Hamstrings exercise
Barbell Romanian DeadliftHow to do it, with form in numbers
- Main muscles
- Hamstrings, Glutes
- Also works
- Lower back, Forearms
- Equipment
- Barbell
- Level
- Intermediate
How to do it
How do you do the Barbell Romanian Deadlift?
- Stand tall with the bar on your thighs, hands just outside your legs.
- Soften your knees and brace your stomach.
- Push your hips back and slide the bar down your legs.
- Stop at a strong hamstring stretch, around mid-shin.
- Drive your hips forward to stand tall.
Cues
- Keep the bar brushing your legs.
- Hips go back, not down.
- Flat back, eyes on the floor ahead.
Common mistakes
- Rounding your back to reach lower.
- Bending your knees so it turns into a squat.
- Leaning back at the top.
Form in detail
What does good form look like?
Starting position
Take the bar from a rack (or deadlift it from the floor) and stand tall. Feet hip-width apart (about 25 cm between heel centres), toes forward to 10° out. Overhand grip, hands about shoulder-width or a little wider, just outside the thighs, arms straight. The bar rests on the front of the thighs at about hip-crease level. Knees soft (10–15° flexion). Shoulders down and back, chest up, back flat, gaze ahead.
The movement
Push the hips straight back. The trunk tips forward as one rigid piece with a flat back. The knees keep almost the same small bend; the shins stay close to vertical. The bar slides down the front of the thighs and past the knees, in light contact with or within 2–3 cm of the legs. Arms hang straight down from the shoulders, so the bar travels in a near-vertical line over the middle of the foot. The neck stays in line with the spine: the gaze moves to the floor a metre or so ahead as the trunk tips. To return, press the heels into the floor, drive the hips forward and stand tall, keeping the bar close all the way up.
End position
The rep turns round when the hamstrings are taut and the back is still flat: bar just below the knee to mid-shin. ExRx's "back near horizontal" is the deep end of the range; most people stop before that.
Tempo
About 2 s down, a brief pause with no bounce, 1.5 s up, 0.5 s standing tall. (ACE and NASM ask for a slow, controlled lowering.)
Form in numbers
What are the angles and distances?
| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stance width (heel centres) | 25 cm (hip-width) | 20–35 cm | [2][5] |
| Grip width (between hands) | 50 cm (shoulder-width) | shoulder-width to 1.3× shoulder-width | [2][5] |
| Knee flexion at the start (soft knees) | 12° | 10–15° | [1][4] |
| Knee flexion at the bottom | 20° | 15–33° | [4] |
| Trunk angle from vertical at the bottom | 66° | 60–90° | [5] |
| Hip flexion at the bottom | 85° | 80–100° | [4] |
| Bar height at the bottom | mid-shin | knee height to mid-shin | [2][3] |
| Bar distance from the legs | 1 cm | 0–3 cm | [1][4] |
| Hip extension at the top | 0° | −5 to 0° (no lean back) | [1] |
| Head | neck neutral, gaze to the floor ahead | no craning up | [2] |
The targets our 3D demo was built to, from the references below. Bodies differ, so treat the ranges as a guide for your own build.
For coaches
Use this demo in your clients’ programs
The Barbell Romanian Deadlift is in Trainaq’s exercise library. Add it to a workout, and your client sees this demo in the free Trainaq app above the sets they log.
Sources
