What muscles does the Romanian deadlift work?

Mainly the hamstrings and glutes. The upper back, core and lower back work as secondary muscles to hold your spine in position.

What is the difference between a Romanian deadlift and a deadlift?

A deadlift starts from the floor with your knees well bent and uses your legs to push. A Romanian deadlift starts standing, keeps your knees nearly straight and lowers only as far as your hamstrings allow. It uses less weight and puts more of the work on your hamstrings.

Until you feel a strong hamstring stretch with a flat back, usually somewhere between just below the knee and mid-shin. Touching the floor is not the goal.

Should I feel it in my lower back?

Your lower back works to hold position, so some effort there is normal. If it is the main thing you feel, the bar is probably drifting away from your legs, or you are going lower than your hamstrings allow.

Barbell or dumbbells?

Both work. A barbell is easier to load heavily and track in small steps; dumbbells are easier to learn with and gentler if your grip or lower back is a limit.

Romanian Deadlift: Muscles Worked and Technique

How to do a Romanian deadlift

Lift the bar from a rack at hip height, or deadlift it up from the floor for the first rep. Stand with your feet about hip width apart and grip the bar just outside your thighs.
Stand tall with your shoulder blades set back and your knees unlocked: slightly bent, and they stay at that angle for the whole rep.
Breathe into your stomach and brace.
Push your hips straight back, as if closing a car door with your backside. Let your torso tip forward as a result, back flat.
Slide the bar down your thighs, keeping it in contact with your legs, until you feel a strong stretch in your hamstrings. For most people that is just below the knee to mid-shin.
Drive your hips forward to stand back up, squeezing your glutes at the top without leaning back.

Cues that help

"Hips back, not down": the RDL is a hinge, not a squat. If your knees bend more as you go down, it is turning into a deadlift.
"Close the car door with your hips": a picture of the backward hip push that starts every rep.
"Bar on your legs": keep it touching your thighs and shins the whole way. Away from your legs, it loads your lower back instead.
"Stop at the stretch": your range ends where your hamstrings stop lengthening, not where the plates touch the floor.

Common mistakes

Bending the knees further as you lower, turning it into a half deadlift. Set the knee bend at the top and keep it.
Rounding the back to reach lower. Going lower only counts if your hips are still moving back. Stop where your back would start to round.
Letting the bar drift away from your legs. The further out it hangs, the more your lower back works instead of your hamstrings.
Looking up at the ceiling. Keep your neck in line with your back, eyes on the floor a couple of metres ahead.
Rushing the lowering. The slow stretch on the way down is where much of the hamstring work happens; take about two seconds.

Why it is a hamstring favourite

The RDL loads your hamstrings while they are lengthened, which is what makes it so effective for the back of the thigh.

In a study of 12 weight-trained men lifting 85% of their one-rep max, hamstring muscle activity was highest in the RDL and the glute-ham raise, compared with the leg curl and the good morning (McAllister et al., 2014). In a 2025 training study, 32 young adults did either RDLs or Nordic hamstring curls twice a week for six weeks. Both groups lengthened the muscle fibres of the outer hamstring by a similar amount (about 9% on average) and grew their hamstrings by a similar amount (Crawford et al., 2025). The authors describe these as adaptations relevant to preventing hamstring injuries.

So the RDL is a practical way to train the hamstrings with a barbell, and an alternative for people who cannot do Nordic curls.

Sets, reps and weight

The RDL uses noticeably less weight than a regular deadlift, because your knees stay nearly straight and your legs push less. It suits moderate reps.

For strength and muscle: 3 to 4 sets of 6 to 10 reps, resting 2 to 3 minutes.
Leave 1 to 3 reps in reserve: your grip and back position should hold to the last rep.
Add weight when you reach the top of your rep range on every set, usually in steps of 2.5 to 5kg.
Use straps if your grip gives out before your hamstrings do.

Variations and alternatives

Dumbbell RDL: the same movement with a dumbbell in each hand. Easier to learn, and the dumbbells can travel down the sides of your legs.
Single-leg RDL: one leg at a time, holding a dumbbell. Much less weight and a balance challenge.
Stiff-legged deadlift: similar, but each rep starts from the floor with less knee bend.
Good morning: the bar on your back instead of in your hands. The same hinge with a longer lever.
Leg curl: trains the hamstrings at the knee instead of the hip. A good pair with the RDL.

Tracking your Romanian deadlift

PushBeyond logs each set's weight and reps, estimates your one-rep max from your best set with the Epley formula, and charts the history of the lift. Its muscle map counts the Romanian deadlift for your hamstrings and glutes, with upper back, core and lower back as secondary muscles.

Romanian deadlift: muscles worked and how to do it

At a glance