What muscles does the deadlift to curl work?

The hamstrings and glutes extend your hips during the deadlift half, with your lower back holding position, and the biceps do the curl at the top. Your forearms work throughout because the underhand grip never lets go.

How much weight should you use?

Whatever you can curl, and that is much lighter than what you can deadlift. Loading it any other way just means the curl turns into a swing.

Is this better than doing deadlifts and curls separately?

Nothing has compared them, so we are not going to claim it. What is clear is that combining them caps the deadlift at curl weight, so if you want either half loaded properly, they are better off apart.

Why is the grip underhand?

Because the curl needs it. A curl needs your palms facing up, so the deadlift half inherits that grip rather than the other way around. It is another sign that the curl is the half setting the terms.

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Barbell · intermediate · back

Barbell deadlift to curl

Also called Deadlift to curl, Deadlift curl combo, Barbell deadlift to biceps curl.

The short answer

You deadlift a bar off the floor with an underhand grip, stand up, and curl it to your chest before lowering the whole thing back down. The hinge works your hamstrings and glutes and the curl works your biceps. The thing to know before you load it is that these two halves are nowhere near matched: you can deadlift several times what you can curl, so the curl decides the weight and the deadlift half is light whether you wanted it to be or not.

How to do it

Step oneStand with your feet hip-width apart with a barbell on the floor in front of you.
Step twoHinge at the hips and grasp the barbell with an underhand grip, keeping your back flat.
Step threeDrive through your heels to stand upright, performing a deadlift.
Step fourAt the top of the deadlift, curl the barbell up toward your chest by bending your elbows.
Step fiveLower the bar back down with control and return to the starting position.

What usually goes wrong

Each starts with what you would notice.

The bar comes off the floor fine and then stalls at your thighs.

WhyYou loaded it as a deadlift. Your hips can move far more than your arms can, so the weight that made the first half worthwhile makes the second half impossible.

FixPick the weight from the curl. Whatever you can curl cleanly is the bar, and the hinge that follows is a light hinge. That is not a flaw in the exercise, it is the exercise.

You rock backward to get the bar up to your chest.

WhyThe same mismatch, one step later. The bar is heavier than your biceps can raise, so your hips throw it and your arms catch it.

FixIf the curl needs your body, take plates off. There is no version of this where the swing is the point.

Your elbows travel forward as the bar rises.

WhyThe upper arms are moving, so the front of your shoulders is lifting the bar and your biceps are finishing it.

FixKeep the upper arms against your sides and let only the forearms move. Standing still between the hinge and the curl helps, because the two halves stop blending into one swing.

The hinge gets rounder and sloppier as the set goes on.

WhyThe bar is light, so the first half stops feeling like it needs attention and gradually stops getting it.

FixRun the deadlift half exactly as you would a heavy one, with the bar close to your legs and your back set before it moves. A light bar is not a reason to stop hinging properly, it is just a reason it takes discipline to.

What it is for

The barbell deadlift to curl is a compound exercise that targets the hamstrings and posterior chain through a deadlift while adding a biceps curl at the top of the movement. It is an efficient exercise for building back, glute, and arm strength in one fluid motion.

Questions people ask

What muscles does the deadlift to curl work?: The hamstrings and glutes extend your hips during the deadlift half, with your lower back holding position, and the biceps do the curl at the top. Your forearms work throughout because the underhand grip never lets go.
How much weight should you use?: Whatever you can curl, and that is much lighter than what you can deadlift. Loading it any other way just means the curl turns into a swing.
Is this better than doing deadlifts and curls separately?: Nothing has compared them, so we are not going to claim it. What is clear is that combining them caps the deadlift at curl weight, so if you want either half loaded properly, they are better off apart.
Why is the grip underhand?: Because the curl needs it. A curl needs your palms facing up, so the deadlift half inherits that grip rather than the other way around. It is another sign that the curl is the half setting the terms.