How to Do a Romanian Deadlift for Stronger Glutes and Hamstrings

There are many deadlift variations that do wonders for training your backside, but the Romanian deadlift, aka the RDL, is one of the best moves for reaping the glute-building benefits of the hip hinge. That's because when you're doing an RDL, the movement primarily comes from your hips.

We did a deep dive into how to do RDLs with good form, their benefits and how to add them to your own training.

• ‌What is a Romanian deadlift?‌ It's a lower-body, hip-hinging movement. This means it's performed by bending your hips as much as possible, with just a little bend in your knees and no bend in your ankles.
  
• ‌What muscles does a Romanian deadlift work?‌ The primary muscles are your hamstrings and glutes. It also works your erector spinae on your lower back, your lats, rhomboids and lower traps on your upper back and your forearm flexors.
• ‌What are Romanian deadlifts for?‌ They can help you achieve many different gym goals. They're a fantastic tool for building lower body, back, core and grip strength. Because these areas are essential for producing power, RDLs also help improve athletic performance. You can use RDLs to build muscle on your legs, back and forearms. RDLs can also act as a more back-friendly alternative to traditional barbell deadlifts.
• ‌Who can perform Romanian deadlifts?‌ RDLs performed without any weight are perfect for learning how to hip hinge. Those who are stronger and are more familiar with the hip hinge can perform RDLs with a kettlebell, dumbbells or even a barbell. If you have a history of low back pain and injuries, however, talk to your doctor or physical therapist before including RDLs in your workouts.

This variation is the most versatile loading option and is great for people of all ability levels. Beginners will find it easy to learn good form, and once you have the form down, can use light dumbbells. Those who are more experienced can build strength and muscle using heavy and/or longer sets of dumbbell RDLs.

There's a reason why Romanian deadlifts are frequently used by powerlifters: They're one of the best exercises for building strong legs. RDLs are especially effective at strengthening your hamstrings and glutes.

One reason why RDLs are so great at building strength is that they're less technically complex than other exercises (like barbell deadlifts from the floor) and can be safely loaded with heavy weights.

The upright starting position also makes RDLs easier to perform from a technical standpoint than deadlifts because our brains have an easier time coordinating a hinge when we begin in a standing position versus picking a weight up from the floor.

When you perform an RDL, your upper back muscles including your lats, rhomboids and lower traps must fire constantly to keep the weight close to your body. This is known as an isometric contraction.

Even though you aren't actually moving your upper body during the exercise, these isometric contractions stimulate your nervous system, helping you build upper-back strength.

RDLs are also hugely beneficial for your lower back, which keeps your torso stable while you move your arms and legs. Romanian deadlifts strengthen your low back's ability to protect your spine while moving.

Grip strength refers to your ability to hold onto heavy weights (or your body weight) for long periods of time.

A strong grip is not only important for your workouts but it's also correlated with overall health and longevity, according to an August 2019 review in ‌Clinical Interventions in Aging‌.

Holding onto a heavy barbell or pair of dumbbells while performing RDLs requires a strong grip and helps you build your grip up. You may initially be somewhat limited in how heavy you can go if your grip strength isn't up to par with your lower body or back strength. As you work on RDLs, your grip strength will improve and you'll be able to hold heavier loads.

Romanian deadlifts are one of the best exercises for packing muscle onto the back of your legs. They are especially effective at building your glutes and hamstrings because they place them in a stretch position while under load.

This loaded stretch position emphasizes the eccentric (lengthening) contraction of the muscle, placing greater mechanical tension on your muscles, which can lead to more muscle growth.

RDLs can also help build muscle in your upper and lower back. These muscles are held in isometric contractions for your entire set. Even though they aren't flexing and stretching like your hamstrings and glutes, the lengthy time under tension can lead to growth in muscle size.

RDLs place less stress on your back than traditional barbell deadlifts from the floor because they use a different body position. This makes the RDL an ideal hip-hinging exercise for folks with low back pain or prior low back injuries. It's also better suited for tall lifters who struggle to pick up a bar from the floor with good form.

Your feet should be shoulder-width apart and inside your arms when performing barbell or dumbbell RDLs.

Many people stand with their legs too wide, which prevents them from effectively using their legs and can interfere with keeping the weights in the right position. Resist the urge to go wide with your feet when using these variations.

For kettlebell RDLs, place your feet just wide enough for the bell to rest comfortably between your legs when standing upright. Most people should place their feet hip-width apart.

Your feet provide the base of support for your entire body but they are often neglected in the weight room. Using your feet effectively can increase muscle activation and make it easier to use good form.

