maratoolKettlebell One-Legged Deadlift
How to do the kettlebell one-legged deadlift
- Hold a kettlebell by the handle in one hand. Stand on one leg, on the same side that you hold the kettlebell.
- Keeping that knee slightly bent, perform a stiff legged deadlift by bending at the hip, extending your free leg behind you for balance.
- Continue lowering the kettlebell until you are parallel to the ground, and then return to the upright position.
Muscles worked
The prime movers are the hamstrings, which extend the hip and bend the knee, frequently at both joints in the same repetition.
Because more than one joint is moving, the work does not stay in one place: the glutes finish hip extension; the lower back keeps the spine from rounding.
Every exercise for:HamstringsGlutesLower back
How this movement works
The load travels toward you and several joints bend to bring it there. The arms finish work the back starts, so grip and elbow flexors sit in the path of every repetition: when people stall on a compound pull, it is more often the hands giving out than the primary muscle running out of force.
It is filed under strength: produce force against resistance for a countable number of repetitions, and progress the resistance over time.
What you need
A kettlebell's mass hangs below and outside the handle, so it pulls away from the grip and the wrist has to stay packed. That offset is why racked and swinging variations feel nothing like the dumbbell version.
Every exercise using:Kettlebell
These train the hamstrings too, using equipment this one does not:
- Knee Tuck Jumpbody only
- Lying Leg Curl Machinemachine
- Muscle Snatchbarbell
- Stiff-Legged Dumbbell Deadliftdumbbell
- Ball Leg Curlexercise ball
Difficulty
Listed at intermediate level. It assumes you already own the underlying pattern and can hold position under load — if the position breaks before the target muscle tires, drop back to a beginner variation until it does not.
Of the 86 hamstrings exercises in this database, 35 are listed at intermediate level.
Photos: free-exercise-db — public domain (Unlicense) Full attribution →
ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.