If I had a dollar for every time one of my athletes asked me about Romanian deadlift benefits, I would be deeply in debt. The Romanian deadlift, or RDL, is one of the best lower body muscular strength exercises you can do. In fact, research confirms that it’s even more effective in building your glutes than the barbell hip thrust. In this article I’m going to review important research on the RDL. I will also provide some great tips on using this exercise for maximum effect. Keep reading for more.
If you read my previous article on the 7 Best Lower Body Exercises for Strength and Mass, then you will recall that the Romanian deadlift made the list. It did so because researchers determined that it is one of the best exercises to build strength and power in the hip extensors, or gluteus muscles.
Most athletes don’t really understand this. Most commonly I see them using it as a sort of lower back exercise, done with low to moderate weights. While you can use light weights, to work on power production, it isn’t the only thing you should be doing with the RDL. Check out this quick review of the key Romanian deadlift benefits.
5 Romanian Deadlift Benefits: Overview
- RDLs are a compound exercise that targets more muscle mass than barbell hip thrusts
- Romanian deadlifts are ideal for olympic lifters due to similar bar paths
- RDLs are less taxing than traditional deadlift variations
- Can be used as an excellent lower body mass builder
- Romanian deadlifts are easy to teach for new athletes
In the next section of this article we’ll quickly review the research on this excellent exercise. After that I’ll review how to preform it with proper form, which reduces risk of injury. Lastly, I’ll recommend some programs that can help you build lower body strength gains and muscle mass. Don’t forget to join the email list below.
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Romanian Deadlift Research Overview
As we alluded to earlier, there is some great research on Romanian deadlift benefits. The problem with this is that often times it can be difficult to interpret these studies correctly. After all, what does it really mean that one exercise produces more net joint torque compared to another?
In this section, I’m going to simplify several research studies so we can see exactly why we should be doing RDLs. As you’ll see, it certainly is a great alternative exercise for the right purpose. If done incorrectly, it can be counter productive.
Romanian Deadlift Muscle Activation Research
In this research article entitled, “Comparison Between Back Squat, Romanian Deadlift, and Barbell Hip Thrust for Leg and Hip Muscle Activities During Hip Extension.” The researchers compared three popular leg exercises, and measured how much electrical activity each one produced during hip extension.
Hip extension is simply the activity of moving from the bottom of a squatting position to an upright standing position. To do this your body uses many muscles. The primary muscle groups that extend the hips are the gluteus and quads, with some assistance from the hamstrings. Check out this quote from the researchers.
Before each exercise, surface electromyography (EMG) was recorded during a maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) and then used to normalize to each muscle’s EMG during each trial. Barbell hip thrust showed higher GM activity than the SQ (effect size [ES] = 1.39, p = 0.038) but was not significantly different from RDL (ES = 0.49, p = 0.285) at 1RM. Vastus lateralis activity at 1RM during the SQ was significantly greater than RDL (ES = 1.36, p = 0.002) and BHT (ES = 2.27, p = 0.009). Gluteus maximus activity was higher during MVIC when compared with the 60 kg load for the SQ (ES = 1.29, p = 0.002) and RDL (ES = 1.16, p = 0.006) but was similar for the BHT (ES = 0.22, p = 0.523). There were no significant differences in GM (ES = 0.35, p = 0.215) and BF activities (ES = 0.16, p = 0.791) between 1RM and MVIC for the SQ. These findings show that the RDL was equally as effective as the BHT for isolating the hip extensors, while the SQ simultaneously activated the hip and knee extensors.
Comparison Between Back Squat, Romanian Deadlift, and Barbell Hip Thrust for Leg and Hip Muscle Activities During Hip Extension
I’ve placed the key sentence in bold. These researchers found that the RDL is as effective as the barbell hip thrust, for isolating the butt. Someone go tell all the Instagram butt model chicks that they’ve been doing the wrong exercises!
All kidding aside, I think this make the RDL superior than the hip thrust, for most athletes. The RDL works the hamstrings, low back, as well as the glutes. If you need to isolate the glutes, then go crazy with some hip thrusts.
If you want to work more lower body muscle mass, then the RDL is a better choice. In the next section we’ll compare the RDL to the conventional deadlift. If you want to build some serious muscle mass and conditioning, then check this program out.
Romanian Deadlifts vs. Conventional Deadlift
I bet you’re expecting me to cite some obscure research study, saying that RDLs are better than regular deadlifts, with heavy weights. Well I’m not, because they aren’t. In this research study entitled, “An electromyographic and kinetic comparison of conventional and Romanian deadlifts,” scientists discovered that, compared to a regular deadlift, the RDL uses less mass and produces less torque. That settles it right? Not so fast.
Its common sense that the conventional deadlift uses more muscle mass than the RDL. It has a longer range of motion, and allows for heavier loading than the RDL. This doesn’t mean that the RDL is worthless. It means that it isn’t a direct replacement for deadlifting, in most cases.
