What's going on Hermanites? And welcome to my demonstration video
for the Romanian deadlift also known as an RDL
Now the reason why we're going to do this
exercise a lot of you guys are probably doing things like seated leg curls or prone leg curls
and what's so great about a Romanian deadlift is you're working on all your hip extensors
So your hamstrings and your glutes now just to give you a kind of a visual
when you're doing a leg curl all you're really doing is this so you just hit that hamstring
For this you're gonna actually go through a hip extension
So you're gonna be here you're gonna push forward then flex those glutes super hard
So you're working that entire motion hitting the glutes and the hamstrings
Another great thing about this exercise if you compare it to something like
a stiff legged deadlift is the probability of
Herniating the disks in your spine is a lot lower
Because you're not going to go into a spinal flexion which is basically when you're in this position
Which is where you would be when doing a stiff legged deadlift,
and as I said earlier because you're working your full hip extension
This exercise is really gonna help improve your lift and your powerlifting movements
such as your squats or your deadlifts
Because you are actually going through full hip extension
Now for this exercise are some key points I want you guys to keep in mind while doing it first things first
You wanna maintain a neutral spine
So you want to have your your head up and your chin somewhat tucked in you don't want to be like this
But you want to be nice and straight
I'm gonna stand sideways for you guys
you are gonna have some scapular retraction, so you're gonna bring those shoulder blades back
you don't want to bring up and back we're going down and back just like this okay, and
you also
Want to make sure that when you get down to your hips and your lower back
That you're gonna have an extension of the spine so you're not going to be
Like this you're gonna be like that okay and stick your butt out a little bit and as you move through the exercise
You're going to have a slight bend in your knees and you're going to push your butt back like this, okay?
So just like this, butts going back, knees are slightly bending
You're going to make sure your feet are about shoulder width apart and your hands are going to sit on the bar
now before we get started with the weight
I want to grab a PVC pipe
and
I recommend you guys do this as well if you don't have a PVC pipe
you can find something light or you don't even need to
hold anything in your hands. I'm just going to for demonstrational purposes
You want to make sure you're doing this exercise properly especially
if you start doing it with weight because you don't want to injure yourself
There's going to be a point while doing this exercise
That if you start to go, too low your back is going to start to go into flexion and you can risk hurting yourself
So you're gonna grab the bar just like this hold it outside of your feet all those key points
we just talked about and I want you guys just to practice
sticking your butt back and going down
bending your knees and you really want to feel that stretch through your hamstrings when you're doing this
Okay, so stick that buck back as far as you can now watch my back when I start to go too low
I'm still good here. I'm still good here when I get to about
here you notice I start to go into flexion so right about there my back starts to curve over
Okay, so that's what you don't want to do is the point for me to go down is about mid-shin
and
That's where I can stay my strongest and not risk
Flexion you also want to make sure like these shoulders
don't start to droop either cuz that's not good and what the drooping is
When you get down to here they start to fall, and when they start going to fall
It's like a domino effect, everything is going to crumble my back's going crumble
I'm gonna bend over, and then I start getting into that stiff legged deadlift position
Okay, so keep all those things in mind. We're now going to use some weight to do the exercise
One trick that I like to do when I do my Romanian deadlifts is I actually
like to dead lift the weight up into the starting position
If you have a wrap you can grab it off, that's great if you're coming off the floor
you don't have that opportunity available to you. You can go right into a deadlift
So I'm gonna set myself up
And I'm gonna dead lift the weight up make sure my shoulders are back
Make sure my head is in the right position and I'm gonna go into the RDL
Just like this
really stick that buck back
Feel that stretch in the hamstrings now
this is that point that they said where I'm about to go into a flexion and I don't want to
So I'm going to push right back up
push through the hips, flex my glutes and get a full hip extension
So I'll do one more
Sit back
It's like this oh yeah, I feel that
Full extension
That's how you do a Romanian Deadlift
Hope you guys enjoyed this demonstration video
Lots of great more stuff available for you guys on my website ScottHermanFitness.com and as always
More good stuff coming soon. See you guys