Tip: A Very Different Way to Deadlift

Lead Photo Credit: Origin Fitness

The angled deadlift is for intermediate to advanced lifters who have enough experience with the basic pulling and pressing exercises that they're ready for a new challenge.

This exercise hits the posterior-chain muscles you'd use in a traditional deadlift, along with the shoulder and arm muscles you'd use with a shoulder press. As a bonus, it also works the core. So it's three exercises in one, working many muscles in all three planes of movement.

Angled Deadlift to Press

This exercise is more than a muscle-builder. It's also a ball-buster – a great total-body conditioning exercise, and great for fat loss. After a few sets of these bad boys, you won't just want to rest, you'll want to go home and take a nap.

The best way to do the exercise is with a landmine device. If you don't have one, a barbell in a corner works fine. To begin, load the bar using 25-pound plates or smaller; 45s will force you to stand too far away from the bar and impede the movement.

Set up sumo-style, with your hands inside your legs. Use a mixed grip, with the underhand grip on the outside, at the end of the bar. Your thumb goes over the outside edge of the bar.

Drop down into a traditional deadlift starting position, with your hips back and spine in its optimal alignment. Pull up explosively, driving the bar toward your chest. Then twist your hips and press the bar away from your body, pivoting on your feet to complete the movement.

At the end, you want to have your rear heel up off the floor, with your rear foot pointed toward the bar.