Romanian Deadlift
How to do it
- Set up as if deadlifting, but start standing with the bar at your hips, hands just outside your thighs.
- Soften your knees and keep them there - this is a hip movement, not a squat.
- Push your hips straight back and let the bar slide down your thighs.
- Stop when you feel a strong stretch in your hamstrings, usually around mid-shin.
- Drive your hips forward to stand. Keep the bar touching your legs the whole way - if it drifts, your lower back takes the load.
Muscles it trains
Percent of one session's target for that muscle. Anything at 100% finishes that muscle on its own.
- Hamstrings 90%
- Lower back / erectors 70%
- Glutes 60%
- Forearms 30%
- Mid-back / traps 15%
- Adductors (inner thigh) 15%
Other ways to train this
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Dumbbell Stiff-Leg Deadlift
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Good Morning
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Smith Machine RDL
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Conventional Deadlift
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Cable Pull-Through
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Back Extension
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Kettlebell Swing
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Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift
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Band Good Morning
-
Sumo Deadlift
Photos and form cues from free-exercise-db, released into the public domain.
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