Legs · Bodyweight
Bodyweight Single Leg Deadlift
How to do the bodyweight single leg deadlift, the muscles it works, and the mistakes to avoid. Pulled straight from the Kovo app's exercise library.
- Equipment
- Bodyweight
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Logged as
- Reps
- Movement
- Hinge
- Mechanic
- Compound
How to do it
Stand on one leg with a soft bend in your knee and your arms hanging in front of you. Hinge at the hips, lowering your hands toward the floor while raising your back leg straight behind you until your torso and leg form a line. Drive through your standing heel to return to standing and squeeze your glute at the top. Finish your reps, then switch legs.
- 1Feel your hamstring and glute on the standing leg load as you hinge
- 2Keep your hips level and back flat, bracing your core for balance
- 3Drive through your heel to stand and squeeze the glute at the top
Common mistakes
- Don't round your spine or let your shoulders slump forward
- Avoid twisting your hips open or letting the raised leg drop out of line
- Don't bend the standing knee like a squat; keep it a hinge
Muscles worked
The bodyweight single leg deadlift mainly works the glutes, lower back, and hamstrings, with the forearms, quads, upper traps, upper abs, and calves assisting.
- GlutesPrimary
- Lower BackPrimary
- HamstringsPrimary
- ForearmsSupport
- QuadsSupport
- Upper TrapsSupport
- Upper AbsSupport
- CalvesSupport
Kovo programs the bodyweight single leg deadlift for you and tracks it every session.
We build your whole program, drop the right lifts into each workout, and adjust your weights as you get stronger. Free on iOS and Android.
More glutes exercises
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- How to do the airdyne bike
- How to do the arc trainer
- How to do the assault bike
- How to do the medicine ball atlas stone lift
- How to do the b stance hip thrust
Last reviewed June 2026.