The best time to deadlift depends on what you’re really asking: which day of the week, what time of day, or where in your workout. The short answer is that deadlifts perform best in the late afternoon, on a day when you haven’t already taxed your legs or lower back, and with at least 48 hours before your next heavy lower-body session. Here’s how to sort out each of those variables for your own schedule.
Best Time of Day for Deadlifts
Your body produces more force in the late afternoon and early evening than it does in the morning. Research published in Physiology found that maximal muscle strength peaks between roughly 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. Core body temperature follows a similar pattern, rising about 1°C from its lowest point in the early morning (around 4:00–6:00 a.m.) to its highest in the late afternoon. While scientists haven’t pinpointed exactly why strength tracks with this rhythm, the pattern is consistent across dozens of studies: you are measurably stronger later in the day.
That said, the difference matters most if you’re chasing a personal record or competing. If your only available training window is 6:00 a.m., you’ll still build plenty of strength over time. Consistency with your schedule matters more than optimizing a small circadian advantage. People who always train in the morning adapt to morning training and close much of the gap.
Which Day in Your Training Split
Deadlifts recruit nearly every major muscle group. Your legs drive the bar off the floor, your back takes over from the knees to lockout, your grip and shoulders stabilize the load, and your core braces throughout. Because the movement is so demanding, where you place it in your weekly routine has a real impact on recovery and performance.
Leg Day
Placing deadlifts on leg day makes sense if your priority is hamstring and glute development. The first half of the pull, from floor to knees, is heavily leg-driven. Your hamstrings stretch under load, your quads fire to extend the knees, and your glutes contract hard at lockout. If you’re running a push/pull/legs split, this is where conventional deadlifts land naturally for many lifters.
Back Day
The second half of the deadlift, from knees to standing, is dominated by the back. Your upper back and shoulders work to keep the bar close, and the lower back is the primary mover through lockout. If your program separates upper and lower back work across different days, deadlifts pair well with rows and pulldowns. Many lifters who prioritize back thickness prefer this placement.
There’s no universally correct answer. If your legs are already destroyed from heavy squats earlier in the week, putting deadlifts on back day gives your quads and hamstrings more recovery time. If your back is already fried from rows, leg day is the better call. Let your weekly schedule dictate the choice rather than treating it as a rule.
Deadlifts and Squats in the Same Session
You can squat and deadlift on the same day, and competitive powerlifters do it regularly since meets require both lifts in one session. But for general training, pairing them comes with trade-offs. Both movements load the lower back, hamstrings, and quads heavily. Whichever lift you do second will suffer from accumulated fatigue, meaning less weight, fewer quality reps, and a higher chance of form breakdown.
If you do combine them, put whichever lift is your current priority first. A common approach is to go heavy on one and lighter on the other. For example, heavy squats followed by moderate-weight Romanian deadlifts, or heavy conventional deadlifts followed by front squats at a reduced load. This keeps total training volume high without asking your lower back to handle two max-effort compounds back to back.
If you have the flexibility to train four or more days per week, separating squats and deadlifts by at least two days generally produces better results for both lifts.
How Often to Deadlift Per Week
Most lifters do well deadlifting one to two times per week. The deadlift places enormous stress on the muscles and connective tissue of the posterior chain, and recovery from heavy pulling sessions takes longer than recovery from most other lifts. Muscle fibers sustain microtears during heavy training and need adequate rest to repair and grow stronger. Training through incomplete recovery leads to stalled progress, chronic fatigue, and increased injury risk.
A large meta-analysis covering 13 studies and 328 subjects found that strength gains per week were remarkably similar between trained and untrained lifters when volume was equated, averaging about 2% per week for lower body movements. The key variable wasn’t how advanced you are but whether total weekly volume and recovery were balanced. Beginners can often deadlift twice a week because the loads are relatively light. More experienced lifters pulling heavier weights typically need more recovery between sessions and often settle on once per week for heavy pulls, sometimes adding a second lighter technique day.
A practical guideline: allow at least 48 to 72 hours between deadlift sessions, and take one to two full rest days per week from all resistance training. If you notice your deadlift numbers stalling or declining over several weeks, you’re likely under-recovering rather than under-training.
Where Deadlifts Belong in a Workout
Deadlifts should almost always come first or second in your session. They demand the most from your central nervous system and the most coordination under heavy load. Fatiguing your grip, lower back, or hamstrings with isolation work beforehand means less weight on the bar and worse technique when it counts.
A typical order for a deadlift-focused day looks like a brief warm-up, deadlifts as the main lift, then accessory work targeting any weak points: hamstring curls, rows, hip thrusts, or core work. If you’re pairing deadlifts with another compound like an overhead press or bench press, do the deadlifts first since they tax more total muscle mass and pose a greater injury risk when fatigued.
The one exception is a light warm-up set of another exercise to raise your heart rate and loosen up your hips. A few sets of bodyweight lunges or light leg presses before pulling won’t hurt and can actually improve your readiness for that first working set.