Lower body day, meet the RDL.
The RDL is a resistance exercise that strengthens the posterior chain, effectively builds muscle, and is ideal for all fitness levels. We asked a strength coach to break down how to do them right, the best variations to try, and how to program them into your workouts.
What is the RDL?
The Romanian deadlift (RDL) is a deadlift variation popularized by Romanian weightlifter Nicu Vlad in 1990. Unlike the conventional deadlift, the weight doesn’t touch the ground during sets, forcing your hamstrings and glutes to stay under load the entire time. Think of the RDL as the eldest sibling of the deadlift family—more controlled, more focused, and convinced it’s the best (and depending on your preferences, it might be right).
“The deadlift is great for increasing strength, but it is a more complex movement than an RDL,” explains Matt Pudvah, CSCS, Director of Health and Wellness at the North Shore YMCA in Boston. “The benefits of the Romanian deadlift are it's easier to do the RDL with good form, and it isolates the glutes and hamstrings much more than a conventional deadlift.”
How to do RDLs with proper form
The Romanian deadlift isn’t complicated to do, but without the correct RDL form, you risk disengaging the target muscles at best and getting injured at worst. Here are step-by-step instructions for how to do RDLs properly:
- Get the Right Equipment: These instructions are for the barbell RDL, the standard way to perform this exercise, however you can also perform this movement with dumbbells or kettlebells. You’ll need weight plates (we suggest bumper plates to protect your floor), a barbell or deadlift bar, and barbell clips to stop the plates from sliding off the barbell.
- Assume Your Stance: Stand in front of a loaded barbell with your shins pressed against the bar, knees slightly bent, and your feet set about hip-width apart. (You may prefer a slightly wider or narrower stance depending on your body type, and that’s fine.)
- Lock Into the Barbell: Push your butt back towards the wall behind you as you lower your torso toward the floor, trying to keep your chest and head up. Once your torso is nearly parallel to the floor and your hamstrings are tense, grab the barbell with both hands set outside your legs. Your thumbs should be touching the sides of your shins, though you can set them slightly wider if that’s more comfortable for you.
- Lift the Barbell Off the Floor: At this point, you’re already in a locked-and-loaded deadlift position. Squeeze your shoulder blades together so there’s no slack in your arms, brace your core, and then drive through your feet to pull the barbell off the ground. Drive your hips forward as the barbell travels up your legs until you're standing tall.
- Lower the Barbell to Shin-Level: Now it’s time to begin your set. Keep your shoulder blades squeezed together and engage your lats (coaches love to say “squeeze lemons under your armpits”). Once again lower your torso toward the floor while driving your hips back, as if you’re trying to close a door with your butt. Continue to lower the barbell until it reaches the middle of your shins. (You should feel tension in your hamstrings.)
- Return to the Starting Position: Pause in this hinged position for 1-2 seconds and then return to standing by pushing through your feet and driving your hips forward (careful not to over-extend and return to a neutral stance). If you want to keep more tension on your hamstrings, only come back up about 75 percent of full lockout before initiating the next repetition. Focus on pushing the backs of your knees backward, but *don’t* lockout your knees.
Form Tip: “If you don’t feel a stretch in your hamstrings until far past your knees, try adjusting your grip wider to shorten how far you need to travel before your muscles contract,” says Pudvah. “And remember to maintain a flat back with your shoulder blades pulled back.”
What muscles do RDLs work?
The Romanian deadlift primarily engages your posterior chain—that’s fitness jargon for the muscles on your backside—as well as your forearms (though you can use lifting straps to take your grip strength out of the equation and lift more weight.). Here’s a full list of the RDL muscles worked:
Primary Muscles
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Hamstrings: Located on the back of your leg, the hamstrings consist of three muscles (biceps femoris, semitendinosus, and semimembranosus. They work together to pull your lower leg toward your butt (known as flexion).
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Gluteus Maximus: This is the main muscle of your butt which that helps you stand upright and balance. The glutes also drive your hips forward, which is how they’re worked in the RDL.
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Erector Spinae: Running the length of your spine, the spinal erectors extend your spine and help keep it stable. They’re under near-constant tension during the RDL as you fight to maintain a neutral back throughout the entire set.
