The Foundation Movement: Romanian Deadlift

There are no mandatory exercises. There is no rule that says you have to bench, squat, or deadlift. With that being said, there is one strength movement that I believe just about anyone can benefit from regardless of their training experience -- one that can improve strength, posture, muscle mass, motor patterning, and even flexibility. That movement is the Romanian Deadlift, or RDL.

The many benefits of the RDL make it an excellent foundational movement in any exercise program. This is well understood by high-level trainers such as Paul Carter, celebrities who want to look and perform to a high standard like Henry Cavill, and certified maniacs like WWE superstar/YouTube legend Eric Bugenhagen.

Strength, Muscle, Flexibility
While the RDL is typically thought of as a hamstring and glute exercise, it develops head-to-toe strength throughout the posterior chain and stimulates a huge amount of muscle mass. The upper back stabilizes the bar and the shoulder girdle itself, calling upon the rhomboids, traps, lats, and several smaller muscles. The lower back and abdominal musculature work isometrically to stabilize the spine. The glutes and hamstrings act as the primary movers, producing hip extension. The hamstrings in particular are put under a significant weighted stretch at the bottom of the movement, which is a potent stimulator of muscle hypertrophy, in addition to its flexibility benefits.

Motor patterning, Posture
Even the most sedentary person will have to bend over to pick something up at some point. The RDL closely resembles the movement pattern required to pick up an object from the floor: tight core, neutral spine, controlled extension of the hips. Training the RDL can teach an individual to use their glutes and hamstrings effectively, move with safer patterns in day-to-day life, and avoid the compromising positions that can easily lead to back injury. By strengthening the core, back, and glutes, the RDL also allows a person to maintain better posture throughout the day.


How to Implement the RDL:

Execution:
Do NOT round the lower back. This is a surefire way to get injured. However, there is no need to over-arch (over-extend) the back either. A neutral to slightly arched back, with braced abs should be used. When thinking about bracing the abs, imagine someone is about to punch you in the stomach.

Equipment:
The barbell RDL typically allows for the heaviest loads to be used, but the RDL can be performed effectively with a variety of implements, including dumbbells, kettlebells, the trap bar, the smith machine, and a variety of other machines. For the barbell variation, I'd recommend using straps as the weights get heavier if you find that your grip gives out prematurely.

Programming:
RDLs are most useful in the 4-10 rep range. Occasionally venturing above or below this rep range is fine, but will put you more at risk for breakdowns in form. This is not a movement that should be performed to failure, and it requires patience when it comes to increasing loads. Every rep should be performed perfectly.
When you first begin performing these, I would NOT recommend overdoing the volume. After warm-ups, I generally find that 1-2 hard sets are plenty to get the job done. The weighted stretch can cause a tremendous amount of muscle damage, and will make you incredibly sore.

Case Studies in Gainz: The Training Routines of Eddie Hall, Captain Kirk, and Ed Coan

There are many effective routines for getting big and strong. When examining the training routines of some of the strongest men in history, though, there are often clear commonalities. Eddie Hall, "Captain" Kirk Karwoski, and Ed Coan are 3 of the strongest individuals to ever live, and their training methodologies, which are all similar in structure, have had a tremendous impact on my own understanding of strength training.

Generally, the training programs of these 3 monsters exhibit the following structure:

• 3 main heavy days per week: one for the squat, one for the bench press, and one for the deadlift
• Bodybuilding-style auxiliary work performed after the heavy lifts
• 1-2 additional days for training the chest, shoulders, and/or arms, typically with higher reps

This tried-and-true format can form the basis of a solid strength program for just about anyone. It allows for steady gains in strength and muscle size, while also allowing plenty of time for recovery. This is the very same program structure I followed leading up to my squat record. It is simple, but when sufficient effort is applied, highly effective.

Eddie Hall
Eddie Hall should need no introduction, but for the few people who haven't heard of him, he is a World's Strongest Man winner, and the first and only man to deadlift 500 kg (1102 lbs).

This lift put so much strain on Eddie's body that he temporarily lost his vision. 

An outline of Eddie's WSM routine can be found here.

There are several noteworthy aspects of Eddie's training:

• Heavy work on the compound barbell movements
• Use of both free weights and machines for bodybuilding movements
• Heavy, high-rep dumbbell pressing on shoulder day

70 kg (154 lb) dumbbells

Kirk Karwoski
Captain Kirk was one of the most dominant powerlifters of the '90s, and is one of the greatest squatters of all time. He is well-known for his maniacal intensity and his 1000x2 squat.

"I WANNA HOLD IT!"

His training routine can be found here. He is also the subject of one of my favorite training articles about intensity.

While the movement selection differs slightly from Eddie's routine, the two programs are quite similar. Notably, Kirk emphasizes arms on his second pressing day, rather than shoulders as Eddie did. Eddie competes in Strongman where the overhead press is a contested event, so this makes sense. For Kirk, who competes in powerlifting, emphasizing the triceps with the close-grip bench press is more specific to his sport.

Ed Coan
I have written about Ed Coan before; though he is perhaps best known for his 901-pound deadlift, he was an extraordinarily well-rounded powerlifter and is considered by many to be the greatest powerlifter of all time.

Ed's training program can be found here, where it is notably very heavy on bodybuilding-style auxiliary work. Ed devoted an entire day for extra shoulder work, and also had a second day to hit the chest and arms with lighter weight and higher reps.

