Is the Smith machine version easier than the dumbbell single-leg deadlift?

For balance, usually yes. The rails stop the bar from drifting, so you only have to steady your hips and ankle, and most people can handle more load and focus on the hamstrings and glutes. The trade-off is less practice controlling a free weight, so the Dumbbell Single-Leg Deadlift is the better pick when balance itself is the goal.

Do I need to stand on a step?

No. The low step raises you a few inches relative to the machine, which gives the bar more room to travel before it reaches the safety stops. Most people run out of hamstring flexibility with the bar around the knees, so standing on the floor works unless the stops would cut your range short.

How much weight should I use?

Start with a load well below what you use for a two-legged Smith Machine Romanian Deadlift, and add weight only while your hips stay level and your back stays flat on every rep. Sets of 8 to 12 reps per leg suit most goals.

Which leg should I start with?

Start with your weaker leg and match its reps on the stronger side. That keeps the work even between legs instead of letting the stronger side set the pace.

Should my standing knee stay straight?

No. Keep a slight bend in the standing knee and hold that angle for the whole rep, since a locked knee makes balance harder and bending it more as you go down turns the lift into a squat. For a straighter-legged hinge with both feet down, use the Smith Machine Stiff-Leg Deadlift.

Smith Machine Single-Leg Deadlift

What Is the Smith Machine Single-Leg Deadlift?

Smith Machine Single-Leg Deadlift is a compound exercise that primarily targets the hamstrings and glutes and also engages the gluteus medius, the lower back and the small stabilizers of the standing ankle. It is an intermediate-level movement in which you hinge forward on one leg while holding a Smith machine bar with both hands, letting the free leg rise behind you as a counterbalance.

The point of the exercise is to train the hip hinge one side at a time. Working each leg on its own shows up strength and control differences between sides that a two-legged deadlift hides, and it lets the weaker side catch up. Because the rails stop the bar from drifting forward, backward or sideways, the balance demand is lower than with a dumbbell or a free barbell, so more of your effort can go into the hamstrings and glutes. You still have to keep the pelvis level and the standing ankle steady, which is why it remains a hip-control exercise and not just a machine lift. It usually sits after the main lifts of a lower-body session as accessory work.

Standing on one leg also shifts work toward the hip stabilizers. In trained men lifting a free barbell with both hands at matched 8-rep loads, the single-leg deadlift drew more gluteus medius and biceps femoris activity than a conventional deadlift, with less activity on one side of the lower back. The Smith machine version was not part of that study, but it uses the same stance and hinge. A little more bend in the standing knee brings in more glute, while a nearly straight knee puts more stretch on the hamstrings. The low step under your feet only raises you relative to the machine and does not change which muscles do the work.

It suits lifters who want single-leg posterior chain work but lose their balance before their hamstrings and glutes are tired on the free-weight versions, and anyone who wants to load the single-leg hinge more steadily. If it is too hard, learn the hinge with both feet down on the Smith Machine Romanian Deadlift and build balance with the Bodyweight Single-Leg Deadlift. Once you can keep your hips square for every rep, the Dumbbell Single-Leg Deadlift and Barbell Single-Leg Deadlift add back the balance challenge.

Muscles Worked

MuscleActivation

Biceps Femoris: Primary
Gluteus Maximus: Primary
Erector Spinae: High
Gluteus Medius: High
Semimembranosus: High
Semitendinosus: High
Adductor Magnus: Medium
Gluteus Minimus: Medium
Peroneus Longus: Low
Vastus Lateralis: Low

Instructions

Place a low, stable step platform inside the Smith machine under the bar. Set the bar hooks just below hip height when you stand on the step, and set the safety stops just below the lowest point you plan to reach.
Step onto the platform facing the bar, feet about hip-width apart, so the bar sits against the front of your thighs.
Grip the bar with both hands overhand, about shoulder-width apart, with your arms straight.
Stand tall, rotate the bar off the hooks and brace your core.
Shift your weight onto one foot, with that foot under the bar's path and a slight bend in the knee. Lift the other foot just off the step.
Push your hips back and let your torso tip forward while the free leg rises behind you, straight and in line with your torso. Keep both hips level and the toes of the free foot pointing down.
Lower the bar along the rails until your torso is close to parallel with the floor and the bar is around knee height, or until your back can no longer stay flat.
Drive through the heel of the standing foot and squeeze that glute to bring your hips forward, lowering the free leg as you return to standing.
Finish all reps on one leg, then switch legs. Rotate the bar back onto the hooks when you are done.