Secondary Muscles
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Latissimus Dorsi
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Trapezius
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Tensor Fasciae Latae
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Forearm muscles
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Core muscles
Other types of deadlifts
The deadlift is a masterclass in the hip hinge, a fundamental movement pattern you use daily. You do it when you pick up your kids, tie your shoes, or load the dishwasher. With that in mind, there isn’t a “best” deadlift, just the best one for you. Every deadlift variation hits your hamstrings, glutes, and back in its own way. If the standard version leaves you too tired for the rest of your workout, swap it for the barbell RDL. If your lower back isn’t loving that, try a dumbbell RDL or a “good morninggood morning” instead. Here are five suggestions from Pudvah:
Conventional Deadlift
This is the deadlift. Compared to the Romanian deadlift, it’s heavier, more compl, and each rep starts with your hips set lower. Pulling heavy weight from the floor to a standing position is one of the best ways to build raw strength and power. Deadlifting is tough. Sometimes, it downright sucks. But one thing’s guaranteed: You will get stronger.
How to Do It:
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Once you’re warmed up, load a barbell with weight plates and stand with the bar against your shins, knees slightly bent.
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Drive your hips back while leaning forward to enter the hip hinge position. Bend over far enough to grip the barbell with both of your hands. When you are learning, use an overhand grip.
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Sit your hips back and down so your chest is up, and your back is roughly at a 45-degree angle. You should simultaneously drive your knees outward and squeeze your shoulder blades together to create full-body tension.
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Once your body is tight and slack is pulled out of the blog, brace your core. (Here's how)
Pro Tip: For more advanced deadlift advice, checkout this interview with Strongman Rob Kearney.
Sumo Deadlift
The key difference between the conventional and sumo deadlift is your stance and hand positioning in reference to your legs. To pull sumo, set your feet wider and grab the barbell with your hands inside your legs. A wide stance places greater emphasis on your glute, hip, and quad muscles. Lifters sometimes have more success pulling a sumo stance as it shortens the distance the bar travels before their hips lock out. However, whether sumo or conventional feels better for you is a matter of anatomy (femur length, arm length, torso length, and hip mobility).
How to Do It:
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Push your hips back and drop your butt down between your legs. Reach down with your hands between your legs and against your inner thighs to grab the barbell.
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Get the body tight and brace. Act as if you’re pulling upward on the bar (without lifting it) to eliminate slack and create tension. From here, squeeze your shoulder blades together and push through your feet to begin pulling the barbell off the ground.
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Stand up with the barbell, driving your hips forward. Lower the bar back down with control.
B-Stance RDL
To do the B-stance RDL (aka the split-stance or 1.5 stance RDL), you’ll stagger one leg back, keeping most of your weight on the front foot. (Form tip: To get your footing right, take one foot toe-to-heel, then step hip distance apart.) It’ll feel a little awkward at first, but Pudvah says it’s a solid exercise to isolate one hamstring at a time, making it perfect for beginners learning to feel their hamstrings work or bodybuilders looking to home in on muscle activation. “Because both feet stay on the ground, you can load one leg heavier than you could with a single-leg RDL,” says Pudvah.
Keep your front leg bent throughout the set. Struggling with balance? Try pressing the heel of your back foot against a wall for more stability
How to Do It:
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Stand tall, feet set shoulder-width apart, with a dumbbell in your right hand. Stagger your right foot back until your toes are just behind the heel of your left foot. Lift the heel of your right foot slightly off the ground.
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Maintaining a slight bend in your left leg, simultaneously drive your hips back and lean your torso toward the floor. Stop when the dumbbell is just below your left knee.
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Pause for one second and then push your hips forward to return to the starting position.
Dumbbell RDL
The dumbbell RDL is the same as the barbell version—you’ll just swap the barbell for dumbbells (DBs). According to Pudvah, this variation is a solid option for anyone with limited equipment or those who feel the barbell RDL more in their lower back. Dumbbells let you tweak your hand position for better comfort and control.
“Letting your hands drift to the sides of your legs shifts your center of balance and loads the movement more vertically,” says Pudvah. “It also makes it easier to squeeze your shoulder blades together for proper form.”
How to Do It:
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Hold a DB in each hand. Your feet should be about shoulder-width apart, and your toes should be pointing slightly outward.
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Bend your knees slightly and lower the dumbbells toward the floor by bending your torso forward and pushing your butt backward. Stop when the dumbbells are just below your knees.
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Pause for one second, then return to the starting position, maintaining a neutral spine. Repeat all reps on that leg, then switch sides.
