Kettlebell deadlift
Picking a kettlebell up off the floor properly — the most useful movement on this site, because you already do it badly several times a day.
- Pattern
- Hinge
- Equipment
- KettlebellDumbbell
- Space
- Standing room
- Difficulty
- Foundational
- Load
- External load
What it is
Stand over a kettlebell with it between your feet, roughly under the middle of your foot rather than out in front of you. Feet about shoulder width.
Push your hips back, let your knees bend as much as they need to, and reach down to take the handle with both hands. Set your back before you lift: chest up, lower back in its normal shape.
Stand up by driving your hips forward and pushing the floor away, keeping the bell close to you. Lower it back down the same way.
Unlike a Romanian deadlift, this one starts and finishes on the floor and the knees bend considerably more.
What it demands
Less hamstring length than a Romanian deadlift, because the knees bend to help you reach the floor rather than the hamstrings letting you down to it. That makes this the more accessible of the two, which surprises people who assume floor-level is harder.
The ability to set and hold a back position before taking the load.
Grip, and enough leg strength to stand up with the weight.
What usually goes wrong
The bell starts too far forward. A load out in front of you is a much longer lever on your lower back. It goes between your feet, not ahead of them.
Lifting with the back set afterwards. The position is arranged before the weight moves. Taking the slack out first — pulling gently until you feel the load without lifting — is the standard way to check.
Standing up hips-first. The hips shoot up, the bell stays put, and the movement turns into a straight-legged pull with a rounded back.
Dropping it down. Lowering is half the movement and the half that develops most.
Where it sits
This is the most directly useful movement in the collection, and it is worth saying why plainly: picking a heavy object up off the floor is something almost everyone does regularly, usually without having ever been shown how, and often at the exact moment they are least prepared for it.
It is a natural first loaded hinge — more accessible than the Romanian deadlift because the knees help — and it is the position the kettlebell swing is built on.