# Barbell Romanian Deadlift: how to do it

- Main muscles: hamstrings, glutes
- Also works: lower back, forearms
- Equipment: barbell
- Level: intermediate
- 3D demo (side view): https://media.trainaq.com/exercises/barbell_romanian_deadlift/556d9d6f8b/side-m-720.mp4

## Steps

1. Stand tall with the bar on your thighs, hands just outside your legs.
2. Soften your knees and brace your stomach.
3. Push your hips back and slide the bar down your legs.
4. Stop at a strong hamstring stretch, around mid-shin.
5. 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.

## 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

| 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] |

## Sources

1. [ACE, Romanian Deadlift](https://www.acefitness.org/resources/everyone/exercise-library/317/romanian-deadlift/)
2. [ACE, The ACE Do it Better Series: The Romanian Deadlift (2025)](https://www.acefitness.org/continuing-education/certified/may-2025/8865/the-ace-do-it-better-series-the-romanian-deadlift/)
3. [NASM, Romanian Deadlift Barbell](https://www.nasm.org/resource-center/exercise-library/romanian-deadlift-barbell)
4. [Lee et al. 2018, J Exerc Sci Fit, conventional vs Romanian deadlift](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6323186/)
5. [ExRx, Romanian Deadlift](https://exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/RomanianDeadlift)

Source: https://trainaq.com/exercises/barbell-romanian-deadlift