How to do the romanian deadlift

If your hamstrings are the part of your legs that never seems to grow, the Romanian deadlift (RDL) is the lift to add. Unlike a regular deadlift, it starts standing and never touches the floor: you lower the bar only as far as your hamstrings let you, then stand back up. That keeps the tension on the back of your legs the whole set, and it's far less tiring than pulling from the floor, so you can train it hard for sets of 8 to 12. The whole skill is one movement pattern, the hip hinge, and once you've got it, it carries over to almost everything else.

How to do a Romanian deadlift

1. Set the bar in a rack at mid-thigh height. Grip it just outside your thighs with both palms facing you, step back, and stand tall with your feet about hip width. (You can also deadlift it off the floor for the first rep.)
2. Soften your knees slightly. A soft bend, about as much as you'd have standing around waiting for a bus. That bend stays fixed for the whole rep.
3. Breathe in, brace, and push your hips back. Your torso tips forward because your hips are moving back, not because you're bending over. The bar slides down the front of your thighs, and your shins stay close to vertical.
4. Lower until you feel a strong stretch in your hamstrings. For most people that's somewhere between just below the knee and mid-shin. The moment your hips stop traveling back, or your lower back starts to round, you're at the bottom.
5. Drive your hips forward to stand. Keep the bar brushing your legs, squeeze your glutes as you come up, and breathe out as you finish standing tall. Stop at straight; don't lean back.

When it's right, the hamstring stretch at the bottom feels intense, somewhere between the back of the knee and the glute. Your lower back should feel like it's working to hold position, but it shouldn't be the thing that aches first.

Cues for the hinge

"Close a car door with your butt." Picture your hands full of shopping and nudging a car door shut behind you. It gets your hips moving back rather than your chest moving down.

"Hips to the wall." If the car door doesn't click, stand with your heels about a foot (30 cm) from a wall and hinge back until your butt touches it. It's the fastest way to feel what a hip hinge is.

"Shins stay still." If your knees push forward as you lower, you're turning the lift into a squat. Keep your shins where they started and let everything happen at the hips.

"Iron the bar down your thighs." Keeping the bar in contact with your legs keeps the load close, which is easier on your back and puts more of it into your hamstrings.

Common mistakes

Bending your knees more and more as you lower. The RDL quietly turns into a squat: your knees travel forward, the hamstring stretch disappears and your quads take over. Usually it's because the weight is heavy enough that your body is looking for an easier way down. Set the knee bend at the top, keep your shins still and lighten the bar until you can.

Rounding your back to reach lower. Getting the bar to the floor isn't the goal. Once your hamstrings run out of stretch, the only way to go lower is to round your spine, and at that point your lower back has taken over the lift. Stop where your back stops being flat, even if that's just below the knee. Range will improve over a few weeks.

Not pushing your hips back far enough. The mirror image of the squat problem: knees locked, hips staying over your heels, and you fold forward from the waist like you're touching your toes. You'll feel it in your lower back, not your hamstrings. Think of lowering as sending your hips back, and let your chest follow.

Letting the bar drift out in front. Arms hanging forward, bar a few inches from your legs. Every inch the bar moves away from you adds leverage against your lower back, so the same weight feels heavier and your hamstrings do less of the work. Pull the bar into your legs with your lats.

Rushing the lowering. The stretch at the bottom is where the RDL does most of its work, so dropping through it wastes the set. Take 2 to 3 seconds to lower. A short pause at the bottom is fine too.

Sets, reps and how much weight to use

We'd treat the RDL as a muscle-building lift rather than a max-strength one. Heavy singles and triples don't add much here, and a flat back is harder to hold under near-maximal loads. Most people do best with 3 to 4 sets of 6 to 12 reps, using a weight you could manage 2 or 3 more reps with. Rest 2 minutes or so between sets.

It usually goes after your main lift for the day, often following squats, or as the main hinge on a day without deadlifts. Two warm-up sets are plenty: one with about half your working weight for 8 reps and one at about 75% for 4. If your working weight is 135 lb (60 kg), that's roughly 65 lb (30 kg) and then 100 lb (45 kg).

Progress by adding reps first. Once you hit the top of your rep range on every set with a flat back, add 5 to 10 lb (2.5 to 5 kg) and work back up. Logging your sets helps here, because RDL progress is slow and easy to lose track of.

Expect sore hamstrings after your first few sessions, sometimes for 2 or 3 days. That's the stretch under load doing its job, and it fades once you've done it a few times. Start lighter than you think you need to.

Here's roughly what people lift for their working sets:

Romanian Deadlift working weights by bodyweight and experience

Bodyweight	beginner	intermediate	advanced
130 lb (59 kg)	45 lb (20 kg)	85 lb (39 kg)	130 lb (59 kg)
160 lb (73 kg)	55 lb (25 kg)	105 lb (48 kg)	160 lb (73 kg)
190 lb (86 kg)	65 lb (29 kg)	125 lb (57 kg)	190 lb (86 kg)
220 lb (100 kg)	75 lb (34 kg)	145 lb (66 kg)	220 lb (100 kg)
250 lb (113 kg)	90 lb (41 kg)	165 lb (75 kg)	250 lb (113 kg)

Your hamstring flexibility changes how far you can lower the bar, which changes how much you can lift. Use these as a rough guide and don't sacrifice range for load.

Grip often gives out before your hamstrings do. Straps are a perfectly good answer, and we'd rather you use them than stop a set early because your hands let go.

Variations and alternatives

• Dumbbell RDL: the same movement with a dumbbell in each hand, held against your thighs. Easier to set up at home and a good way to learn the hinge with light weights.
• Single-leg RDL: one foot on the floor, the other leg drifting back as you hinge. Much lighter loads, but a real balance and glute challenge, and it shows up any left-right difference.
• Stiff-leg deadlift: starts from the floor each rep, with a bit less knee bend. Similar muscles, but you give up the continuous tension of the RDL.
• Deadlift: the full lift from the floor. Better for overall strength, more tiring, and less focused on the hamstrings.
• Leg curl: if your back is sore or you have no barbell, this trains the hamstrings with no load on your spine. Ideally do both, since the curl works them at the knee and the RDL at the hip.
• Hip thrust: more glute, less hamstring, and very back-friendly.

RDL questions

What's the difference between an RDL and a stiff-leg deadlift?

The RDL starts from the top and stops wherever your hamstrings run out of stretch, usually above the floor. The stiff-leg deadlift starts from the floor each rep with straighter legs. In practice the muscles worked are nearly the same; the RDL is easier to control and keeps tension on longer.

Does the bar need to touch the floor?

No. Most people run out of hamstring range somewhere around mid-shin, and going further means rounding your back. Lower as far as you can while staying flat.

Why do I feel RDLs in my lower back?

Usually the bar is drifting away from your legs, or you're bending forward from the waist instead of pushing your hips back. Some effort in your lower back is normal because it's holding your spine in place. If it's sharp pain rather than muscle effort, stop the set.

Should I do RDLs or deadlifts?

If you only pick one, choose deadlifts for strength and RDLs for hamstring size. Many people do both: deadlifts heavy once a week, RDLs for higher reps on another day.