Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift

Execution

1. Draw your shoulder blades down, brace your belly, open your chest and look at the floor ahead.
2. Inhale and push your hips back as if closing a door behind you with your backside.
3. Let your torso follow, keeping the dumbbells sliding right against your thighs and shins.
4. Go down until you feel a clear stretch in the back of your thighs, or stop sooner if the back is about to round.
5. Exhale, squeeze your glutes and drive the hips forward to stand tall, without leaning back at the top.
6. Keep your neck in line with your back all set instead of craning up to look in the mirror.
7. The rep where the back starts to round is the last rep of the set: put the weights down.

Quick cues

• Soft knees, hips back.
• Imagine pinning a lemon under each armpit.
• Keep your back flat, stop higher.
• Look down, neck neutral.
• Stand tall, squeeze your glutes.

Common faults

• Fault: Bending the knees so much it turns into a squat

  Fix: Lock the knee bend from the first rep and let only the hips travel back, checking with a side video.

• Fault: The back rounding when the weights pass the knees

  Fix: Stop just above the depth where the back gives way, and halve the load for two weeks.

• Fault: The weights drifting away from the body, loading the lower back

  Fix: Press the dumbbells into your legs until you can hear the fabric, and go lighter if that still fails.

• Fault: Craning the neck up to look in the mirror while folding

  Fix: Pick a spot on the floor about two steps ahead of your toes and keep your eyes there as you fold.

• Fault: Leaning back past standing at the top of the rep

  Fix: Stop exactly at standing and squeeze the glutes for one beat instead of pushing the hips further through.