Barbell Romanian Deadlift

Get ready

1. Confirm that the rack is stable and set both hooks to the same height between your knees and hips, where you can lift the bar free with a small hip-and-knee extension without bending your back or shrugging.
2. If plates are added, load equal weight on both sides and install a locking collar outside the outermost plate on each side to prevent the plates from sliding.
3. Stand close to the bar with your feet about hip-width apart and grip it just outside your legs.
4. Brace your abdomen while breathing, extend your hips and knees to clear the hooks, and take one small step back.
5. Keep a slight bend in your knees and keep your shoulders away from your ears.

How to do it

1. Inhale and brace your abdomen, move your hips back and tip your upper body forward. Keep the bar close to your thighs and lower legs as you lower, with your back steady.
2. Stop at a clear but comfortable stretch behind the thighs, or before your back position changes. Exhale, press through your feet and tighten your glutes to stand, completing one repetition; do not hold your breath throughout the set.

Finish the movement

1. When finished, stand tall and walk forward until the bar lightly contacts both uprights. Keep it against both uprights and slowly bend your hips and knees until you feel both hooks support the bar and your hands no longer bear its weight; only then release your grip.

Rest

Rest about 60 seconds between sets, or about 120 seconds between sets of these exercises when the session includes both a deadlift and an unsupported bent-over row. Take longer if needed.

Make it easier

• Use the empty bar or a lighter load; lower only to around knee level; you may first practice without weight: keep knees slightly bent, move your hips back, then stand upright.

Make it harder

• Optional: Increase the load slightly only while the bar stays close, the spine remains steady, and, after the set, you are still confident you could complete at least 2 more repetitions with the same controlled form.
• Optional: Take about 3 seconds to lower.
• Optional: Pause briefly at your lowest stable position.

Common mistakes

• Turning the movement into a squat with excessive knee bend; letting the bar drift away from the legs; rounding the back; leaning backward at the top; jerking the bar off the hooks or letting it strike the hooks during reracking.

When to stop or adjust

• Inability to take or return the bar safely; sharp or worsening pain in the lower back, hips, or back of the thighs; grip or trunk position that can no longer control the bar.

Explore next

• Bodyweight Squat
• Goblet Squat (Dumbbell at Chest)
• Barbell Back Squat
• Glute Bridge