Romanian deadlift: how to perform it.
The Romanian deadlift is the hip hinge in its purest form: the bar starts up top and travels down your legs as your hips shift back, loading the hamstrings and glutes at maximum stretch. No pull from the floor, no bounce: just the posterior chain loading up like an elastic band and snapping you back up.
Starting position
- Start standing with the bar in hand (from the rack or after a deadlift), grip just outside the legs.
- Knees slightly bent: this angle stays nearly fixed for the entire set.
- Shoulders packed, neutral spine, shoulder blades over the bar.
Proper form
- Push your HIPS back, like closing a car door with your butt: this is what drives the movement.
- The bar slides down your thighs and shins, staying in constant contact.
- Your torso tilts forward while keeping the spine neutral and chest "proud".
- Stop where your hamstrings scream: for most people that's between mid-shin and the knee, NOT the floor.
- Drive back up leading with the hips, pushing them forward until you're standing tall, glutes squeezing shut.
- At the top: neutral, not hyperextended. The next rep starts from that same tension.
When to inhale, when to exhale
Breathe in at the top, hold it through the descent (the pressure protects your lower back while hinged forward), exhale as you lock out with your hips.
Mistakes to avoid
If your knees keep bending as you descend, it turns into a regular deadlift and the hamstrings shorten, losing the stretch. Lock the angle at the start and don't touch it: only the hips move down.
The RDL does NOT end at the floor: it ends where your hamstrings run out of range. Forcing past that point means rounding your lower back to gain inches the muscle doesn't have.
Every inch of distance from your leg is extra leverage on your lower back. The bar DRAGS along your thighs: if it's not brushing against you, your hips aren't going back far enough.
The RDL is even less forgiving than the deadlift: you're at maximum leverage with the weight at mid-shin. Chest out, lats engaged: the moment your lower back gives, the set is over.
DAWT tip. The real measure of a good RDL is hamstring soreness the next day, not the weight on the bar: start at 50-60% of your deadlift, feel the stretch on every rep, and build from there. This is a quality-first exercise, not a load-first one.
Variations and alternatives
Quick answers
Romanian deadlift or conventional deadlift?
Different targets: the RDL isolates the hip hinge and stretches the hamstrings, the conventional deadlift is total-body strength with more quad involvement. In hypertrophy programs, the RDL is often the better pick for the posterior chain.
How low should I go on the Romanian deadlift?
As low as you can go while keeping your spine neutral and your hamstrings at maximum stretch: for most people that's just below the knee. Range of motion improves over time; forcing it with your lower back isn't mobility, it's breakdown.
Related exercises
How much should you load on this exercise?
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