Lower body · Hamstrings
Romanian deadlift
How to do the Romanian deadlift with a barbell or dumbbells, which muscles it works, how it differs from the conventional deadlift and the mistakes that load your back the most.
| Focus | Hamstrings · glutes, lower back (stabilizer), grip |
| Movement | Hip hinge |
| Equipment | Barbell |
| Suggested sets | 3 × 10 |
| Estimated time | ≈ 10 min |
| Joints loaded |
The Romanian deadlift is a hip hinge: the movement comes from pushing your hips back with your knees almost fixed, not from squatting down. It is one of the best exercises for the hamstrings, because it stretches them under load, and it is easier to learn than the deadlift from the floor.
Muscles worked
The hamstrings do most of the work: they lengthen on the way down and contract on the way up. The glutes help extend the hips and the spinal erectors work statically to keep your back straight.
How to do it
- Start standing with the bar in your hands, shoulder-width grip, feet hip-width apart.
- Unlock your knees slightly and keep them that way for the whole set.
- Push your hips back as if you wanted to close a door with your butt. The bar slides down along your thighs.
- Lower until you feel a strong stretch in the back of your thighs, usually when the bar passes the knee or reaches mid-shin. Your back stays straight.
- Come back up by driving your hips forward and squeezing your glutes.
Common mistakes
- Bending the knees too much, turning it into a squat. The knees barely move.
- Going deeper than your flexibility allows, rounding your back to reach the floor. A straight back sets the range, not the floor.
- Bar drifting away from the legs, which shifts the effort to the lower back.
- Looking up and cranking the neck. Keep your head in line with your back.
Variations and progression
With dumbbells it is easier to keep the weights close to your body. The single-leg version adds balance and glute medius work. Use 8 to 12 reps with a controlled 2–3 second lowering phase.
Precautions
It loads the hip, lower back and ankle (you stand with weight). If you have lower-back pain, the leg curl trains the same muscles without loading the spine.
Alternatives with less joint load
They train the same muscle group. Highlighted joints are also loaded by the exercise on this page.
- Leg curl (seated or lying) · Knee flexion
- Nordic hamstring curl · Knee flexion
Log your sets for this exercise and see your progress month by month.
Start for freeIf you have an injury, pain or a medical condition, check with a professional before doing this exercise.