Kettlebell Single-Leg Deadlift
oec:kettlebell-single-leg-deadlift
A unilateral hip-hinge variation holding a kettlebell that develops posterior chain strength, balance, and pelvic stability.
Generated by gemini-3.8-flash from the sources below. No person has checked this record. Don't rely on it for safety.
Also called: Kettlebell One Legged Deadlift, Single-Leg Kettlebell Deadlift, Kettlebell SLDL, One-Leg Kettlebell Deadlift
How to do it
Setup
- Stand tall holding a kettlebell in one hand with an overhand grip.
- Shift your body weight onto the working leg (typically contralateral to the hand holding the weight) and soften the working knee slightly.
- Engage your core and pull your shoulders down and back to keep your spine neutral.
Movement
- Hinge at the hips, pushing your hips straight back while allowing your torso to lean forward.
- Extend your free leg straight behind you in line with your torso as a counterweight, keeping the hips square to the floor.
- Lower the kettlebell under control until you feel a moderate stretch in the working hamstring and your torso is near parallel to the floor.
- Drive through the midfoot and heel of the standing leg, extending the hip to return to the tall starting position.
- Squeeze the glute at the top of the rep before beginning the next repetition.
Breathing
Inhale and brace your core as you hinge forward; exhale as you drive through your hip to return to the standing position.
Cues
- Keep the belt buckle facing the floor.
- Reach the back heel straight to the wall behind you.
- Slight bend in the knee, hinge at the hip.
Common faults
- Opening or rotating the non-working hip toward the ceiling.
- Keep the toes of the rear foot pointed directly toward the floor to keep the pelvis level.
- Rounding the spine to reach the kettlebell to the floor.
- Maintain a neutral spine and only lower as far as your hamstring flexibility allows without flexing the lumbar spine.
- Excessively bending the standing knee like a squat.
- Unlock the knee once, then keep that angle fixed while hinging strictly at the hip.
Safety
- Establish balance with bodyweight or a kickstand stance before loading with heavy weight.
- Clear floor space around you in case of a loss of balance.
Muscles
Joints
- Hip: Flexion, Extension
- Knee: Isometric stabilization
- Lumbar spine: Isometric stabilization
- Subtalar: Isometric stabilization
Details
- Movement
- Hip hinge
- Modality
- Strength, Hypertrophy, Balance
- Mechanics
- compound
- Force
- pull
- Laterality
- unilateral
- Kinetic chain
- closed
- Level
- intermediate
- Equipment
- Kettlebell
- Record
- Repetitions and Load
- Load
- external, total
Related
- variation of Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift
- substitute for Dumbbell Single-Leg Deadlift
- progression of Kettlebell Deadlift
Sources
- wger: Kettlebell One Legged Deadlift, by AlucardEvil40 (CC-BY-SA-4.0)
This record: CC-BY-SA-4.0.