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Muscles the Deadlift Misses

The deadlift works so many muscle groups it's often classified as a full-body or integrated exercise. Specifically, it focuses on the group of muscles known as the posterior chain -- your glutes, hamstrings, lower back and adductors -- and is the single best exercise for strengthening these muscles, according to strength coach Eric Cressey of Cressey Performance in Boston. Despite its benefits, the deadlift misses a number of muscles.

Chest
- Your chest doesn't get worked at all during the deadlift. Your pec muscles are responsible for flexing and adducting your humerus, such as when performing a side arm throw or flapping your arms, as well as rotating your arm, as in an arm-wrestling contest. None of these actions occur during deadlifts, so you'll need to add compound movements such as pushups, bench presses or parallel bar dips, along with isolations like cable cross-overs or dumbbell flyes, to fully stimulate your chest muscles.
Arms
- Your biceps work isometrically to hold the barbell with your arms straight, but apart from that, your arms have very little to do in a deadlift. Adding chest exercises will work your triceps to a degree, though you can work them further by performing bench presses and pushups with a narrower grip or adding in triceps extensions and pushdowns. You can work your biceps with different variations of curls, along with chinups and rowing exercises such as bent-over rows or cable rows.
Quads
- While the deadlift is often classified as a lower-body exercise, it focuses far more on the back of your legs than the front. With a regular barbell deadlift, your quads don't have too much to do. Switch to a trap bar deadlift, however, and your quads will do a lot more of the work. A trap or hex bar is a hexagonal-shaped bar with elevated handles. Trap bar deadlifts resemble a squat more than a deadlift, writes Cressey in "Maximum Strength," as you start in a more upright position. Alternatively, you could add squats, lunges or stepups into your routine to work your quads.
Considerations
- Deadlifts should be a staple exercise in your routine if you're training for strength, muscle growth, athletic performance or fat loss, and if you can perform them with good technique. They work so many muscles that they are highly effective at building muscle and burning calories. You will need other exercises for the muscle groups deadlifts don't work if you wish to build a balanced physique, though. You can perform these exercises after your deadlifts, or do them all in a separate session.

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