed training in their weekly routine. Swing technique is also critical for adding clubhead speed.
Injury prevention
The lower back is the most commonly injured area in golf. A 2024 systematic review of 58 studies and over 10,000 golfers found the lower back was the most common injury site across all golf populations (Garrett et al., 2024). The same review found that, for recreational golfers, lower limb and trunk strength endurance were risk factors for injury. The nature of the golf swing means the back will be experiencing very high forces in each full swing, in a very repetitive manner.
The deadlift and its variations are excellent for building strength in the whole back and muscles surrounding it. Especially the glutes and hamstrings. A stronger and better conditioned body can handle more practice and play before something gets irritated.
Holding on to muscle, strength and power as you age
We lose muscle mass, strength and power as we get older, but power goes fastest. Research suggests power may drop by about 2 to 2.5% per year in older adults, faster than strength (Alcazar et al., 2023). A big reason is that fast-twitch, Type II fibers shrink and are lost faster than slow-twitch fibers. Those are the fibers that produce speed and strength.
Heavy and explosive lifting is one of the best ways to preserve the size and function of these fibers. In older adults, heavy strength training increased maximal strength by 68%, rate of force development by 48%, Type II fiber size by 66% and the percentage of Type II fibers by 56% (Wang et al., 2017). Light weights for high reps with gentle intent don’t give the same stimulus to the fast-twitch fibers.
The deadlift lets you load the biggest muscles in the body heavily and safely, which makes it one of the best exercises for keeping your strength and speed as you age.
Extra tips: straps and belts
Lifting straps
There tends to come a point where your grip fails before your legs and hips do. We want to avoid that, because the legs and hips are what we’re trying to train. This is when lifting straps are a really good idea. They let you put more stimulus on the main muscle groups.
Don’t worry about your grip getting neglected. Leave the straps off for your warm-up sets as you work up to your top weights, and only put them on when you need them. Your grip is still working hard with the straps on, because you’ll likely be using 10 to 15% more weight.
Lifting belts
A belt isn’t really there to prevent injury. It lets you lift more weight, which makes it another tool for overload, similar to straps. A belt gives you something to brace harder against, which increases intra-abdominal pressure. More intra-abdominal pressure enables higher force production from the legs and hips, so you can lift more weight.
How I use them
I do my warm-up / build-up sets with no belt and no straps. Once I get to weights that feel like reasonably challenging work sets, I put on the straps, because that’s what I need first. For the last one or two work sets, if the weight has gone up, I add the belt.
The following would be a very common deadlift protocol for me in a training session.
- 135lbs x 5 reps
- 225lbs x 3 reps
- 315lbs x 3 reps
- 365lbs x 3 reps (straps used)
- 385lbs x 3 reps (straps and belt used)
Depending on whether it was in season or off season, and if I was playing golf the next day or not, I may add one or two more sets at the top weight or heavier, and use the belt and straps. I take the belt off in between sets, as it needs to be put on quite tight.
You can adjust your use of a belt and straps to whatever weights you are using in your training.
Strength benchmarks for the deadlift
What is a good deadlift number to aim for? This is a question I get asked regularly.
Below are 5 rep max (5RM) benchmarks, the most weight you can successfully lift for 5 repetitions with good form, for the hex bar deadlift, broken down by gender, age and training level. I have chosen the hex bar as most <Fit For Golf App> subscribers prefer using the hex bar, and it’s a slightly more “user friendly” option.
BW means bodyweight. So for a golfer weighing 200lbs, a 1.5xBW lift is 300lbs.
| Level | Male | Female | Male 60+ | Female 60+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | 1.25×BW | 1.0×BW | 1.0×BW | 0.8×BW |
| Level 2 | 1.75×BW | 1.4×BW | 1.4×BW | 1.1×BW |
| Level 3 | 2.0×BW | 1.7×BW | 1.6×BW | 1.35×BW |
The three levels are milestones in relative strength, not requirements for good golf.
Level 1. ~6 to 12 months of training. A solid base of strength and good technique in the main lifts.
Level 2. ~1 to 3 years of training. Very good strength compared to the general population, and enough to support high clubhead speed.
Level 3. ~3 to 5+ years of training. Advanced. Training is a priority in your life and you work hard at it with a well designed program stressing progressive overload and high effort.
The standard numbers are for golfers up to around 45 to 50. The 60+ numbers are the standard numbers minus 20%. Strength declines by roughly 1 to 1.5% a year after 50, and across the gap between these groups that works out at about 20%.
Strength Training For Golf – The Fit For Golf Guide explains everything you need to know about strength training for golf.
The bottom line
The deadlift trains the hips and legs to push hard into the ground, builds a back that can handle a lot of swings, and gives the fast-twitch fibers the heavy loading they need as you get older. Start light, develop proficient technique, and slowly add load over time. You can transform your body and physical capabilities with this single movement.
Ready to start training?
The deadlift is one piece of a good program. The Fit For Golf App gives you a full training system built around it and the other key exercises for golfers, with sets, reps and progression set out for you. Check out the Fit For Golf App.
References
- Garrett JM, Beaumont PL, van den Hoek DJ, Veugelers K, Schmitz M, Bennett H. Injury profiles of elite, semielite, and recreational golfers, and their associated risk factors: a systematic review. J Strength Cond Res. 2024;38(6):1157-1176. Link
- Leary BK, et al. The relationship between isometric force-time curve characteristics and club head speed in recreational golfers. J Strength Cond Res. 2012;26(10):2685-2697. Link
- Wells JET, et al. Relationships between highly skilled golfers’ clubhead velocity and force producing capabilities during vertical jumps and an isometric mid-thigh pull. J Sports Sci. 2018. Link
- Alcazar J, Rodriguez-Lopez C, Delecluse C, Thomis M, Van Roie E. Ten-year longitudinal changes in muscle power, force, and velocity in young, middle-aged, and older adults. J Cachexia Sarcopenia Muscle. 2023;14(2):1019-1032. doi:10.1002/jcsm.13184
- Wang E, Nyberg SK, Hoff J, et al. Impact of maximal strength training on work efficiency and muscle fiber type in the elderly: implications for physical function and fall prevention. Exp Gerontol. 2017;91:64-71. PMID 28222199.
