Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift

1. Stand with feet hip width apart, holding a dumbbell in each hand in front of your thighs.
2. Set your shoulders back, brace your core, and put a soft bend in your knees.
3. Push your hips straight back and let your torso tip forward, keeping your back flat.
4. Slide the dumbbells down the front of your legs, keeping them close to your body.
5. Lower until you feel a strong stretch in your hamstrings, usually around mid-shin, without rounding your back.
6. Drive your hips forward and squeeze your glutes to stand back up.
7. Finish tall at the top without leaning backward, then repeat.

Common Mistakes

• Bending the knees like a squat: dropping the hips down instead of pushing them back shifts the work to the quads. Keep the knee angle fixed and hinge from the hips.
• Rounding the lower back at the bottom: chasing depth past your hamstring flexibility flexes the spine under load. Stop where your back stops staying flat, even if that is only knee height at first.
• Letting the dumbbells drift forward: weights hanging away from the legs multiply stress on the lower back. Drag them down your thighs and shins the whole way.
• Hyperextending at the top: leaning back and cranking the lumbar spine adds nothing for the glutes. Finish standing tall with hips fully extended and abs tight.