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Exercises to Improve Your RDL

This is one of the toughest exercises to learn. You can even look like you're doing it right and still not have it completely down. It's all in the hips. Sometimes you just need some internal and external cuing to help you get there. Here are 3 exercises I learned and used from the performance world to teach hundreds of people how to master the RDL.


If your Romanian deadlift (RDL) feels off, the fix almost always starts at the hips. In this guide I’ll walk you through why the hinge breaks down, the key cues you need to feel, and three simple drills you can do between sets to finally lock in a powerful RDL pattern.

 

To watch the video version of this topic on YouTube CLICK HERE.

 

Why the hips are the hinge's linchpin

The RDL is a compound hip-hinge movement. Your goal is to use the hips and hamstrings together — not to isolate the hamstrings like you might do on a leg curl. If your hips don’t tilt and drive the movement, the low back will try to do the job and you’ll feel tension in the lumbar instead of the hamstrings.

 

Think about your pelvis as a bowl of milk: as you hinge, you want the milk to spill forward. That anterior pelvic tilt gives you access to the glutes and hamstrings and prevents lumbar rounding. Let's cover some basics first and then get into 3 exercises that will help you improve your pattern. I've also written an entire article that covers my mindset and how to train the RDL, specifically using low rep sets and rep maxes, CLICK HERE to read that. 

 
Foot position and why toes out helps

  • Start from the ground up: if your feet are wrong, everything else above may also be negatively affected.

  • Turn your toes out slightly — you’ll generally be able to feel your glutes contract better this way.

  • Don’t stand too wide. Use a stance you’d jump from (or slightly closer). That gives you leverage and length for the hinge.

 
Shin angle and knee tracking

You want a negative shin angle as you hinge — the knees move back, not forward. The bar should travel straight down, not around the front of your knees. As you descend, allow the knees to come apart a bit (creating a diamond shape with close feet and knees out) and then bring them back together through the top as you drive the hips forward.

 

A quick mobility cue

If you need help feeling the pelvic tilt, practice cat–camel on hands and knees. The "cat" position (big arch) approximates the anterior tilt you want to learn for the hinge.

 

When to do these drills

I'm going to show you 3 exercises and I know you would ask, when do I do these exercises? Use these exercises between your sets of RDLs. The actual RDL is where you’ll have the most learning — the drills give you immediate feedback during rest periods so you can apply the cue on the next work set. If you do five RDL sets, aim for 3–5 short drill reps between each set to reinforce the pattern.

 

Three drills to find the hinge

All three drills give slightly different feedback. Use them all if needed — one of them will usually deliver the “aha” moment. The first one you may have seen, the last 2 I don't think many people have seen. Personally I've never seen them on social media.

 
1) Dowel behind the back — 3 points of contact

This is common, it's also my least favorite, because they are often done incorrectly especially when done with a PVP pipe as people cheat. I see a lot of people simply bending the PVC pipe to keep the 3 points of contact. Don't do that. The key is honesty and feeling tension in the hamstrings and glutes, not the low back.

  • Grip the dowel and place it behind your back so it touches three points: the back of your head, the mid-shoulders, and glutes.

  • Keep those three contact points the entire time as you hinge. If you lose contact at any point, you likely still need to improve your anterior pelvic tilt of the hips.

  • Place the hand in the small of your back so the dowel rests correctly — not at the glutes. 

  • Push the hips back, tilt the pelvis so the “milk spills forward,” reach until you feel strong hamstring tension, then stand up and squeeze the glutes hard at the top.

  • Common mistake: pulling the dowel to keep contact. Don’t. Maintain the three points with a true hip hinge.

 

2) Dowel reach to a wall — a performance-world secret

I picked this one up from my time in the performance world and it’s a great drill for forcing a negative shin angle and a true anterior tilt of the hips.

  • Stand with something reachable behind you (a wall works). Hold the dowel in front of you and reach away from the wall while pushing your hips back.

  • The challenge is to reach as far back as possible while keeping the hips moving posteriorly — you’ll have to anteriorly tilt the pelvis to get there.

  • Pretend there’s a band around your waist pulling you back. Push against it and then drive the hips forward to stand.

  • Squeeze the glutes at the top — and remember: no soft glutes at the top, or as I like to say no mashed potatoes. Finish the movement with full hip contraction.


 
3) Foam-roller thigh roll — a simple, powerful cue

You only need a foam roller for this one. It gives a great kinesthetic feel for how far your hips can shift back while maintaining tension through the posterior chain.

  • Take your RDL stance, place the foam roller on your thighs, and hold it with your forearms.

  • Slowly roll the foam roller down your thighs as you hinge, then stand back up. Try to reach your toes on the descent — you may not get there at first, but reach as far as you can.

  • Again, imagine a band pulling you back around the hips. Stretch back into that tension and then contract fully at the top. No mashed potatoes.


 

Putting the pieces together

Use the drills between sets, then immediately apply the cues on your working RDL sets. Focus on:

  • Hips back first, pelvis tilting (spill the milk forward).

  • Negative shin angle — knees move back, bar travels straight down.

  • Toes slightly out, stance about where you’d jump from, not overly wide.

  • Allow knees to open slightly on the descent and bring them together at the top.

  • Squeeze the glutes hard at the top — don’t finish with soft mashed potatoes glutes.

 

If one drill doesn’t click, it's likely the others will. Between these three you should get the feedback you need. Be patient — motor patterns change with repetition and focused cues.

 

Final notes

Practice these between your RDL sets and you'll start to feel the difference in how the hamstrings and glutes take the load instead of the low back. If you want to see these drills in action, look up "Exercises to Improve your RDL Pattern" on the Official Strength Debates YouTube channel. Try them, and let me know how it goes.

 

I use the RDL on most if not all my programs as well as my custom programming. To me the RDL is a staple for everyone from an elite powerlifter, an amateur or professional athlete all the way to the fitness and wellness community.  A strong RDL means a strong posterior chain, a strong back and strong hamstrings. To me strong is healthy. If you are in need of a training program, shop my programs below and start a free 10 trial or complete a custom programming questionnaire and let's start training! Another option I offer is you can schedule a free call with me and we can talk through your goals and needs and I will gladly help you decide which program may be best for you. 



 
 
 

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