Romanian Deadlifts

The past few wotkouts I’ve used romanian deadlifts with a shrug. I have noticed that my hamstrings and calves have improved. However, I also noted that my lats have! Is the romanian deadlift a good lat-builder? I don’t use as much weight on RD as I do on regular deadlifts, about half as much. And I perform they very slowly.

Thanks,

While i dont have an answer to your question, i was hoping i could tag on another question. When i do RDL’s or SSDL’s my lowerback starts to hurt before my legs even start to feel it. am i using too much weight? is my back just too weak relative to my hamstrings to handle that exercise?

[quote]willfull wrote:
While i dont have an answer to your question, i was hoping i could tag on another question. When i do RDL’s or SSDL’s my lowerback starts to hurt before my legs even start to feel it. am i using too much weight? is my back just too weak relative to my hamstrings to handle that exercise?[/quote]

I used to have this problem too. My solution was simple: a change in technique, hence the RDL. I would focus on sticking my ass to the rear as far as possible on the decend, imagine trying to touch a wall behind you with your glutes, and keep the bar as close to my body as possible. I feel SLDL do actually target the lower back way more, so RDL’s should be the answer to your problem. Just keep the bar close to your body and stick your ass out so that you feel a “stretch” in the hamstrings.

RDL’s are a great posterior chain exercise, but just like regular deadlifts they can also increase lat size. The lats are the muscles that keep the bar close to the body during the movement (think shoulder extension). However, to properly hit the glutes with this movement you must keep a 20 degree bend in the knees. This will put tension on the IT Band and will give the glutes something to work off of. If this movement is done with straigt legs (knees locked)it will over work the hamstrings and lower back since both will have to make up for the glutes not doing there part.