if anyone knows what romanian deadlifts are and how to do them please let me know. i’ve heard dave tate mention them for a supplemental exercise but can’t find out how to do them.
It’s basicaly a SLDL in which you slightly bend your back. I always do them it feels a lot more natural than the SLDL does.
The Romanian Deadlift (RDL) is another name for the stiff-legged deadlift. Check out Ian King’s ‘Limping’ series articles for pictures and a description of proper technique.
No offence guys, but you’re both out to lunch on this one. Deadlifting is the most misunderstood lift around.
A Traditional Deadlift (like Ian King prescribes) is performed with a bottom position consisting of your upper body at a 45 degree angle to the floor and your femurs at parallel to the floor.
A Romanian Deadlift is performed with a bottom position consisting of your upper body being parellel to the floor and your femurs at a 45 degree angle to the floor.
Check out this link for the best picture you’ll see to explain the body alignment in a Romanian. Thanks to Kelly Bagget for introducing me to the site. Don’t forget to delete the space in the URL.
http://www.olympus.net/ personal/cablebar/RL.htm
RDL is a partial range deadlift. From the top position, arch your back and begin your descent. Bend your knees, but don’t lose your arch. Keep your shins as vertical as possible. Keep going until you can’t maintain your arch and come back up. Form is more important than weight.
It is neither of the earlier descriptions. The form I have provided is the way Olympic lifters have done it for decades
just like a normal deadlift, just dont bend your knees. do all the lifting with your back
WOW! Could these replies be any more incorrect! Where do you guys get this stuff? T-Men, help me out here! Not that my post is the gospel, but give me a break. Cancel that subscription to Muscle and Fiction.
I’m with Big Rob on this one, the other guys are thinking of somthing else.
Actualy, i was almost sure i read that in t-mag. But someone might have confused things up. Is it my impression or most people here think the RDL is something like we just said?
I would like clarification on this.
Is this Darren Stoddart from Nova Scotia?
whereas a SLDL involves bending at the waist (considerable spinal flexion), a RDL involves pushing the butt back and never losing the arch…
I’m with bigRob on this one, and so is my coach. He has been prescribing(sp?) RDLs for as long as I have been in this football program and we preform them in the exact manner he described.
Thanks for the clarification and the link. I was always told that the RDL was just another name for the stiff-legged DL. Learn something new everyday. Thanks.
Rob: I’ve always been confused with the arguments on “Traditional” vs. “Romanian”…
Is there any advantage of one over the other? Or are they just simply differences in style?
The RDL is an olympic style deadlift. Whats really important is that the shins stay vertical and the back doesn’t round. It’s designed to prepare and train one for the pulling style used in the O-lifts…not supposed to be a bodybuilding movement although it will work for that as well. Check out the link to the pic that was posted.
restless, there’s no doubt numerous premutations of the Romanian Deadlift around, but the original exercise is as I stated above. Check out the link in my previous post. Then do a search here on T-Mag for King Deadlifts (Traditional Deadlifts) and the differences will be more clear.
Generally, you don’t want to allow spinal flexion in a DL as it puts a lot of sheer and tensile force on the tissues and structures of your spine. The erector spinae is engaged (isometrcially) in order to protect the spinal column. The Transverse Abdominus is also engaged to help support your lumbar spine and stabilize your pelvis.
So bending your back isn’t the best idea. There’s a time and a place for everything, but for a beginner DL’er, bending the back could be exposing them to injury.
Remember the DL is an exercise in hip extension. When you bend your back, you may limit your hip extension and take the load away from your hamstrings, which is what I assume the poster wanted to work by doing Romanians.
Put a little time in and do some research. It’s one of the most important lifts, know it inside and out.
Mufasa, remember the post from back in the summer? “We all Deadlift, if you don’t Mufasa will show you the door.”
Kelly summed up the history behind Romanian style DL’ing. If you observe the lift from a more biomechanical view, there is far more pressure exerted on the spine and a far greater demand is placed on the erector spinae in the Romanian due to the acute hip angle in comparison to the Traditional Deadlift.
Also, if you compare the two lifts, there is a much larger range of motion in the hip in the Romanian when compared to the Traditional DL and less knee flexion suggesting that Romanians involve the Hamstrings to a larger degree. I’ve found this in personal experience.
The differences in the weight lifted between the two lifts is not something I’m sure of as I’ve only done maximal loading with Romanians. It seems dependent on where you’re strong. Stronger Hamstrings=Stronger Romanians and Stronger Quads=Stronger Traditionals if you apply the above theory. This seems to hold true with me.
Its such an interesting lift with all the variations. It’s like an article in the making. It’s my personal belief that in order to be able to Squat and/or Olympic Lift properly you have to learn to Deadlift first. Recruiting your hip extensors and pivoting from the hip joint is one of the most troublesome skills for Joe Lifter to learn. Basically, it all starts from the Deadlift (IMHO).
Kelly,
In your experience, the Romanian would be the DL style of choice to initiate the Power Clean and/or Power Snatch? I’ve actually seen the Traditional style being used as the style of choice by a Strength Coach here in Toronto.
His theory was that, and I’m paraphrasing, in a Power Clean, all the explosive power would come from the hips and minimal, ideally no, involvement of the traps, delts and external rotators. He would use this from the angle of speed training to maximize explosive leg power. The catch would be just that, a catch, with hardly any upright row.
This is interesting considering I’ve been told that Baechle and other reference texts recommend the Romanian style and more of a “shrug/row” in that version of the power clean. Obviously, its all goal specific, but have you heard of the Power clean used in that manner?
Ok, i stand corrected on this one.
My question now is, is there such a thing as a SLDL were you round your back? I saw one of King’s articles in which the good morning was performed like this, but what about the SLDL?
I’m confused…
Hey Big Rob. All I can really say is the romanian deadlift really helped me learn the proper technique for the o-lifts. I didnt have a coach around when I was learning them so I had to do the best I could. My problem using a conventional deadlift style of pull (which is more or less what I originally started doing) was either hitting my knees with the bar or letting the bar get too far out in front. I found the RDL’s emphasis on vertical shins really helped me get the correct feel for the pull.