How to The most common errors in the Romanian deadlift and how to fix them

The deadlift is a biomechanical and neuromuscular challenge, especially if we perform variants such as the sumo deadlift or the Romanian deadlift. In this article, we want to explain the most common mistakes in the Romanian deadlift and how to correct them. Don't turn the Romanian deadlift into a squat. The Romanian deadlift is a hip-dominant exercise, not a knee-dominant one. This means that in any deadlift variant, to a greater or lesser degree, hip flexion prevails over knee flexion, so it is a mistake to make the exercise look like a squat. In fact, in the Romanian deadlift, the knees must maintain a slight flexion of between 15º and 20º at the beginning of the movement. This dominance of the hip supposes, in turn, that there is a greater activity of the musculature of the posterior chain, such as the hamstrings, gluteus, and spinal erectors. The implication of this musculature is not exclusive to hip-dominant exercises, but it is more significant with respect to any squat variant. Don't go much lower than the kneecaps Let's review the movement of the Romanian deadlift step by step: We start by holding the bar at or slightly above shoulder width. Feet hip-width apart and toes pointed forward. Relaxed head, chest up, and just at the beginning of the movement the knees at 15º-20º of flexion. The movement begins by pushing your hips back as the bar moves down your thighs to just below your kneecaps. During the movement, we remember to maintain the alignment of our spine by maintaining the natural lordosis and kyphosis in the lumbar and cervical spine, respectively. At this point, we will notice the stretch in our hamstrings and begin to extend our hips as the bar rises in contact with our thighs. Why is it important to have our kneecaps as a reference when lowering the bar? Because beyond that, in most people, the hamstrings do not stretch anymore, and instead what happens is that the lumbar spine begins to flex (round), an unnecessary risk that will not bring us anything. In fact, it's common to see people perform this move on a platform to "increase travel" when actually hitting the ground with the bar was never an option. Don't hyperextend the hip at the end of the movement. Another of the most common errors that occur during a deadlift, not only in Romanian but extending to all variants, is to hyperextend the hip at the end of the movement. This seems to be done instinctively to further engage the gluteus through exaggerated hip extension. What to say does it have to misalign the hip from the axial axis of the spine when we support a load is an unnecessary risk but, it also does not contribute anything to the gluteus? This is because, in movements such as squats or deadlifts, the gluteus reaches its maximum peak tension when it is stretched, because the force vector is vertical. Contracting the glute exaggeratedly at the end of the movement will not increase its tension because for this the force vector should be horizontal as in glute bridges or hip thrusts, where the peak of maximum tension occurs with the glute in contraction.