Single-leg Romanian deadlift is a challenge to your mental alertness and body-controlling capability. The movement requires utmost body stability and a sharp focus.
As soon as you lose your focus, you will slam your head right away into the floor. Bang!
In order to achieve any definite benefit and a real skill, you need to grab some genuine guidelines or a conscientious coach. No coach? No problem.
This article will help you to go from beginning to the end goal. You just need to be focused and consistent in this scenario.
Just bear with me till the end of this article and you will have plenty of actionable insights to work with.
The one leg Romanian deadlift, also known as 1-leg RDL is an effective lower body exercise. This is a worthy addition to your arsenal — it works whether you are a marathon runner or a soccer player as the workout offers more than the muscular strength. Romanian-style deadlift on single leg improves the strength of your hamstrings and the gluteal muscles.
The workout helps to develop a muscular symmetry which creates a balance between your legs eventually reducing the chance of injury when in the arena.
Single-leg Romanian deadlift also perks up flexibility in your hamstring muscles and the ability of body balancing.
Why single-leg Romanian deadlift?
source: Oxygen Mag
Single leg Romanian deadlift develops dynamic core strength by forcing you to keep your balance on a single leg.
This improves not only your hamstring muscles but also offer core strength and the flexibility to your lower back.
When you perform a this particular deadlift in the right way, you are actually developing your abs, glutes and the lower back strength.
In fact, all muscles get involved in achieving the body balance and allowing dynamic moves. In this way, the body gets trained to face the enhanced level of challenge.
On the other hand, single leg exercise improves the strength of hamstrings. Hamstrings are a group of muscles located on the upper back of your upper legs. They connect the upper leg with the hips.
Hamstring muscles help us in our daily activities like walking, running and cycling etc. So, it’s important to have them strong, healthy and flexible.
A weak hamstring will lead you to the restricted movement of joints eventually creating a dejected situation in the playground.
Single-leg workout helps you to improve a free muscle-joint movement along with improving your body balance. Exciting, isn’t it?
Equipment needed:
This work out does not require any complex assembly. You just need to have either kettlebells or dumbbells to perform the whole set. Even one dumbbell can serve the purpose very well.
Moreover, you need to wear some comfortable outfits which allow your body a free movement without any hassle. Make sure that you are standing on a non-slippery surface before starting the workout.
How to perform a Single Leg Romanian Deadlift:
Before you go:
Stand in front of a mirror so that you can have better idea of your standing posture. Now, stand on the single foot with a slight bend in your knee.
Hold the dumbbells in your both hands so that the center of gravity of your body remains unharmed. This will help you to draw a better body balance.
However, you can have a single dumbbell for offset single-leg workout.
Anchor yourself by pressing your foot against the floor. Press the ground through the toe, mid and back of your foot.
This is termed as a tripod foothold and the trick will improve your overall body balance.
Now, take a deep breath, prop your core and slightly push your rib cage toward hips decreasing the midsection space. Yes! You are now all set to go for the first round.
Now you go:
Now push your hips backward as far as you can. This will stretch your hamstring muscles and you will feel muscle tension. However, do not bend your waist and maintain a neutral spine position.
Bow down toward the ground lifting your one leg straight to the spinal cord. Keeps your leg close to the center of body and prevent your pelvis from twisting.
Make sure that your body does not rotate in the hips or spine.
Once you bent enough that you feel tension in your hamstring, return back to the standing position slowly.
Meanwhile, push your hips forward contracting your hamstring and gluteal muscles.
Do not bow too low; even a slight curve in spine is the sign to return back to the standing position. Moreover, never twist your hips and bend your spine.
Return and repeat:
When you return back to the standing position lockout be contacting the gluteal muscles. Then, brace your core and try to push your rib cage again toward your hips.
Now, squeeze your arms into the arm sides pretending that you are holding something in your armpits strongly. Put your arms tightly along your body.
Keep your chest a little bulging outside, preventing your spine from bending. Just pretend as you are showing some logo on your chest to a person standing in front of you
Never look up when you return back to your standing position as this may cause an unnecessary tension in neck muscles. Keep your neck angle in neutral alignment with your body.
Now, as you have done with one round successfully, repeat it. Moreover, wear flat shoes or be barefoot when performing this workout.
Repetitions needed:
What is suggested about the repetitions? The idea is that the more you become expert, heavier your weights should be with fewer repetitions.
That means if you are a beginner, you should use less weight dumbbells and more repetitions in the respective set.
On the other hand if you are skilled enough then go with heavier weights that allow you 6-8 repetitions.
Additionally, you should keep in mind all about your fitness, ease and smooth workout. it would be better to practice less and perpetual than lifting more weights irregularly.
Beginner level:
The beginners should start out from the initial workout. First of all, train yourself for the hip hinging movements. You can achieve this by using either a broomstick or a dowel.
Hold a broomstick in your hand just like regular dumbbells and perform the Romanian deadlift of the single leg.
Make sure that the broomstick should travel along your body when you go up and down.
Moreover, you can use single leg band pull through to achieve the required pace.
This will prevent you from falling down. Once you trained, you can begin to sue some lightweight for the workout.
Medium level:
Liters that have an intermediate level of expertise can choose one or two dumbbells.
However, you should perform this workout towards the beginning because the single leg Romanian deadlift is better to perform with fresh mind and body.
You can also pair this one with a heavier barbell workout but do not pair with an exercise which will fatigue the core muscles.
If you are an intermediate lifter, you should perform 2 to 4 sets with 8-10 repetitions taking rest of 1-2 minutes in between.
Expert level:
The more expert you are, the heavier weight you will have to lift with fewer repetitions. You can enhance the level of resistance for multiple sets with 2-4 repetitions.
You can have two options either use two dumbbells holding in both hands or you can choose one barbell.
Once you get expert you will be able to perform Romanian deadlift with negative reps as well as increased amount of resistance.
Do not perform the single leg exercise as a part of barbell complex unless you have achieved a certain level of mastery.
Benefits
There are a number of benefits depending on the overall technical ability and experience, weight used and reps, as well as the scheme, used.
Single leg Romanian deadlift increases flexibility, fat loss and helps to gain muscular symmetry. The workout also enhances the ability of body balance and the athletic performance.
This not only improves the hamstrings and gluteal muscles but also strengthen the erectors and interior core. If the work out is performed in the right way it also improves the upper arm strength, lats, traps, and the overall body strength.
Tips:
You should keep your knee up to 20% flexible. This will help to relieve the direct pressure on the lower back.
If you have a weaker glutes (butt), your hamstrings have to perform harder which may lead to the hamstrings injury. So, be careful.
Never bend your knees and twist essentially from the waist keeping your upper body exactly parallel to the floor.
Moreover, follow the sequence with utmost care. When standing back, contort your gluteal muscles, thrust your hips and raise your upper body back to the standing position.
Do not switch to the next level unless you have performed prescribed sets of the certain movement. This will prevent you from unnecessary strains.