To get the most out of your RDLs, think about grabbing the floor with your toes and ensuring your weight is evenly distributed between your big toe, little toe and heel. The middle of your feet should form an arch in this position.

Unless you have really flexible hamstrings, you will struggle to reach your hips back behind your body with straight legs. This may result in more stress on your low back and less engagement of your hamstrings and glutes.

Avoid these problems by bending your knees a little bit as you initiate movement in your RDLs.

On the flip side, you should avoid bending your knees so much that your RDL becomes a squat. Most of the movement should come from your hips. The amount of knee bend used will vary based on a person's height and leg length.

If you're unsure of your form, take a side-view video of your RDLs or ask a training partner for help.

Reaching your hips back behind your body, also known as hinging, is the most important component of a Romanian deadlift. This is the part of the movement that stretches your hamstrings and glutes and forces your back muscles to contract hard to prevent spinal rounding.

You should feel a big stretch in your hamstrings as you reach your hips back. This is a sign that you're performing the movement correctly. If you don't feel your hamstrings but do feel a lot of tension in your lower back, that's a sign that you're lowering the weights by rounding your low back rather than properly hinging your hips.

Don't worry about lowering the weights all the way to the ground. Some people will be able to lower the weights to mid-shin while others will only be able to barely clear their knees.

It's important to prevent your upper body from rounding all the way over as you perform your RDLs.

Your chest will naturally lean forward a bit, but too much can cause unwanted rounding in your lower back. As you reach your hips back and descend into the rep, try to keep your chest tall. Thinking about keeping your shoulders down and back can be helpful for this.

One of the most common RDL form mistakes is letting the weights drift away from your body. When this happens, more stress is placed on your lower back and it becomes much harder to effectively use your legs.

Fix this form mistake by consciously keeping the weights as close to your body as possible. For barbell RDLs, the weights should be right up against your legs throughout the entire movement. Think about pulling the bar back into your body to keep it in position.

Dumbbell RDLs allow for more freedom of movement than barbell RDLs since each arm can move independently. Nevertheless, you still want to keep the weights as close to your body as possible.

When performing a kettlebell RDL, think about pushing the kettlebell slightly back as you hinge. Aim the bell toward the middle or back part of your foot as opposed to out over your toes.

Imagine trying to break the handle of the kettlebell in half to activate your lats and help you stay in the right position.

Another common upper-body RDL mistake is bending your elbows. This is a compensation that occurs because your nervous system senses instability and wants to keep the weights closer to the middle of your body.

However, it can place extra stress on your biceps and potentially lead to injury when performing heavy barbell RDLs.

Avoid this mistake by keeping your arms long throughout your entire set. It may be helpful to actively flex your triceps on the outside of your upper arm to straighten out your elbows.

When performing a barbell or kettlebell RDL, imagine that you're breaking the bar or handle in half with your hands. You'll know you're doing it correctly if the pits of your elbows are pointed straight ahead of you.

Avoid shrugging your shoulders by keeping your shoulders pulled down away from your ears throughout your entire rep, and be especially mindful of the tendency to shrug at the top of the rep.

The final portion of the RDL is standing up. Drive your legs hard into the floor until you've returned to your upright position. Pushing through your legs in this way helps you effectively use your glutes.

Watch out for hyperextension of your lower back at the top of your RDL. When viewed from the side, there should be a straight line running through your heel, knee, hip, shoulders and the back of your head. Resist the temptation to lean back at the top of the movement, which results in extra bending in your lower back.

Single-leg RDLs challenge your balance, core strength and lower body stability. These are significantly harder than traditional bilateral RDLs because the entire movement is performed with one leg. Although you won't be able to use as much weight as you could with bilateral RDLs, you can still build impressive amounts of lower body strength using single-leg RDLs. And if you are still working up to single-leg, try a staggered stance, which is a good in-between exercise.

There are two ways to do kettlebell RDLs: The first option is to hold a pair down at your sides, similar to using dumbbells. The second option is to hold a single kettlebell directly beneath your body.

Beginners can use kettlebell RDLs to learn good form, but the lack of weight options at many gyms can prevent more seasoned athletes from building additional strength and muscle using kettlebells.

The barbell RDL is ideal if your main goal is building strength because it allows you to use the heaviest possible weights.

However, it's important to ensure you're using good form since barbells are more unforgiving on your joints when you get into inefficient positions. Don't rush to jump right to the barbell if you're new to lifting weights.

A snatch grip is a very wide grip on a barbell where your hands are as far out to the sides as you can go while still grabbing the bar.

The name refers to the Olympic weightlifting exercise that uses this hand placement. Even if you never plan to train or compete in weightlifting, you can use the snatch grip to build impressive amounts of upper back and forearm strength.