1. What is the Romanian Deadlift?
Simply put, the Romanian Deadlift is a deadlift that targets the hamstring muscles in the back of your legs.
As opposed to the regular deadlift which works the quadricep muscles in the front of your legs.
The Romanian Deadlift starts from a standing position with the weight in your hand standing in an upright position.
The regular deadlift begins with lifting the weight from the ground.
There are a variety of deadlift variations, and one of the most popular is the romanian deadlift.
No matter which type of deadlift you perform, the deadlift is going to build your ‘posterior chain'.
The posterior chain are the muscles of your lower and upper back.
A strong posterior chain can reduce the risk of lower back pain and injury.
Always do proper form deadlifts, whether regular, sumo, stiff legged or romanian deadlifts.
Otherwise, you can run the risk of injury from doing deadlifts.
So, never be in a rush to lift heavy.
Rather, be in a rush to go slow, gradually increase your deadlift weight.
Keep learning as much as possible about how to perform proper form deadlifts.
2. Romanian Deadlift vs Regular Deadlift Position
The romanian deadlift is the opposite of the regular deadlift.
In the regular deadlift, you pick the weight up off of the floor to a standing position.
In the romanian deadlift, you start in the standing position with the weight in your hands.
Keep your back flat, never round your back when doing any type of deadlift.
Then, lower the bar as far as you can go towards the floor and then stand back up maintaining the best posture possible.
This in a nutshell is the difference between the romanian deadlift and the regular deadlift.
3. Balance your Muscles
The romanian deadlift will work the muscles of the back of your legs more than the front muscles of your legs.
This balances out the muscle gains from doing squats for example, which targets the quadriceps more than the hamstrings.
This is the main value of the romanian deadlift, to keep your leg muscle development balanced.
4. Be Careful!
Like any deadlift or squat movement, they are not for the faint of heart.
Be careful!
Do I have to say it again?
Yes, be careful when doing any deadlifts or squats.
Especially, full body movements when using higher weight poundages.
You are not going to be in much danger if you do wrist curls or arm curls with light weights.
But the danger in deadlifts the same.
Both deadlifts require that you start out with light weights and use perfect form.
In the romanian deadlift or any other deadlift, keep your back tight, flat and slightly arched, shoulders back and chest out.
Use a strong grip, lift with a full breath of air, this will offer your back the best protection against back strain or injury.
5. See for Yourself!
This is a good video of what the romanian deadlift looks like.
The first 2 minutes of the video is mainly about the romanian deadlift and then he goes into the stiff legged deadlift.
Rich is a