Common Mistakes

Letting the hips rotate open
Turning the hip of the free leg up toward the ceiling twists the pelvis and moves the work away from the glute and hamstring of the standing leg.
Rounding the back to go lower
Reaching the bar further down by curving the spine takes the stretch off the hamstrings and puts it on the lower back.
Standing out of line with the bar
Placing the standing foot in front of or behind the bar's fixed path lets the bar drift away from your leg and pulls you off balance.
Squatting instead of hinging
Bending the standing knee more and more as you lower turns the movement into a squat and takes the load off the hamstrings.
Kicking the free leg too high
Raising the back leg above the line of your torso arches the lower back and tips the pelvis open.
Loading it like a two-legged lift
Using a weight close to your two-legged numbers makes the back round and the hips twist long before the hamstrings and glutes are the limit.

Injuries

Smith Machine Single-Leg Deadlift is a medium risk exercise when performed with proper technique. The places that take the strain are the hamstrings of the standing leg at the bottom of the stretch, the lower back when the spine rounds or the hips stop moving back, and the standing ankle and knee as they hold you steady. Because the bar can only travel along its rails, standing with your foot too far in front of or behind the bar pulls the bar away from your leg and puts more of the load on your lower back.

Set your standing foot so the bar runs close to your shin and thigh, and set the safety stops just below the lowest point you plan to reach. If you use a step, make sure it is stable and does not slide. Start much lighter than you would on a two-legged Smith Machine Romanian Deadlift, lower slowly, and stop each rep where your back is still flat rather than at a fixed bar height.

To make it easier, touch the toes of the free foot down lightly behind you, go back to the two-legged Smith machine Romanian deadlift, or build hip strength with the Single-Leg Glute Bridge. To progress, add load slowly or move to the Dumbbell Single-Leg Deadlift, which adds the balance work the rails take away.

Stop the set if you feel a sharp or pulling pain in the back of the thigh, pain in the lower back that spreads into the leg, or if you can no longer keep your hips level and your back flat.

Overview

Primary Focus: Hamstrings and glutes
Equipment: Smith machine and step platform
Modality: Strength
Difficulty: Intermediate

Alternative Exercises

Other Names for the Smith Machine Single-Leg Deadlift

The Smith Machine Single-Leg Deadlift is also known as:

Smith Machine Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Is the Smith machine version easier than the dumbbell single-leg deadlift?: For balance, usually yes. The rails stop the bar from drifting, so you only have to steady your hips and ankle, and most people can handle more load and focus on the hamstrings and glutes. The trade-off is less practice controlling a free weight, so the Dumbbell Single-Leg Deadlift is the better pick when balance itself is the goal.
Q: Do I need to stand on a step?: No. The low step raises you a few inches relative to the machine, which gives the bar more room to travel before it reaches the safety stops. Most people run out of hamstring flexibility with the bar around the knees, so standing on the floor works unless the stops would cut your range short.
Q: How much weight should I use?: Start with a load well below what you use for a two-legged Smith Machine Romanian Deadlift, and add weight only while your hips stay level and your back stays flat on every rep. Sets of 8 to 12 reps per leg suit most goals.
Q: Which leg should I start with?: Start with your weaker leg and match its reps on the stronger side. That keeps the work even between legs instead of letting the stronger side set the pace.
Q: Should my standing knee stay straight?: No. Keep a slight bend in the standing knee and hold that angle for the whole rep, since a locked knee makes balance harder and bending it more as you go down turns the lift into a squat. For a straighter-legged hinge with both feet down, use the Smith Machine Stiff-Leg Deadlift.