Romanian Deadlift (RDL) is an effective exercise to strengthen glutes, hamstrings, and the lower back. While its movement may appear simple at first glance, its complexity makes this an advanced movement with immense benefits for strength training.
Many people fail to perform this exercise properly, arching their back and rounding it inward like the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Additionally, they squat rather than hinge for maximum benefit of this movement.
Resistance bands, barbells or cables – no matter their source – offer several simple cues to ensure proper form and maximize muscle growth.
How to Perform
Glute gains are one of the hottest topics in fitness right now, with exercises like hip thrusts, banded squats, and clamshells taking center stage as strategies to build your glutes. But for an effective yet straightforward movement to work your glutes more directly than other options do – and with minimal equipment requirements – Romanian Deadlift (RDL) should be considered an option.
RDLs should involve isometric contractions which produce substantial mechanical tension on your muscles during each rep. This increase in muscle tension will ultimately result in greater growth; which is exactly what you’re after when seeking to strengthen your glutes.
To perform an RDL, start by placing a barbell or dumbbells at the front of your feet with them positioned roughly hip-width apart. Sit up straight while keeping your core tight and chest up. Hinge at your hips to allow a slight bend in knees before slowly lowering weights toward shins – stopping when just above them – before engaging glutes and hamstrings before driving hips forward to stand back up at its conclusion.
For beginners just starting RDLs, start small to ensure a successful experience without lifting too much weight, which could impede proper form and make it harder to feel your glutes working. Once you have become comfortable with this movement, gradually increase the challenge with increasing weight loads.
As part of their RDLs, one common mistake people make is to let their lower back round while hinge at the hips – increasing stress on your spine and decreasing engagement of glutes. If this is something that bothers you, try bending your knees slightly as you initiate movement – not enough so it becomes a squat but not so little that most of the movement comes from your thighs instead of glutes – then perform one leg at a time as this puts more emphasis on glutes while compensating any imbalance between left and right legs.
Variations
Few exercises in the gym offer such effective targeting of glutes, hamstrings and lower back as the RDL does, which explains its popularity with trainers. Yet despite this exercise’s effectiveness and popularity, many trainers incorporate it into their repertoires. Although effective and popular among trainers alike, some find the RDL challenging. Learning proper hinge mechanics is particularly difficult for newcomers; therefore it should only be performed at submaximal loads with moderate eccentric tempos so as to prevent injury or overtraining.
RDL exercises not only train the posterior chain muscles, but they can also strengthen biceps and core. Because you must brace your spine with abdominal and back muscles while moving the weight through its range of motion, RDL can help improve posture as you brace with abdominal and back muscles to brace against your spine during movement. They can be performed using barbells or dumbbells and performed either on the floor or from a power rack; with barbells particularly demanding on lower back health it is key that an exercise be conducted using good position with strong grip when using barbells so this exercise should not strain lower backs in any way when using barbells if using barbells so it is important that when using barbells it be performed in proper fashion so as not to put undue strain on lower back muscles during movement.
If you’re having difficulty with RDLs, try performing a single-leg variation instead. This variation mimics split stance movements while still activating your glutes and hamstrings; to perform it stand with one foot in front of the other and lift weight off ground while hinge forward while keeping other leg straight and engaged to maintain balance during movement.
If you want a more challenging RDL workout, try doing it with one leg raised while keeping both knees bent – this will add difficulty and really target hamstrings and glutes on the front side of your body. You could even place thin weight plates under your toes to push weight backward and increase hip extension and hamstring engagement.
Weights
Glute-focused exercises have long been a favorite. From hip thrusts and banded squats to clamshells and monster walks, nothing builds stronger or more dominant glutes like Romanian deadlifts (RDLs). While difficult for newcomers to master initially, RDLs can have dramatic impacts on gym performance once mastered properly.
RDL also works the entire posterior chain of your body, from your hamstrings and lower back down. This is important as weak posterior chains can lead to injury; RDL helps prevent this by training muscles properly and improving posture which reduces risk for low back pain.
As with any complex movement, starting light and gradually increasing your load is key to mastering any complex movement. This allows you to hone your form and ensure you’re engaging your glutes properly. Once you have achieved proficiency with performing the movement under heavy loads with good form, progressively increasing weight should become possible.
The barbell RDL is an effective exercise designed to engage all areas of your body, particularly glutes and hamstrings. Beginners can benefit from doing it, as it allows them to build strength and endurance within a safe range of motion. Aim for 8-10 reps per set with an RPE rating between 7-8.
When performing this movement, be wary not to bend your knees too far – this can take away from the work done by your hamstrings and glutes and put more strain on quads and lower back muscles. Furthermore, keeping core tight and chest up will keep you stable throughout.
If you haven’t tried Romanian deadlifting yet, add them to your leg day workouts as soon as possible – you won’t regret it! Glute gains will be your reward. Jakob De Coninck of Synergy Strength in Victoria Australia provides in-person and online personal training services dedicated to raising the standard of the fitness industry through science-based, intelligent training strategies.
Rest
The RDLS is an excellent muscle-building exercise to incorporate into a training regimen, especially for athletes focusing on performance, physique or general strength goals. The longer duration under tension creates greater muscular hypertrophy (growth in muscle size) as well as neural adaptation and skill acquisition; adding it can also improve balance and hamstring flexibility for an all-rounded training experience.
Success with RDL lies in maintaining a neutral spine while engaging your glutes during each repetition. Many athletes struggle with engaging their glutes properly due to a weak mind-muscle connection with these muscles; to help feel your glutes firing more efficiently during RDLs, imagine you’re squeezing a penny between butt cheeks; this will focus on engaging these muscles during every rep – and eventually make this movement easier as your glutes tire.
Another effective way of increasing hamstring strength is through single-leg hip hinge movements. By performing this unilateral variation of the exercise, single-leg hip hinge movements enable you to test your balance and detect any weaknesses or asymmetries between left and right sides, as well as train your core muscles to remain braced throughout movement, improving both speed and efficiency of hip hinge.
If you’re having difficulty gripping the bar properly or finding your range of motion comfortable, using a band between it and the squat rack may help. A band will reduce how much force is necessary to apply against it and can also add resistance or lower weight from sets. Furthermore, using this tool as a teaching aid for newcomers or those needing help developing technique may prove beneficial.
Try performing one-leg deadlift variations to fully engage the glutes and enhance balance. When performed correctly, this exercise can produce similar muscle response as the RDLS; however, more practice may be needed in securing a good grip on the bar while maintaining correct posture.
