What muscles does the deadlift to press work?

The glutes and hamstrings extend your hips on the pull, the traps and midsection carry the bar through the middle, and the delts and triceps press it overhead. Your lower back holds position across the whole sequence.

How much weight should you use?

Whatever you can press overhead, which is far less than you can deadlift. Every combination lift is capped by its hardest part, and here that is the top.

Is this the same as a clean and press?

Close but not identical. A clean brings the bar to the shoulders in one explosive pull. This version stands the bar up as a deadlift first, then moves it to the shoulders, then presses. It is slower and it asks less of your timing.

Why do I feel it in my lower back?

Either your hips rose before the bar on the pull, or you leaned back to finish the press. Both are common and they happen at opposite ends of the same rep, so work out which one before changing anything.

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Barbell · advanced · back

Barbell deadlift to press

Also called Deadlift to overhead press, Deadlift press combo, Clean and press variation, Barbell deadlift to press.

The short answer

You pull a bar off the floor, stand up with it, bring it to your shoulders and press it overhead, then reverse the whole thing. Your glutes drive the hinge, your delts and triceps do the press, and your traps and midsection work through the middle. What most descriptions skip is the part between the two lifts: getting the bar from your hips to your shoulders is a movement in its own right, and it is where this usually goes wrong.

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 overhand grip, keeping your back flat.
Step threeDrive through your heels to stand upright, performing a deadlift.
Step fourAt the top, shrug the bar upward and transition into an overhead press, pushing the bar above your head.
Step fiveLower the bar back to your shoulders and then to the floor with control.

What usually goes wrong

Each starts with what you would notice.

The pull feels comfortable and then the bar will not go overhead.

WhyYou chose the weight for the deadlift. Your hips can move far more than your shoulders can press, so the top of this sequence fails long before the bottom does.

FixSet the load from the press. Everything below it gets easier as a result, which is fine. A combination lift is limited by its weakest link and pretending otherwise just means half the reps do not happen.

The bar arrives at your shoulders in a scramble and you are already off balance.

WhyYou went straight from standing to pressing without a real handover. The bar has to get from hanging at your hips to sitting on your front delts, and that is its own piece of the movement.

FixStand fully upright, shrug the bar up and get your elbows under it so it is resting on your shoulders. Take the moment. Then press. Three deliberate parts beat one hurried one.

Your lower back is what feels worked and you cannot tell which half did it.

WhyTwo candidates and often both. Either the hips rose before the bar during the pull, or you arched back to get the bar overhead at the top.

FixWatch the two moments separately. If it is the pull, start with hips and shoulders rising together. If it is the press, squeeze the glutes and keep your ribs down before the bar leaves your shoulders.

You bring the bar down from overhead straight to the floor.

WhySkipping the handover on the way back, which is the same shortcut as on the way up and harder to control.

FixLower to your shoulders, take a beat, then hinge the bar back to the ground. The way down deserves the same three parts the way up did.

What it is for

The barbell deadlift to press is a full-body compound exercise that combines a deadlift with an overhead press, targeting the traps and posterior chain while also developing shoulder strength. It is an efficient movement for building total-body power and coordination.

Questions people ask

What muscles does the deadlift to press work?: The glutes and hamstrings extend your hips on the pull, the traps and midsection carry the bar through the middle, and the delts and triceps press it overhead. Your lower back holds position across the whole sequence.
How much weight should you use?: Whatever you can press overhead, which is far less than you can deadlift. Every combination lift is capped by its hardest part, and here that is the top.
Is this the same as a clean and press?: Close but not identical. A clean brings the bar to the shoulders in one explosive pull. This version stands the bar up as a deadlift first, then moves it to the shoulders, then presses. It is slower and it asks less of your timing.
Why do I feel it in my lower back?: Either your hips rose before the bar on the pull, or you leaned back to finish the press. Both are common and they happen at opposite ends of the same rep, so work out which one before changing anything.