Dumbbell Good Morning
The good morning isn’t technically a deadlift but we’ll give it a pass. It’s still a hip hinge movement that, according to Pudvah, strengthens the same muscles as the RDL and bolsters lower back strength, which carries over to any deadlift.
Pudvah prefers using a dumbbell or kettlebell instead of a barbell to reduce unnecessary spinal compression. (You can also use a safety squat bar. That is, a specialty barbell that minimizes shoulder strain and helps you stay more upright.) Your good morning form should mirror an RDL: Keep your knees slightly bent, chest up, and push your hips back as you lower your torso toward the floor.
How to Do It:
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Assume a shoulder-width stance with your feet, holding a dumbbell horizontally in the crooks of your elbows.
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Without actually moving them, screw your feet into the floor until you feel your hamstrings and glutes engage.
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Hinge forward, driving your butt back toward the wall, and keep your chest up until your torso is about parallel to the ground. Stop once you feel tension in your hamstrings.
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Reverse the movement to return to the starting position.
RDL Workout: How to Train With RDLs
The RDL primarily targets your legs, so slot it into your lower-body workouts. Here’s how to program it, according to Pudvah:
Exercise Order
RDLs aren’t as draining as traditional deadlifts, but they still smoke your hamstrings and back. Pudvah recommends doing them early in your workout. Otherwise, you risk your form breaking down due to tired muscles. And that can lead to lackluster gains and potentially a tweaked muscle.
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If your leg day is hamstring-focused, start with RDLs.
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If you're leading with squats, do RDLs (or a variation like good mornings or B-stance RDLs) afterward.
Sets and Reps
A position paper outlining methods for muscle growth, says that trainees can achieve muscle gains across a wide spectrum of rep ranges. Pudvah suggests working up to 3-4 sets of 8-12, which is enough to keep your muscles under tension while lifting heavy enough weight to appropriately stress your muscle’s motor units. If you’re a beginner, start with two hard sets; add a third after a few weeks, and then a fourth a couple of weeks after that.
If you want to get stronger, traditional deadlifts are the better bet. Whether you do deadlifts or RDLs, stick to 3-6 sets of 4-7 reps with as much weight as you can handle.
Rest Time
Pudvah suggests resting 1.5 to 2 minutes between sets. Giving your muscles time to recover ensures you stay strong set to set. Otherwise, you’ll burn out out too early and leave gains on the table.
Takeaways
Let’s put a bow on this: If you want to look jacked, swap RDLs for traditional deadlifts, at least for a few training blocks.
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More tension equals more growth. RDLs keep your hamstrings, glutes, and back under tension longer.
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They’re less draining. RDLs have a better fatigue-to-stimulus ratio than the deadlift, meaning it doesn’t make you as tired relative to the amount of muscular
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RDLs are easier to master. The setup and execution of RDLs are simpler than a conventional deadlift.
To incorporate RDLs into your workout, be sure to:
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Train them early to avoid your form breaking down due to fatigue.
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Perform 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps. If you’re coming back from time off or are a new lifter, start with 2 hard sets.
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Rest for 1.5 to 2 minutes betweens sets.
FAQs
What’s the difference between a traditional deadlift and an RDL?
When performing RDLs, you don’t put the barbell down at any point during the set, which keeps maximum tension on the hamstrings, glutes, and lower back. Every rep of the traditional deadlift starts from the floor.
Are RDLs better than traditional deadlifts?
It depends on your goals. Romanian deadlifts elicit a better muscle-growth stimulus by placing your posterior chain muscles under tension for longer. Deadlifts, on the other hand, teach your body to produce maximal amounts of force to move as much weight as possible from the floor to standing. If you want to get bigger, do RDLs; if you want to get stronger, stick with traditional deadlifts.
Is the RDL a good exercise?
Yes, it’s a fantastic exercise. Compared with the traditional deadlift, the RDL keeps more tension on the target muscles, doesn’t require you to lift as much weight to engage your muscles, and can be done with a wide range of equipment (dumbbells, sandbags, kettlebells, barbells, and specialty barbells).
Andrew Gutman is a health and fitness journalist with bylines in Men’s Health, Gear Patrol, Men’s Journal, and Insider Health. He’s the former Training Editor of Muscle & Fitness and FLEX, and the former Editor-in-Chief of BarBend.com. When he’s not writing, he’s lifting, rolling on the mats (he’s a BJJ purple belt), or reading to his son.
This article was reviewed by Kali Ostara, CPT, for accuracy.
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