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The RDL: A Primary Strength Exercise You've Been Underestimating

 

The Romanian Deadlift (RDL) often gets overlooked or dismissed as a mere accessory movement, but it deserves a much more prominent place in your training routine. Far from being just a hamstring isolation exercise, the RDL is a powerful, compound lift that targets the entire posterior chain—from hamstrings and glutes all the way up to the back. Here’s why you should start treating the RDL like a primary strength exercise, how to execute it correctly, and tips to maximize your gains safely and effectively.

 

Why the Romanian Deadlift Is More Than an Accessory

Many lifters view the RDL as a secondary movement or simply a hamstring exercise, but that’s a misconception. The leg curl is a hamstring exercise. If you truly want to isolate them, use a different exercise.  Personally I'm not ever going to use a compound lift to isolate a muscle. It’s just as much a strength exercise as a conventional deadlift, deficit deadlift, or sumo deadlift—just with a unique starting position.

 

The key difference? The RDL starts with the barbell at the top position, rather than on the ground. As you lower the weight, it never touches the floor, which creates a dynamic stretch-shortening cycle. This means the eccentric (lowering) phase transitions smoothly into the concentric (lifting) phase, making the RDL an excellent tool for developing strength and power.

 

I’ve always believed that you should RDL as much or more than your deadlift. This is true for me personally and for my best, most advanced lifters.  I believe it would be more common if others started viewing the RDL as I do and training it as hard as a traditional deadlift.

 

Proper Setup: Feet, Toes, and Knees Matter

One of the most common mistakes with the RDL is foot positioning. Many lifters stand with their feet too wide or toes pointed straight ahead, which limits hip engagement. To fully activate your hips—the strongest muscles involved in the hinge—you want your toes slightly turned out and your knees tracking in the same direction.

 

  • Toes out: This external rotation allows a stronger contraction of the glutes and hamstrings.

  • Knees tracking outward: Starting with your knees slightly externally rotated helps maintain tension in the hips throughout the movement.

 

Try this simple test: stand with toes pointed straight, squeeze your glutes as hard as you can, then turn your toes out slightly and squeeze again. You’ll notice the contraction is stronger with toes out. I want that hip activation so that is my RDL stance. I'm also opening my knees from the start, like I'm trying to tear the ground apart with my feet, a great cue for you to really increase hip involvement. When lowering into the RDL, allow your knees to open slightly, creating a diamond pattern that keeps tension in the hips and off the lower back.

 

Mastering the Hip Hinge and Pelvic Positioning

The most important element of the RDL is learning to hinge at the hips with an anterior pelvic tilt. Imagine your hips as a bowl of milk—you want to tilt the bowl forward, spilling the milk out in the front of your body. This forward tilt helps you engage the posterior chain without excessive spinal flexion or extension.


A common pitfall is posterior pelvic tilt (tucking the pelvis under), which can lead to rounding of the lower back and potential injury. Instead, focus on maintaining a neutral to slightly anterior pelvic tilt throughout the movement. This keeps the tension where it belongs—in the hips and hamstrings.

 

While some use a dowel along the spine as a training drill to maintain posture, an effective way to understand pelvic positioning is practicing the "cat-camel" movement in the quadruped (hands and knees) position:

 

  • Camel position: Rounding your back (posterior pelvic tilt) – avoid this during RDLs.

  • Cat position: Arching your back with chest up (anterior pelvic tilt) – this is closer to the ideal hip position for the RDL.

 

This drill is just an exaggeration of both so you can feel the difference between the two. You can also move the pelvis in these positions standing.  IMO this is more effective than the dowel drill.  I often see terrible hip positions but the athlete or client is bending the dowel to maintain contact which is not helpful.

 

How to Perform the Romanian Deadlift Correctly

  1. Start with the barbell at the top: Ideally unrack the bar from the top position.  Ideally from a rack.

  2. Feet shoulder-width apart with toes slightly out: Knees should track in the same direction.

  3. Initiate the hip hinge: Push your hips back with an anterior pelvic tilt, keeping the tension in the hips and hamstrings.

  4. Lower the barbell close to the ground: The bar should come as close as possible without touching the floor, maintaining tension throughout. This means the weights are literally within an inch from the ground.

  5. Reverse the movement: Drive hips forward to stand up, squeezing your glutes at the top.

 

It’s crucial not to cheat the movement by limiting the range of motion or changing the pattern just to "lift" more weight. The goal is to maintain constant tension on the posterior chain and perform the lift with the same integrity as your squat or bench press.

 

Advanced Tips and Training Strategies

The RDL can be trained like any other primary lift. This means incorporating low-rep max efforts, speed eccentrics, and multiple low rep sets to improve strength and technique. I'll give you two examples how to incorporate RDL's into your lower body sessions.  Let's assume you have 2 lower body sessions a week.

 

Day 1

Squat (any variation)- 8x3

RDL- 5x1

 

Day 2

Squat- 5x1

RDL- 8x3

 

Something as simple as this will allow you to train both total tonnage and max intensity for the RDL.

 

Adding speed eccentrics in your warm-up can help teach your muscles to switch on and off efficiently, enhancing force production during the lift. Don’t be afraid to explore these advanced techniques to maximize your RDL performance.

 

Conclusion: Make the Romanian Deadlift a Staple in Your Training

It’s time to stop viewing the Romanian Deadlift as just an accessory or a hamstring isolation exercise. The RDL is a powerful, compound strength movement that deserves to be trained with as much respect and intensity as your conventional deadlifts or squats. By optimizing your foot and knee position, mastering the hip hinge with an anterior pelvic tilt, and committing to full range of motion, you’ll unlock new levels of posterior chain strength and see rapid improvements in your lifts.

 

Start integrating the RDL into your routine today, train it with integrity, and watch your personal records soar. Chances are, you’ll wonder why you didn’t treat the RDL as a primary strength exercise years ago. Watch the video of this discussion HERE

 

All of my programs use the RDL in some form or fashion.  My most advanced strength and hypertrophy programs most definitely exploit the RDL in the manner explained in this article and my programs offer a deeper dive into coaching cues and other tips and tricks with the RDL.  Shop my programs below, hire me as your coach let’s get to work!


 
 
 

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