Welcome back to another Training Tip Tuesday! Today we are giving you a juicy tip for the Romanian Deadlift exercise.
The Romanian Deadlift exercise puts more stress on the glutes and hamstrings than a traditional deadlift. And that’s great for dancers, because we need strong glutes and hamstrings for jumps, turns, and extensions.
However, more stress on those muscles means we’ll want to conserve every bit of our energy for the lift. The magic of the Romanian Deadlift exercise is that it starts from the top of the deadlift, focusing on the eccentric lowering of the weight. This allows for less knee bend and puts the focus on those glutes and hammies!
Our tip for crushing Romanian Deadlift exercises?
Start the exercise from a rack instead of the ground.
As I said earlier, the RDL focuses on the top of the deadlift. So, setting up your RDL on the rack allows you to go directly into the starting position of the movement instead of wasting energy getting the bar off the ground.
This can alleviate low back stress while allowing you to use heavier weights because they are consistently in the intended range of motion.
So, instead of setting up on the ground, place the bar at shin height and load your weight.
Bonus?
Setting the rack at shin height also allows for easier addition and removal of weights.
From here, grab the bar and lift into the starting position.
Obviously, if you’re training for conventional deadlifts, start from the floor to develop the full range of motion. But for RDLs, this is one of my favorite setup tips.
Think you’ll try this Romanian Deadlift exercise tip? Let us know! Tag us in a form video @dancerswholift on Instagram!
Want a visual of this setup? Here’s a clip of Coach Amber walking you through it!
Can’t wait for next week for another training tip? Check out these favorites for your next session:
Training Tip Tuesday: Weighted Crunches, Time Management Skills For Busy Dancers, Training Tip Tuesday: Dead Bug Iso Holds
