Do Deadlifts Increase Testosterone?

Written by Ben Bunting: BA, PGCert. (Sport & Exercise Nutrition) // British Army Physical Training Instructor // S&C Coach.

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Deadlifts may be one of your most powerful and important exercises, but they're not the only thing that deadlifts can offer. The benefits of deadlifts can also influence the health of your hormones and overall wellbeing.

This compound movement not only strengthens your entire body but may also elevate testosterone levels for increased muscle mass, improved strength and enhanced athletic performance.

Deadlifts are an exceptional full-body workout, engaging multiple major muscle groups such as glutes, hamstrings, quads and back.

By lifting heavy weights you stimulate production of testosterone which plays an integral part in muscle repair and growth.

As your testosterone levels increase, so too do your ability to build lean muscle mass, burn off unwanted fat deposits, and strengthen overall.

In addition to physical benefits, deadlifting has also been proven to enhance mental wellbeing.

Heavy lifting releases testosterone, and in turn can improve mood, confidence and focus/cognitive function.

Are you ready to unleash your inner beast and experience natural testosterone boost like never before?

Deadlifts provide this unique boost; so hit up the gym now, lift heavy and watch your gains soar like never before. 

This article will discuss how deadlifts improve health, increase testosterone, and enhance your physique. 

• What is a deadlift?
• Deadlifts have many benefits
• What types of deadlifts are there?
• Deadlifts can increase testosterone levels

What is a Deadlift?

A deadlift involves lifting a barbell or loaded barbell off the ground, with the torso parallel to the floor. The barbell is then placed on the ground.

This is one of three exercises in powerlifting, alongside the squat, and the bench press, as well as being a common lift for strongman.

In competitions, two styles of deadlifting are used: The conventional deadlift (also known as the conventional standing deadlift) and the Sumo Deadlift.

There are few exercises that can replace the deadlift in terms of positive adaptations and strength gains, whether they be short-term or long-term.

The simplicity and functionality of this device should be a priority for all strength-training regimens.

Deadlifting is important because it can improve bone density, muscle size, resting metabolism rate, decrease low back pain and even develop dynamic strength.

Researchers have also found that lifting weights with deadlifts or squats over a long period of time can increase bone density and maintain it well into later life.

The deadlift is a great way to increase performance and overall resilience. In almost every tactical job (e.g. police, fire or military), the trunk must be stabilized while the lower extremities are used to exert large amounts of force.

The deadlift is one of the few exercises that activates trunk muscles, as it requires the whole body to be involved.

Deadlifting requires both the upper and lower extremities move or stabilize the bar. This engages many motor units and muscle fibers at once.

The coordination required to perform a deadlift and its variations places a lot of stress on your musculoskeletal and causes adaptation.

The deadlift serves as a foundation for other lifts that are performed on the ground (e.g. cleans, snatches and their variations), as well as for many agility tests.

The ability to perform the deadlift correctly and stabilize the spine and trunk while exerting maximum effort can be a valuable skill for tactical personnel as well as the general public.

Deadlift Muscles Worked

The deadlift is an exercise that targets several muscle groups. The following muscles are worked by the deadlift:

• Gluteals

• Hamstrings

• Quadriceps

• Erector Spinae

• Latissimus dorsi

• Trapezius

Gluteus Maximus

The gluteus maximus is the largest muscle in the body. The muscles of the glutes consist of three main muscle groups. The three main muscles are the gluteus maximus (largest), gluteus medium (middle) and gluteus miniscule.

Most clients spend eight or more hours per day sitting, so their glutes tend to be weak and inactive. Lower back and core muscles are also affected.

Here are some reasons why deadlifting is an effective workout. To execute, it requires hip extension and gluteal strength.

No matter if you are performing a sumo deadlift or a Romanian deadlift - your hips will still be extended during the movement. When you use the correct deadlift technique, your glutes are activated to a greater extent. This results in muscle and strength gain.

Hamstrings

Deadlifting is not just a hip extension exercise, but also a hip hinge. Both the traditional deadlift (also known as sumo deadlift) and the sumo deadlift remain hip hinge exercises.

Although variations of the deadlift, such as the Romanian Deadlift and stiff leg deadlift, require more hamstring power.

Understanding deadlift technique as a personal trainer is essential for optimal results and injury-prevention.

You will need to make adjustments while working out. You must modify the exercise if the deadlift form has been compromised or if the weight is excessive.

This shouldn't be an issue with the many deadlift variations. Deadlifting is only as good as your form.

Each client has a unique deadlifting style, even though they use multiple muscle groups. Remember this when offering variations of deadlifts.

Quadriceps

The quadriceps are still worked, even though the deadlift is an exercise that emphasizes posterior strength.