If you’re a power athlete, and you’re trying to build maximum strength then you’ll have to do some deadlifting. I tend to prefer the Hex bar deadlift for a variety of reasons you can read about here. But the point is the same. You need to use the maximum muscle mass, over a full range of motion, to receive the most benefit in strength training.
You should think of the RDL as an assistance exercise for squatting and deadlifting. It really targets the glutes, and taxes the hamstrings as well as the spinal erectors (erector spinae muscles). It’s also much easier to recover from, compared to heavy deadlifts. You can knock out 3×10 RDLs without much difficulty. Good luck doing that on a regular deadlift, without crying.
Now that we’ve reviewed the literature on the Romanian deadlift, let’s take a look at just how we should perform this exercise for best effect.
How to Perform the Romanian Deadlift
The RDL is most commonly performed from the rack. I also like to take the weight off safety spotter arms as well. It’s done in a top down fashion, where the starting position is standing tall with the weight. The athlete then starts the hip hinge by sending their butt backwards, as they lower the weight on the front of the thighs.
Just like the stiff-leg deadlift, you want to maintain a slight bend in the knee, and really feel the hamstrings and butt work, during the lowering phase of the lift. Make every effort to keep your upper back and lumbar spine in the same position throughout.
You then continue to lower the weight to right under knee level. At that point you should reverse the weight back up as quickly as possible. I often times cue my athletes by saying push your hips through the bar. You need to focus on taking advantage of the stretch reflex in your hamstrings / glutes by really reversing that weight quickly. Check out this video for some more great exercise tips on performing the RDL.
For the vast majority of my programming I tend to discourage the use of straps to assist your grip. If you constantly rely on them, you’ll never build grip strength. However, I think this exercise is an exception.
I tend to program sets of 6-12, or even more. This can be challenging on your grip, and you’ll find that you can move a lot more weight, with good form, when using straps.
It’s also important to note that you can do RDLs ballistically with light weight, or you can really hammer the eccentric, with very heavy loads, or anything in between. As always, if you want to build muscle mass, work in the 8+ rep range.
If you want develop lower body strength, then you need to stay around 4-6 reps. I don’t think there’s much of a benefit to doing really heavy sets of 3 or lower. In my opinion, that’s too much weight to be of use.
Remember this is an assistance exercise for your other primary lifts. No one’s giving out trophies for awesome RDLs! Now let’s talk about a few of my programs that incorporate this lift, as well as many other lifts. However, if you want an extremely effective hybrid program then check this out. Fair warning it isn’t easy.
Fitness Programs to Build Strength and Mass
If you’ve read anything on this website then you’ll know that I have quite a lot of fitness programs, most of which are completely free. I’ve got programs to build pure strength, bodybuilding programs, hybrid programs that build muscle mass and conditioning, plus much more.
I recommend checking out a few of these programs, to see which ones are the best fit for your individual needs. Listed below are some of my most popular programs. If you like these types of programs, but want detailed notes like percentages, warm ups, and other advice I cover with my private athletes, then check out my premium programs here.
Programs to Build Muscle Mass
- The 8 Week Functional Bodybuilding Hybrid Program
- 7 Week Competition Program for Functional Fitness Athletes
- 6 Weeks of Muscular Growth for Functional Fitness Athletes Program
- The 11 Week High Intensity Bodybuilding Program
Programs to Build Strength
- 9 Week Functional Strength Program (Part 1)
- 9 Week Advanced Strength Program for Functional Fitness
- 7 Week Free Strength Training Program
Hybrid Programs: Strength, Muscle Mass, and Conditioning
- 8 Week Hybrid Strength and Endurance Training Plan (Part 1)
- 15 Week Lift Heavy Run Fast Program for Functional Fitness
- 10 Week Functional Powerbuilding Program
- 9 Week Sprint Program for Running
Using absolutely no math skills, I estimate that if you did all of these programs, you’d be covered for the next several years. This isn’t even a full list of all my programs. I bet that you can find something that will have you setting new PRs in no time. Now, let’s finish this article on Romanian deadlift benefits.
Final Thoughts
The Romanian deadlift is a great assistance exercise. There are a lot of Romanian deadlift benefits. They really hammer you butt, hamstrings, and low back muscles. This makes them an excellent addition to anyone who needs low back strength, and leg power. It can also be done as a single leg Romanian deadlift variation.
RDLs are a great exercise for newer athletes. It’s much easier to teach a novice this exercise than it is to have them jump straight into deadlifting. I find that they have an easier time keeping a neutral spine. Ultimately this places less stress on their undeveloped posterior chain muscles .
Moreover, you don’t have to limit your RDLs to barbells only. There are several Romanian deadlift variations that use dumbbells. You can do single-leg RDLs holding one dumbbell or, if you want to use heavier weights, you’ll find that double dumbbell RDLs, and hex bar RDLs are a great option as well.
If you haven’t been doing RDL’s in your program consider adding them in. I think you’ll find that your posterior chain strength increases, as does your Instagram following, with the right filters of course. Now get out there and get training!
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Excellent review. I love the RDL so it’s good to know it has a place in the program. It’s also helpful to think of it as assistance for Olympic lifting.
Thanks.