How to do the Barbell Romanian Deadlift
Step by step
- Stand tall holding the bar at your thighs, feet hip-width apart, knees softly bent.
- Push your hips straight back and let the bar slide down the front of your legs.
- Keep your back flat and the bar close as your hamstrings begin to stretch and load.
- Stop when you feel a strong hamstring stretch, around knee height.
- Drive your hips forward to stand back up tall and squeeze your glutes.
The thing people get wrong
This is a hip hinge, not a squat - your knees stay softly bent and fixed while your hips move back. Lead with the hips, not by bending the knees.
Coaching cue
Keep the bar brushing your legs the entire way down.
Stay safe
Stop lowering the moment your back starts to round, even if the bar is still above your knees.
Make it easier or harder
- Easier: Lower only to just above the knee until the hinge feels solid.
- Harder: Take three seconds to lower each rep.
Muscles worked
- Primary: Hamstrings, Glutes
- Secondary: Core, Upper Back, Forearms
What to do instead
Same job, different movement — useful if you don't have the equipment or it doesn't feel right today.
Daily Coach builds this into a real weekly plan. It picks the exercises for your equipment and experience, swaps around injuries you tell it about, and tracks what you actually lifted.