How to do the Single-Leg RDL
Step by step
- Stand on one leg with a soft bend in that knee.
- Keep your hips square and your back flat.
- Hinge forward at the hip, reaching the free leg straight back behind you.
- Lower until you feel a stretch in the hamstring, keeping your back flat.
- Squeeze your glute to return to standing, then finish the set and switch legs.
The thing people get wrong
This is a hip hinge, not a squat - reach the back heel long and keep hips square instead of letting them open up.
Coaching cue
Fix your eyes on one spot of floor a few feet ahead to steady your balance.
Make it easier or harder
- Easier: Rest your fingertips on a wall or chair for balance.
- Harder: Pause for two seconds at the bottom of each rep.
Muscles worked
- Primary: Hamstrings, Glutes
- Secondary: Core, Hips
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.