Exercise Profile
- Target Muscle Group
- Exercise TypeStrength
- Equipment RequiredLandmine
- MechanicsCompound
- Force TypeHinge (Bilateral)
- Experience LevelIntermediate
- Secondary Muscles
Abs, Forearms, Glutes, Lats, Lower Back, Traps, Upper Back
Hamstrings
Landmine RDL Overview
The landmine Romanian deadlift, also known as the landmine RDL, is a variation of the Romanian deadlift and an exercise used primarily to target the muscles of the hamstrings and glutes.
The RDL has long been thought of as the “leg” deadlift variation, despite all hip hinge movements primarily targeting the hamstrings. A smart option, to increase training frequency and work on the movement pattern, would be to perform RDLs on your leg day and another deadlift variation on your back or pull days.
The hip hinge is a crucial movement pattern, so it is important to find a variation that is comfortable for you to perform (if able), and work on it.
The landmine implement provides a somewhat fixed movement pattern to take some of the stress of the stabilizing muscle groups to help emphasize hamstring usage and limit potential injuries from other variations.
The landmine RDL is best utilized during your leg workouts and/or full body workouts.
Landmine RDL Instructions
- Stand with a bar in between your legs and lay the bar in the notch of a v-bar with both hands on the handle.
- Stand tall and begin the RDL by pushing your hips back and hinging forward until the bar is just below knee height.
- Drive through the whole foot and focus on pushing the floor away.
- Return to the starting position and repeat for the desired number of repetitions.
Landmine RDL Tips
- Range of motion in the lift will largely be determined by an individual’s mobility as well as their ability to maintain a neutral spine. Standing on a box or bench is likely counterproductive as most won’t have the mobility to control that much range of motion effectively.
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Neck position is highly individual - Some prefer a neutral neck position (i.e. keeping the chin tucked throughout the lift) while others do well with looking slightly up. Here’s some factors to consider:
- If you’re someone who is more globally extended (i.e. athletic background), then you will likely be able to keep a neutral position more effectively by packing the chin.
- On the opposite end of the spectrum, if you tend to be more flexion dominant (especially in your thoracic spine - upper back) then it would behoove you to look up slightly as this will drive more extension.
- Experiment with each and see which one works best for your individual anatomy and biomechanics.
- Your weight will naturally shift to your heels as you hinge; however, it’s important that you keep the weight distributed over your whole foot and don’t allow the toes to rise. To combat this, you should focus on maintaining 3 points of contact: big toe, little toe, and heel.
5 Comments
Is there an alternative workout for this? My gym doesn't have this option available.
Here you go, Stephanie. Got a couple here for you.
https://www.muscleandstrength.com/exercises/romanian-deadlift
https://www.muscleandstrength.com/exercises/double-kettlebell-suitcase-d...
Hi,
I feel some low back strain when I’m performing these. I’m only loading it with 20 pounds. Do you have any suggestions to help this?
From a form standpoint, make sure you focus more on sticking your hips back instead of bending over your back. Ultimately, see a physician about the back pain because we can't diagnose or offer info for back pain.
What’s the alternative for this? I don’t have that in my gym