Certain variations of deadlifts target the anterior chain in a more concentrated manner than others. The trap bar deadlift, for example, puts a lot more stress on the quads.

The straight leg deadlift has a more posterior-dominant movement. With heavier weight, the quads are more activated.

Erector Spinae Muscles

The erector spineae muscles extend from the back part of the skull to the pelvis.

These muscles are activated when you bend forward, then return to an upright position. It is especially important to bend effectively during deadlifts because the form of this exercise requires it.

The erector spine muscles are activated whether your client is performing a dumbbell or kettlebell deadlift.

It is important to have strong erector spine muscles. They help to maintain a flat or neutral back when deadlifting. It helps prevent injury to clients who are learning how to deadlift.

Latissimus Dorsi 

The deadlift also works the lats in addition to the erector spineae. The lats are required to perform this dominant posterior chain exercise. 

The deficit deadlift targets the lats, as well as the other muscles of the upper and lower bodies. The deficit deadlift increases strength and lift posture.

The Core

The abdominal muscles support the spine. The midline is what supports your body in all of its movements. The transverse abdominis is the major muscle of the core.

Your core must be strong and active during the deadlift. The abdominals work in conjunction with the glutes, lower back and lower legs.

It is beneficial to strengthen your core muscles before and during deadlifting.

The Shoulders

The deadlift works shoulder muscles including the trapezius and medial deltoid.

When deadlifting heavy loads, the shoulder blades and scapula play a key role.

It is important to protract the scapula.

You will often hear that you should squeeze your shoulder blades or roll your shoulders. It is very common to do this at the top end of a deadlift.

Protracting your scapula is better than squeezing the smaller muscles of your back together.

This helps you to avoid putting the weight on only the smaller muscles at the back. It makes your deadlift more powerful.

Arms

The deadlift involves all the muscles of the body. The arms are also involved, especially the grip and finger flexors.

The deadlift is a great way to work your hips and back. If you lack grip strength, your barbell deadlifting, dumbbell deadlifting and kettlebell deadlifting abilities are limited. Grip strength is essential for deadlifting. Grip strength should increase as the deadlift weight increases.

There are two grip options when clients deadlift a barbell. The first option is to use a grip that is pronated, or with the overhand. Another option is to alternate grips, with one hand overhand and the second underhand.

People will typically alternate grips as weight increases to prevent rotation of the barbell when deadlifting. It is helpful, but only at the most intense sets. 

To build grip strength it is best to use the over hang grip position.

Deadlifts have many benefits

Deadlifts are not only a fantastic part of any workout routine, but they can also improve your health in many ways. 

Deadlifts can change your body when you include them in a workout routine. 

1. Enhances Fat Burning

Some evidence suggests that deadlifts may help increase the rate of fat burning. 

This study looked at overweight individuals who were divided into three groups: those on a weight loss diet, those doing aerobic exercise, or people doing both aerobic exercise and deadlifts. 

The weight-lifting group lost more body fat than the aerobic and diet groups. 

2. Core Strength

The deadlift is a good way to increase your core strength. It can improve your posture because better core strength leads to more balance and stability. 

3. Engages Multiple Muscle Groups

Deadlifts are great because they use a lot of muscle groups. Deadlifts are a great exercise to build overall strength because they engage the muscles of all major groups. 

4. Improve your glutes

The glutes, the largest muscle in your body are not always easy to work. Deadlifts work great for the glutes. They're also great at boosting benefits related to glutes: power, endurance and pain reduction. 

5. Improves lifting capabilities

The deadlift is one of the most effective exercises to help you improve your real-life lifting ability. The majority of exercises do not reflect the movements we perform every day, but deadlifts are a great way to improve your ability to lift things. 

6. Safe to perform

The deadlift is one of the most safe exercises you can perform. It won't pull you backwards or crush you. You'll only have to drop it and, in many cases, it won't land on your foot. 

7. Increases grip strength

The deadlift is one of the most effective exercises to improve your grip. It is easy to transfer this skill into other types of exercises and it can also be a valuable asset in our daily lives. 

It is important to improve grip because it affects our ability grab and lift heavy objects. 

8. Hormone Booster

The deadlift can increase your testosterone levels. Fortunately for bodybuilders they are focused on hormones associated with strength and muscle development. 

The benefits of deadlifting testosterone are impressive. Heavy workouts increase your testosterone production. 

The body can produce more human growth hormone when deadlifting, and this can help maximize our workout benefits. 

9. Enhances Cardio

While deadlifts don't last long enough to qualify as a cardio routine, they will certainly increase your heart rate and improve your workout. 

It is possible to burn more calories by adding a few deadlifts into a routine of high intensity exercise. 

