Deadlift: muscles worked, setup and progression

The deadlift works the whole back of the body — and the Zyra Workouts catalog files it under back as the primary muscle, with hamstrings, glutes and forearms as secondaries. That is worth knowing up front, because it decides where deadlift sets land in your weekly volume and which alternatives the app suggests. Below: the muscles, a mechanical setup, the targets by goal, and how the bar steps.

Muscles worked

The hips and knees extend together to lift the bar; the back muscles hold the trunk rigid so the bar travels in a straight line; the forearms hold the grip. The catalog's choice to make back the primary is a bookkeeping decision — it means three deadlift sets add 3 to the back landmark (14 sets a week) and 1.5 each to hamstrings and glutes (both 10) and forearms (6). If you want hamstring-first credit from a hinge, the dumbbell Romanian deadlift is filed that way; the comparison piece explains the quirk.

Setup and execution

Mechanical cues; the aim is a rep you can repeat identically.

1. Bar over mid-foot. Stand with the bar over the middle of the foot, about an inch from the shins, feet roughly hip width.
2. Grip. Bend and take the bar just outside the legs — double overhand, or one hand flipped when the grip becomes the limit. Log a grip change in the notes; it changes what the number means.
3. Set the back. Drop the hips until the shins touch the bar, chest up, arms straight, big breath and brace. The bar should not move yet.
4. Push and pull together. Push the floor away while keeping the bar against the legs; hips and shoulders rise at the same rate until you stand tall.
5. Return. Hips back first, bar sliding down the thighs, then bend the knees once the bar passes them. Reset the brace on the floor between reps if you pause.

Count full lockouts only. The app's partial field (5+1) records a rep that did not lock out without inflating the count.

Rep and RIR targets by goal

Compound exercise, compound table:

The rep ceiling is the number the app compares your last set against: the midpoint of the rep range plus the RIR target (round((min + max) / 2) + RIR). RIR is reps in reserve — how many more reps you could have done. These targets are the app's defaults, not a law; a program you build yourself can set anything. The catalog gives the deadlift the maximum default rest, 180 s.

How progression steps on this exercise

Barbell, so one pair of the smallest plate: 2.5 kg with 1.25 kg plates in your gym profile. Worked through on the strength target (3–5 @RIR 2, ceiling 6):

In plain terms: the bar only goes up when you have shown you can do more reps than the target asks for. This is arithmetic from the progression engine, not a trial result. The deadlift 1RM page turns any set into an estimate (Brzycki up to 12 reps, Epley above) and the load chart shows percentages across the bar.

Alternatives

Here the catalog quirk shows. The swap list keeps the primary muscle — back — so it ranks pulls, not hinges:

If you need a hinge specifically, pick the Romanian deadlift from that list, or search for the good morning or hip thrust (filed under hamstrings and glutes respectively), which the ranking will not surface on its own.

The short version

Back primary; hamstrings, glutes and forearms at half credit. Compound targets, 180 s rest, 2.5 kg steps when you clear the ceiling. The swap list is rows and pull-ups because the primary is back — the Romanian deadlift is the hinge among them. Educational overview only — training guidance, not medical advice.