Comments on: Romanian Deadlift vs. Stiff Legged Deadlift

By: marcelo paciorek

marcelo paciorek — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 16:27:45 +0000

Dear Lyle;
I learned a lot with this article. Understanding that the hamstrings will do the effort, is it normal to feel some discomfort in lower back after? Also, does the exercise require incremental weight or can be done with moderate weight for safety purposes? Than you.

By: Tyciol

Tyciol — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 18:08:38 +0000

Interesting description… ExRx also has a ‘stiff legged stiff backed’ deadlift. To me, that means if you round the lower back, we should call it a ‘stiff legged rounding back’ deadlift and used stiff-legged to describe both exercises collectively.

By: David

David — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 04:05:49 +0000

Great explanatins! Very helpful…especially with the pictures. Thank you very much for writing this article!

By: Matt

Matt — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 23:31:46 +0000

Awesome article! Thanks for the pictures, this cleared a lot of things up. Thanks!

By: Patrick Starr

Patrick Starr — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:32:32 +0000

Nice article. I agree wholeheartedly that the RDL is a safer execise of the two. My lumbar cannot handle SLDLs at all, but I love RDLs and do them regularly. I’m pretty flexible and sometimes use a snatch grip to get keep the plates off the floor. Also, I think it’s important to “feel” the movement in the hamstrings (as I do in bent leg Good Mornings). Making RDLs basically a hip tuck; keeping the majority of tension away from the torso/trunk.

By: Spacediver

Spacediver — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 05:14:52 +0000

aye this lift is the one I was taught when learning deadlifts, and it has resulted in incredible development of my posterior chain. I use it with a double bicycle grip so that acts as a bit of a safety bottleneck but have approached weights of 300 pounds with decent form using this grip.

for what it’s worth, i’m a skinny guy with long limbs and a shorter torso, so maybe this lift favours my biomechanics.

Also heard this called the keystone deadlift.

By: Johny23

Johny23 — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 12:27:21 +0000

First I gotta say that I love RDL’s! That’s a great exercise both for novice and advanced athletes. It also helps to achieve pretty impressive posterior chain development, which transfers to almost any movement in the weight room you do on your legs.

A little tip to have in mind regarding proper technique: ALWAYS end the rep with your glutes and NEVER witth your lower back. If you ended the rep with lower back this means that: a) your butt is toast and you should terminate the set immediately (and this tends to happen in the end of the set); or b) you wasn’t concentrating enough on your form and you should correct this on the next rep.

Hope this helps

By: Kevin (strongandfit.net)

Kevin (strongandfit.net) — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 05:13:37 +0000

I did this yesterday–hamstrings starting to feel sore today.

By: admin

admin — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 18:04:35 +0000

I may be showing my age a bit, the round backed style SLDL used to be a pretty popular movement. And even if it wasn’t recommended, I sure saw it a lot in commercial gyms. Still do from time to time.

By: AJ

AJ — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 17:57:51 +0000

While there are infinite variations, I’ve never seen the round backed version of the SLDL recommended. I’ve always considered locking the back in an arched position as a given for back safety and the principle difference in the continuum from SLDL to Deadlift being how much the knees bend, with the RDL hovering around the halfway point from SLDL to Deadlift.