Written by Garett Reid | NSCA, CSCS, CISSN, M.S.E.S.S
Fact checked by Kirsten Yovino, CPT Brookbush Institute
FACT CHECKED
The traditional deadlift, also known as the conventional deadlift, is the king of all weight lifting exercises. No other move stresses the entire body the way it does, making it a staple in any strength training program. But it's not the only deadlift on the block. In fact, there are numerous deadlift variations, each providing its own set of unique benefits.
Among the variations, the Romanian deadlift just may be the most popular. We don't like to look at this as a Romanian deadlift vs deadlift debate, as they're both awesome exercises, but there are several key differences worth knowing and understanding. The article will compare the deadlift and Romanian deadlift to help you decide which one to use and when.
This post will discuss:
- Overview of the conventional deadlift and Romanian deadlift
- How to perform traditional deadlifts and Romanian deadlifts
- Conventional and Romanian deadlift benefits
- Key differences between the deadlift variations
So, when it comes to comparing the Romanian deadlift vs deadlift: What are the differences and when does it make sense to do each?
What Is A Deadlift?
When speaking about the deadlift and its many variations, it's important to distinguish what a deadlift is.
Originating from 6th century Greece, the deadlift is arguably the oldest exercise in the weight lifting game. This is likely due to its simplicity. In a time with no machines or even a thorough understanding of traditional weightlifting, picking objects up off the ground was the easiest way to show strength.
A very basic definition of a deadlift is that it's a movement in which a lifter picks an object off the ground until they are standing erect. Essentially, you must pick "dead weight" up off the ground.
Deadlift Variations
While the traditional barbell deadlift is the most common deadlift variation, there are countless versions, like the sumo deadlift vs. conventional, for example. Interestingly, even events like Atlas Stones seen in the sport of Strongman are a type of deadlift.
Some other common variations include:
- Stiff Leg Deadlift
- Trap Bar Deadlift
- Dumbbell Deadlift
- Sumo Deadlift
- Deficit Deadlift
- Block Pulls
And, let's not forget about the Romanian deadlift, which we'll discuss more in depth in this post.
What is The Conventional Deadlift?
The conventional deadlift is typically the primary version that one performs in sport. Examples of how it's used include:
- In powerlifting, it's one of three lifts performed, with the other two being the bench press and back squat.
- In Crossfit, it's performed in various modes such as 1RM and ladders.
- In a Strongman workout plan, it's one of many versions performed. But the traditional deadlift generally receives the most attention.
In addition, it's also the strongest lift you can perform with a barbell. The ability to lift so much weight is one of the reasons it's considered the king of exercises.
How To Perform Conventional Deadlifts:
Conventional deadlift form is extremely important due to how much weight is used in the lift. It can make a drastic difference in both performance and overall safety.
While proper form is important for any exercise, it's even more critical with the conventional deadlift.
Let's go over step-by-step instructions for proper deadlift form.
The Set-Up:
- Set up a barbell with Olympic size weight plates. If you use the smaller plates, the bar will sit too low and be exponentially harder.
- Walk up to the barbell so that it's over your midfoot. Your feet should be at a natural width.
- Reach down and grab the barbell with an overhand grip, shoulder width apart, pushing your glutes back so your body lowers.
- Be sure your arms are parallel with your shins. Your shoulders should be slightly in front of the bar so your arms hang straight.
- Pull your shoulder blades back to keep your torso straight.
First Pull:
- Begin the movement by "pushing the ground away" from you. This activates your quadriceps more and instantly provides a stronger lift.
- Aim to move the barbell straight up.
- The barbell should remain close to your shins for the entire movement.
- Pull the barbell until it reaches your knee caps. At this point, your back should be at the same angle.
Second Pull:
- Once the barbell passes your knees, you can begin to extend your hips forward.
- The bar should continue moving vertically as you perform hip extension.
- Continue until you are fully erect.
Lowering:
- Slowly lower the bar in the same exact matter.
- For heavier weights, you can opt to perform a controlled drop.
What is The Romanian Deadlift?
The Romanian deadlift is a very popular deadlift version that isolates the posterior chain muscles. While it's called a "deadlift," it's significantly different from the traditional deadlift or any other deadlift variation you might do.
The biggest difference is that the barbell never touches the ground. Further, as the exercise begins in the standing position, the move starts with an eccentric contraction.
Is The Romanian Deadlift Even A Deadlift?
While a highly effective hip extension movement to train the posterior chain muscles, it's not a real deadlift as the barbell isn't moved from a dead stop and begins in the standing position.
Because it does begin with an eccentric muscle contraction, it takes advantage of the stretch-shortening cycle (SSC).
How To Perform Romanian Deadlifts:
Follow these step-by-step guidelines for performing Romanian deadlifts.
