single leg Romanian deadlift

The Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift is a powerful Deadlift variation that engages the entire posterior chain, with particular emphasis on your glutes and hamstrings. Time under tension is extended with this exercise, because unlike the conventional deadlift, you never put the bar down. This incredibly powerful compound movement offers numerous benefits and is a valuable addition to any glute focused workout plan.

Here we will delve into the world of the Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift, covering the specific muscles it activates, proper technique, benefits, common mistakes to avoid, recommendations for reps and sets, strategies for incorporating it into your workouts, and finally exercises that target similar muscle groups.

Muscles Worked When Performing the Single Leg Romanian Deadlift

Glutes: The primary muscle activated during the Single Leg Romanian Deadlift is the gluteus maximus, the largest muscle in the human body.

Hamstrings: This exercise also places significant emphasis on the hamstrings from start to finish.

Erector Spinae: The erector spinae muscles, located along the spine, are engaged to support and stabilise the back during this exercise.

Adductors: These inner thigh muscles assist from a secondary perspective in helping you to maintain balance and stability as you perform your Single Leg Romanian Deadlifts.

Core Muscles: Standing on one leg alone will engage your core muscles, throw in a Romanian Deadlift and you have an excellent core workout.

Traps: Your traps are engaged from a secondary perspective as you grip the weight and take it with you throughout this exercise.

You can use the muscle highlighted image at the top of this page for a visual guide of the muscles worked.

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How to Perform the Single Leg Romanian Deadlift

1. Start Position: Begin with your chosen weight (kettlebell, dumbbell, barbell, etc.) in front of you and stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, maintaining a slight bend in your knees.

2. Balance: Lift one leg off the ground, engaging your core for balance and stability. Keep your back neutral, bum out and your chest high. Lift one leg off the ground and brace your weight-bearing knee in a fixed position.

3. Hip Hinge: Hinge at the hips while maintaining a straight back, let your lifted leg extend out behind you. Lower your torso forward until it is parallel to the ground. The weight in your hands should move straight down towards the floor with you. Remember, you’re not lifting this weight with your hands, you’re just taking it with you as you hinge at your hips.

4. Pause and Return: Pause for a moment at the bottom of the movement, ensuring you feel a stretch in the hamstrings. Then, return to the start position in one smooth, clean and controlled movement.

5. Go for reps.

Other Weight Types You Can Use to Perform This Exercise

This exercise can be performed with a barbell, dumbbell, kettlebell, a medicine ball, a sandbag, or any other weight source you have available to you that can be gripped firmly in your hands throughout this exercise.

Benefits of the Single Leg Romanian Deadlift

Glute Development: This exercise is exceptional for strengthening and shaping the glutes, even more so when you take heavier weights along with you. This will help you achieve a firmer and more defined rear.

Beyond Aesthetics: It’s not just about aesthetics, your glutes are the biggest muscle in your body and they play a crucial role in keeping you upright. Stronger glutes will make everything easier, both in the gym and in your everyday life.

Hamstring Strength: Because this exercise places a significant load on the hamstrings, it contributes to better hamstring development and overall balance.

Posterior Chain Engagement: The entire posterior chain, including the lower back, is engaged, promoting overall strength, stability and posture.

Balance & Core Strength: The Single Leg Romanian Deadlift helps you to develop overall balance and core strength.

Single Leg Romanian Deadlift: Common Mistakes to Avoid

Poor Posture: Correct posture is vital to perform this exercise effectively and prevent injury. As always, keep your bum out and chest high throughout. Avoid rounding your back and ensure that your spine remains neutral throughout the exercise.

Proper Form Before Weight: While this is a powerful move when loaded, avoid rushing to add heavy weights. Focus on mastering your form without added resistance. Correct execution is more important than lifting heavy.

Swinging/Falling/Wobbling: The foot that you have planted on the floor should be fixed and strong, your balance should be fully stable. If you are toppling over or wobbling at all during this exercise, don’t do it. Instead, start with a regular Romanian Deadlift.

Reps and Sets

The number of reps and sets you perform depends on your current strength with this exercise.

Beginners: Start with simply mastering the move. Keep in mind that if you’re just starting out, 3 reps is a valid set.

To determine how many reps/sets of the Single Leg Romanian Deadlift you should start with, you first need to figure out how many reps you can comfortably perform. Then add 2, and perform that number of reps for 3 sets.

For example; let’s say you can perform 4 reps comfortably. Add 2 to make 6 reps. Perform those 6 reps 3 times over, allowing yourself sufficient rest inbetween.

Experienced lifters: You know your body and its abilities better than anyone, use your own judgment.

We recommend that you avoid performing more than 12 reps per set. If you’re comfortably performing 12 reps for up to 6 sets, it’s time to make the exercise more challenging.

How to Make Single Leg Romanian Deadlifts More Challenging

This is a pretty challenging exercise as it is, especially if you’re adding weight, but there are some things you can do to make the Single Leg Romanian Deadlift more challenging.

Weight Distribution: Different weight distributions hit differently, if you have been doing this exercise with dumbbells or a kettlebell, try it with an Olympic barbell, you will see how the different weight distribution forces you to engage your muscles even more.

Add Weight: As always, adding more weight is on the list for making this exercise more challenging. It’s the primary path to progression in weightlifting.

Slow it Down: When you slow down an exercise you increase the time under tension, which in turn helps you build muscles faster. You can do this two ways; you can slow down the entire movement from start to finish, or you can slow down one half of it. For example, you can go down slowly, and power back up. Or go down at normal speed and really slow down the exercise on the way up.

How to Incorporate the Single Leg Romanian Deadlift into Your Workouts

The Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift belongs in any leg, glute or lower body workout plan. It is a compound exercise and should be prioritised towards the beginning of your workout, but it’s not likely to be the heaviest lift of your workout, so you should do this after your other key compound exercise.

Exercise order matters, and there is a very clear winning formula when it comes to building effective weightlifting workout plans, you can learn more about that here.

Exercises That Work Similar Muscles to the Single Leg Romanian Deadlift

There are a few deadlift variations that will work similar muscle groups, such as Conventional Deadlifts, Sumo Deadlifts, Romanian Deadlifts or Dumbbell Deadlifts. Other compound exercises include Good Mornings or Rack Pulls. For glute isolation you can try Cable Kickbacks or Cable Hip Abductions.

You should always work with a selection of both compound and isolation exercises, this will ensure you get a good complete workout.

You can find more Bum Exercises at the bottom of this page. Or you can check out our entire exercise database broken down by muscle group here.

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