Try adding the dumbbell Romanian deadlift to your workout routine when you want to build your overall strength and scorch those hamstrings and glutes. All you need is a pair of dumbbells, and you’re good to go. With this move, you can refine your overall stability and recruit multiple muscle groups. You’ll also get better at performing other lifts and athletic activities as a result. Let’s go over how to do the dumbbell Romanian deadlift, the benefits, common mistakes to avoid, and the best variations to try.
What is a dumbbell Romanian deadlift?
The dumbbell Romanian deadlift or RDL is a variation of the traditional deadlift that targets and rehabilitates muscles along your posterior chain, including your legs, glutes, and lower back. It’s an excellent strength training compound exercise that engages your hip joints and promotes hypertrophy of multiple muscle groups. You can perform RDLs with one or two dumbbells, a barbell, one or two kettlebells, or bands.
What’s the difference between a deadlift and a Romanian deadlift?
Traditional deadlifts and the Romanian deadlift have similarities, but there are also a few main differences, including:
- With the traditional deadlift, the barbell rests on the floor, and you bend your knees and hips to grip the bar. You lift it up by extending your hips and knees until you’re in a standing position. With a Romanian deadlift, you begin standing with the dumbbells or the barbell in your hands. You hinge at the hips and push your hips back. With a slight bend in your knees, you lower the dumbbells down along your legs until you feel a sufficient stretch in your hamstrings.
- With a regular deadlift, there’s more quad engagement because you bend your knees more than with the Romanian deadlift. When performing RDLs, your knees are soft but not fully bent. Rather than bending your knees, you’ll use your hip hinge to power through the RDL.
- RDLs emphasize your glutes and hamstrings a little more than the deadlift. You’ll still fire up those muscles with the regular deadlift, but you’ll get more glute and hamstring activation with an RDL.
- The range of motion is greater with the deadlift because you lift the bar up from the ground until you’re fully upright. The RDL, on the other hand, has a shorter range of motion because you bring the bar down only until your hamstrings are fully stretched or just below your knees.
Is the Romanian deadlift better than the regular deadlift?
The Romanian deadlift isn’t any better than the traditional deadlift, and vice versa. They’re both effective exercises that generate results if you stay consistent and maintain proper form. Both build strength and endurance in your posterior chain. The deadlift is a full-body strength exercise often used in powerlifting competitions and events, and Romanian deadlifts are an excellent choice for targeting and strengthening your hamstrings and glutes.
What muscles are targeted during the dumbbell Romanian deadlift?
RDLs activate your posterior chain muscles running along the back of your body, such as your:
- Glutes
- Lower back and erector spinae
- Hamstrings in the back of your thighs
- Adductor muscles in your inner thighs
- Core
Your core muscles help stabilize your torso, and the adductors in your inner thighs help to stabilize your legs.
What are the benefits of the dumbbell Romanian deadlift?
Here are some of the benefits of performing dumbbell Romanian deadlifts:
- It’s a versatile exercise you can do at home without needing a gym membership. You just need two dumbbells.
- Enhance your lower body strength.
- Enhance your overall fitness and muscular endurance.
- It’s friendlier for your knees.
- Works your core and muscles in your posterior chain.
- Master your hip hinge and improve your ability to perform other moves that also utilize glute and hip function, such as squats and kettlebell swings.
- Incorporate RDL into your push-and-pull workout day.
- Strengthen your back muscles, which could help reduce back pain.
- Enhance your overall stability.
How to do the dumbbell Romanian deadlift
Here’s how to do the dumbbell Romanian deadlift:
- Start in a standing position with your feet about hip-width apart and your toes pointing straight ahead. Hold the dumbbells down in front of your thighs with a closed overhand grip. Your palms should be facing your thighs.
- Hinge at your hips, engage your core, and push your hips back.
- With a slight bend in your knees, start lowering the dumbbells down along your legs with control. Keep the dumbbells close to your body.
- Lower the dumbbells down until you feel a sufficient stretch in your hamstrings on the back of your thighs.
- Bring your hips forward and bring the dumbbells back up to return to the starting position.
- Repeat until you complete the set.
Common mistakes to avoid
Get the most out of RDLs by avoiding these common mistakes:
- Locking your knees.
- Not maintaining good posture.
- Not taking the dumbbells through the maximum range.
- Hunching or slouching your back.
- Focusing more on momentum rather than muscle engagement and control.
- Holding the dumbbells incorrectly.
Tips for proper form
These tips will help you maintain proper form to maximize your results:
- Maintain a neutral spine throughout the movement.
- Squeeze your shoulder blades.
- Focus on control rather than momentum.
- Start with a lighter weight and perfect your technique before incorporating progressive overload and using heavier weights.
- Make sure you’re using your hip hinge movement properly.
- Plant your feet firmly on the floor with your weight distributed evenly.
Variations
The following are the best dumbbell Romanian deadlift variations to level up your fitness:
- Single-leg Romanian deadlift — You’ll increase your balance and stability with the single-leg Romanian deadlift because you have to perform the move on one leg, which heightens the challenge.
- B stance Romanian deadlift — The B stance RDL involves a staggered stance where you’re shifting most of your weight to challenge just one leg.
