The RDL is a lower body vertical pull exercise that is mainly used for strengthening the hamstrings and glutes, and also helps to increase hamstring flexibility. Primarily it is a glute exercise. Foot position should be right underneath the hips with feet straight ahead. There should be a slight bend in the knee that stays constant throughout the entire exercise. Grip can be closed and pronated, or you can use a mixed grip where both hand positions are closed, but one hand is supinated, and one hand is closed. If you use a mixed grip, it is beneficial to switch off between sets the supinated and pronated hand because this could affect loading patterns and potentially cause imbalances. Hand position should be right outside the shoulder, and the bar starting position should be around waist height with the arms, chest out, and back tight. As you go down, drive your hips back and keep your weight on your heels. It is important to keep the movement controlled, and the bar tight to your body, and you can even keep it right up against your leg as you go down. Keeping the bar tight will help to minimize stress places on the lower back. When the hips are back, bend at the waist, and lower the bar as far as you can with correct form.
There has been some research that maximum activation/benefit for the exercise occurs with the bar at the top of the knee, and it may not be necessary to go past this point. For the movement upward, drive the hips back toward the bar. It is important to finish the movement and make sure the hips get through at the top in order to get that extra glute activation. One trick that may help an athlete learn to complete the movement is having them do single leg rdls on the cable column, where on one side the arm grabs the cable column handle, and the leg extends back through the movement, while the other leg stays fixed and slightly bent in the standard rdl position. Single leg rdl exercises require the same technique and form as a regular rdl, the only difference being the various progressions, and the stress being mainly placed on one side of the body instead of both.
Before the cable column single leg rdls, it’s best to start with rdl with a dowel, and then go to a kettlebell, and after to the cable column. Say you are first starting with the left leg, so your left arm should be bent behind your head, grabbing the dowel, and your right arm should be bent behind your back grabbing the dowel. It should stay in the middle of your back and be in contact with your head, shoulder, and glutes throughout the entire movement. Bodyweight should be over the middle of the front foot. It is important to make sure your hips don’t turn to one side and stay neutral, and your opposite leg goes straight back as you run through the movement. A trick to help somebody is to point the toe of your back leg inward. In terms of keeping the hips aligned, the coach may need to put their hands on the athlete’s hips to guide them so they can feel what it feels like to perform it correctly. Other errors are the back is rounded, the athlete goes too far down, or the leg may be kept straight. It is important this exercise is felt in the glutes. For an ipsilateral kettlebell or a weighted RDL, the weight should be held in the hand on the same side as the leg you are working on the floor. The arm should be held straight down. The other arm can be placed behind the back. For contralateral, hold the weight in the arm of the opposite side of the leg you are working. After these are mastered, to dumbbells and a bar can be added.
One important thing to remember with the RDL is the spine should be in a neutral position. The head and the neck should always be in line while lifting, and the chin position in the rdl should be slightly tucked. If you extend the neck and look up, it can put you into too much lordosis (lower back curving inward), which stresses the lower back, increases anterior pelvic tilt, and makes it harder to recruit the glutes and hamstrings. Make sure to keep the chest up, but not extend the neck a lot. In the starting position, the back should be in “slight lordosis”, but that arch shouldn’t increase at all during the movement. In general, too much arch, and too much rounding of the back are both bad. If you flex the knees too much, you will effect hamstring activation, and if you flex them too little, it’s bad for your back, so it’s best to get around 15-20 degrees of knee flexion. A good cue for knee flexion could be to “soften” the knee. (http://robertsontrainingsystems.com/blog/perfecting-the-romanian-deadlift/. )
Single leg exercises are becoming more and more common today due to how they apply to sports. The majority of sports movements start out on one leg as opposed to both legs, so it is advisable to include this idea in training programs. It is important to train how you would play, in other words, for the training to directly relate to the sport you are playing. In any sport with running involved; soccer, field hockey, cross country, basketball, track and field, football, rugby, lacrosse, tennis, etc., the movements all start out on one leg. Even in sports that don’t involve running, movements start out on one leg, such as in volleyball during the spike approach, the foot pattern to go up for a block, or any defensive movement. If you don’t incorporate single leg training into your training regime, imbalances may be more prone to occurring, and single leg exercises can also help to correct this. This relates to how in the fms screening it is better to have both sides of the body score low but equally, than have the right side score well, and the left side score poorly due to the fact that imbalances greatly increase the risk for injury.