10. Injury Prevention

Deadlifts are great for increasing strength throughout your body because they work so many muscles. You're less likely to get injured when working out. 

What types of deadlifts are there? 

You can do a variety of deadlifts, but the results you get will depend on what type of deadlift you are doing. These are the most popular types of deadlifts. 

Sumo Deadlifts

Sumo Deadlifts. These deadlifts look similar to sumosquats and require you to plant your feet farther apart with your hands on the inside of your foot. 

This type of deadlift reduces your range-of-motion and focuses more on the quads, glutes and hams.

Chains and Bands deadlifts

The top part of this deadlift is adorned with bands and chains, increasing tension and adding extra weight. It puts a lot of strain on the core.

Snatch Grip deadlifts 

This is actually an Olympic exercise, as it involves a wider grip. The hamstrings will be strengthened by this exercise.

Deficit Deadlifts

This is a good training exercise that will improve your range of motion when you perform other types of deadlifts. 

The form is the same as the standard deadlift, but you are standing on an elevated platform. This puts more pressure on your legs, and increases your strength and range of motion.

Romanian Deadlifts

The Romanian Deadlift (RDL), like the straight-leg deadlift requires a slight bend of the knees, as in the hip hinge.

RDL emphasizes the eccentric portion of the deadlift, which is the downward motion. This is an aspect that is often undertrained.

Many athletes and lifters allow gravity to bring down the bar, and bounce it to start the concentric contraction, rather than controlling the movement downward.

Focus on to improve your hip hinge movement.

A hip hinge is an exercise that uses the posterior chain for flexion and extension with a posterior shift of weight.

The muscles involved in this movement pattern include the hamstring and gluteal muscles, erector spineae to maintain a neutral spinal column, and the rhomboids for stabilizing the upper body. 

Hex Bar Deadlift (Trap Bar)

This variation protects the lower back by preventing you from moving the weight away from the body.

You should stand about shoulder width apart with their feet about shoulders wide inside the middle of the trap bar.

Then bend at the knees while bending the hips to grasp the bar.

Next you should press through the heels and extend the knees, then the hips with a fluid motion. At the top of lift, you must push the hips towards the front.

Slowly lower the trap bar to the ground, by bending at the hips very slightly and then bending your knees.

Single Leg Deadlift

This deadlift variation not only helps build stability, but also the unilateral movement prevents one side from dominating the move.

The weight is shifted to the leg that has been deadlifted.

This movement can be performed with or without weights (dumbbell deadlifts; barbell deadlifts; kettlebell deadlifts etc.). Depending on the level of skill.

The client can either balance on one foot or shift their weight onto one leg, with the toes on the other leg resting lightly on ground.

The client should keep the hips square, and bend the knee gently. Slowly hinge forward from the hips so that the torso almost parallels the ground.

The client should keep their shoulders straight, their hips square and their torso upright throughout the entire movement.

The glutes and the hamstrings should be used to bring the body back into the starting position.

Deadlifts can increase testosterone levels

Deadlifts can change the way your body looks by changing your testosterone level. The way your body reacts to different types of exercises is what causes deadlifts to increase testosterone. 

Weightlifting is considered the most effective way to increase T levels. Resistance and strength training, including deadlifts, can positively influence the production of testosterone by the body. 

Deadlifts can be included in high intensity interval training to maximize this improvement. The HIIT workout is an important one that involves intense exercises done in short intervals with a break of about a minute between each exercise. 

A 2014 study saw that free weight exercise induced greater increases in testosterone plasma concentrations than the machine weight exercise.

This could be explained by the fact that to deadlift, you need to balance on both feet and engage core muscles such as your abdominals and lower back.

The research on the activation of muscles has shown that weights are more effective than machines, possibly because they involve a bigger muscle mass.

It has been demonstrated that anabolic hormones, such as testosterone and superfamily growth hormones (GH), are elevated after 15-30 minutes post-resistance training if there is sufficient stimulus.

The highest hormonal spikes are produced by protocols that have a high volume and moderate intensity. They also use short rest periods, stress a large amount of muscle, and utilize short intervals.

Intensity is Important

While performing exercising such as the deadlift can increase testosterone production, it is intensity that is the stimulus.

It appears that a certain relative intensity of exercise is required to cause changes in testosterone serum concentrations. This includes metabolic demand and volume.

A 1977 study reported that healthy young men saw a significant elevation of testosterone after 40 minutes of maximal intensity exercise. 

Conclusion

There is enough evidence to suggest that resistance training combined with a larger volume of exercise (multi-joint movement), a sufficient intensity (moderate/high) and short intervals between sets can result in an optimal increase in serum testosterone levels.