Barbell Romanian deadlift

What it is

Take a bar from a rack, or stand up with it from the floor, holding it at your thighs with an overhand grip about shoulder width. Knees softly bent.

Push your hips back and let the bar travel down the front of your legs, staying in contact with them. Go until you feel a strong stretch at the back of your thighs and your lower back is about to change shape. Drive your hips forward to stand.

The bar does not touch the floor. That is the difference from a deadlift: the tension stays on for the whole set.

What it demands

Hamstring length, which sets the depth — and under a heavy bar that limit arrives sooner and matters more.

Sustained work from the erector spinae group holding position while the hips move through a long range under load.

Grip, for the duration. Many people find their hands give out before their legs, which is the usual reason straps appear in this movement.

What usually goes wrong

Squatting it. Knees bend, hips drop, bar goes straight down. Same error as every hinge and just as easy under a bar.

The bar drifting away from the legs. It should graze them the whole way down.

Going past your range. Chasing the floor when your hamstrings have finished means the lower back is doing the last part. Depth here is set by anatomy, not ambition.

Overarching at the top. Standing tall is the finish, not leaning back.

Where it sits

The heaviest way to load hip extension through a long range, and the movement most responsible for developing the back of the legs.

It follows the dumbbell version directly — same movement, more available load, and less room for error. The deadlift starts from the floor with more knee bend and loads the whole body; this one keeps the emphasis on the hips and hamstrings throughout.