When Ed trained a high school kid, as documented by this very interesting forum thread, he combined the extra chest, shoulder, and arm assistance into one day.

Ed was all-around strong, seen here pressing 400 lb behind the neck.

I believe that there are three main reasons that these routines are so effective:

1. Emphasis on recovery: Heavy squats and deadlifts, in particular, take a toll on the joints and the body in general. It's not necessary to perform them more than once per week in order to get stronger. By waiting a full week to train the legs and back (particularly the lower back), tissues are given time to rebuild, so that they can perform at a high intensity in the next workout. The chest, shoulders, and arms, on the other hand, typically recover more quickly, probably due in part to the lighter weights used in pressing movements as compared to squats and deadlifts. They can be trained for a second session each week, to stimulate extra muscle growth without significantly impeding recovery.
2. Emphasis on muscle-building with extra bodybuilding work: If only the big 3 barbell lifts were done, and always for low reps, training volumes would likely be too low to stimulate significant muscle growth. Eventually, without muscle gain, strength gains stall. This is where the bodybuilding assistance work comes in. It allows for extra volume of work with minimal additional joint stress, particularly in slower-to-recover areas like the lower back. Machines like a chest-supported row or leg press are particularly useful in this regard. The strength and muscle gained from this kind of higher-rep training is absolutely functional and can translate to lower-rep strength quite well. Pressing strength, in particular, seems to respond very well to higher-rep bodybuilding work. Eric Spoto, who bench pressed 722 raw, regularly performs high reps with "light" weight (such as 315 for 62 reps). This also explains the utility of Eddie Hall's insane dumbbell pressing. Personally, I brought myself back to a 300 bench without going above 225 for several weeks, and gained chest and arm size in the process.
3. The intensity, focus, and unwavering belief of each of these lifters. If you lift scared, your results will be mediocre.

WTF

The routines of these strength legends could be used directly to great success, but one can just as readily develop a personalized routine founded upon the same principles: simplicity, recovery, intensity.

Stop Setting Yourself Up for Failure

When people begin a workout or diet plan, they often treat it as an all-or-nothing matter.

“I’m going to stop eating carbs.”
“I’m going to get up at 4AM to work out, 6 days per week.”

When you’re used to eating eating donuts for breakfast, Doritos for lunch, and occasionally taking the stairs at work as your only form of exercise, you’re probably not going to find this to be sustainable. It’s much better to begin with something you can realistically commit to than to quit completely after 2 weeks of agony. This may sound familiar, but consistency is, in fact, key. Losing 50 pounds in 6 months is essentially worthless if you revert to old habits and regain it all over the next year.

Similarly, someone who finds themselves with newly imposed limits on time due to changes in work or life circumstances will have to make modifications as necessary. If you used to train 6 days per week, get 9 hours of sleep, and eat pre-prepared healthy foods at the dining hall while in college, you’re probably not going to be able to maintain the same schedule while working full-time and raising a kid as an adult.

Here is my approach to such predicaments:

1. Train efficiently. Driving to the gym when you're absolutely beat from a long day at work just to halfheartedly run in place and then go home is a lot of time invested for very little reward. Doing some cardio right before your lifting may tire you out slightly (you’ll find that you can adapt to this quickly), but it will also warm you up effectively and save you a trip to the gym later in the week. Likewise, absentmindedly doing 5 different chest exercises will be less effective than performing 3 sets of bench presses with maximum mental focus on each set and progressive overload from week to week. To borrow a term from Alex Viada, eliminate “junk miles” from your training — in both cardiovascular and resistance training.

2. Realize that time-constricted training will not be ideal — but it can be damn effective. In an ideal situation, you would run and lift on separate days, or at separate times of the day. You’d be able to train 6-7 days per week, often twice per day, with a perfect diet and 9 hours of sleep per night. For a person with a full-time job, family commitments, and no desire to be a professional athlete, this won’t typically be realistic. Training 3-4 days per week can get you very far, and even twice per week training can allow you to progress or at least maintain a solid level of fitness. Doing something is most definitely better than nothing.

3. Find the right time of day for you to train. You don’t get bonus points for working out at 5 in the morning. Though morning training certainly might be best for some people, actually training is far more important than when you train. If you find that you can’t consistently stick to morning workouts, consider going to the gym right from work (my preference) or at night.

4.  Invest in some degree of a home gym. This will allow you to get in more workouts per week without having to make extra trips to the gym. Even a pair of dumbbells can give you a solid workout, especially when coupled with bodyweight exercises.

5. Prioritize sleep. There is nothing glamorous about sleep deprivation. It messes you up big time. To paraphrase Stan Efferding, you don't build muscle in the gym, you build it when you're recovering from the gym.

6. Keep your diet simple. Figure out something you can stick to. Eat protein at every meal. Don’t snack. It’s not necessary for an adult to eat 7 times per day. Eat mostly single-ingredient “whole” foods — meat, fish, fruits, vegetables, non-sweetened dairy, nuts, whole grains. Be wary of any diet that tells you to cut out an entire macronutrient class or requires you to buy their specific brand of foods/supplements.


Here are some of my favorite articles about time-constricted training:

https://www.t-nation.com/training/30-minutes-to-mass

https://www.t-nation.com/training/effective-training-for-busy-men

http://besmartbestrong.blogspot.com/2017/07/adjusting-to-lifestyle-ebb-and-flow.html (shameless self-plug)