The Set-Up:
The set-up for the Romanian deadlift is significantly easier than the conventional deadlift. The only decision is if you want to start with the barbell on the ground or elevated. We suggest using a starting position with the barbell raised on blocks or a squat rack. If you do, have the barbell at a height slightly above your knees.
- Set up a barbell with your weight plates. Unlike conventional deadlifts, you can use any size plate you want.
- Walk up to the barbell, standing straight, and use a double overhand grip with a shoulder-width grip. While you don't need to use lifting straps, you can if your grip is fatigued.
- Stand up with the barbell and let it hang naturally in front of your body.
The Execution:
- Push your hips back with your knees slightly bent to let the barbell drop.
- You should only have a slight bend in your knees to allow the barbell to drop. You want to allow tension to build up in your hamstrings and glute muscles.
- As you lower, keep your shoulder blades pulled back to keep your back straight.
- Continue to lower until your form breaks and your back rounds. There is no specific point to lower, but the barbell should hit somewhere around the middle of your knees.
- Once you hit your depth, drive your hips forward and focus on firing your glute muscles until you're erect.
Romanian Deadlift Vs Conventional Deadlift Form Differences
While these are both deadlifts, the biomechanics differ drastically. This is seen in a few variables, including hip flexion, knee flexion, and range of motion.
During the Romanian deadlift, there is significantly less knee flexion. As a result, there is less quadriceps activation for knee extension, making it less of a quad exercise.
While there is less hip flexion as well, the difference is to a smaller degree. And though some may conclude that this results in less posterior muscle activation (i.e., gluteus maximus), this isn't the case.
As mentioned, the quadriceps are less involved due to the greater knee extension. As a result, the posterior muscles are left to do all the work. Studies have shown this results in greater activation. This is why you'll often see the RDL as a favorite glute exercise.
In addition, the greater flexion in the hips and knees during conventional deadlifts results in a greater range of motion¹.
Difference In Deadlift Hand Grips:
The last portion concerning biomechanics is the hand grip. When performing conventional deadlifts, you have 3 options: underhand, overhand, and mixed.
When performing the Romanian deadlift, you must use the overhand grip. Without the use of lifting straps, this will limit the load you can use.
Muscles Used In The Conventional And Romanian Deadlifts
The muscle groups used in both the deadlift and Romanian deadlift are very similar. Differences emerge when examining to what extent these muscles are used.
Upper Body Muscles:
The upper body muscles are used in an isometric fashion in both the conventional and Romanian deadlift. The muscles include:
- Upper Back (Trap, Rhomboids)
- Erector Spinae
- Grip (Forearm Flexors)
Both variations make for good trapezius exercises. A study shows that the middle trapezius is more involved in deadlift variations with greater knee flexion (traditional deadlift), while the upper traps have higher activation in deadlifts with less knee flexion (Romanian deadlift)².
However, because the load is so much greater in the traditional deadlift, it will result in greater muscle growth and strength gains compared to the RDL.
Erector Spinae:
Because the torso is bent forward more during the conventional deadlift, the erector spinae experiences significant stress. When you add the heavier loads, it's clear that conventional deadlifts see significantly greater muscle activation levels, making it one of the best erector spinae exercises. Multiple studies have confirmed this³.
When picking the best variation for your back, there are two major takeaways to consider:
- People with injured backs should stick to the Romanian deadlift until their back is fully healed.
- The conventional deadlift will build a stronger back.
To be clear, we are NOT saying the conventional deadlift is bad for your back. We are saying that if you're already injured, the Romanian deadlift is a better option during rehab or recovery.
Quadriceps:
When describing how to perform the exercises, we mentioned that conventional deadlifts begin by pushing your feet into the ground. As a result, the quadriceps receive significant activation.
In comparison, the quadriceps play a minimal role in the Romanian deadlift. The Romanian deadlift is more of a pure hip extension movement, meaning that the posterior chain is the primary mover.
While there is a slight bend creating some knee flexion in Romanian deadlifts, it's minimal and plays a small role in helping drive the hips forward.
Hamstrings & Glute Muscles:
The hamstrings and glutes, including the gluteus maximus, medius, and minimus, work the hardest of all the muscles for both deadlift variations. But there is a difference worth pointing out here.
The Romanian deadlift seems to be the best pick when it comes to hamstring activation, while the traditional deadlift works the glutes more. So if you're targeting butt lifting exercises, the traditional deadlift may be best for targeting those lower body muscles.
Conventional Deadlift Benefits
The conventional deadlift technique brings a lot to the table. Here are some of the top reasons you need to include it in your strength training program.
1. Increases Total Body Strength:
Perhaps the predominant reason one should put a conventional deadlift in their training program is to build muscular strength.
As mentioned, the conventional deadlift is the heaviest of all barbell movements and allows people to use the greatest amount of weight. As stressing the neuromuscular system is the primary driver of building strength, it's fair to say the regular deadlift has the potential to make you really strong.
Prepare to maximize your strength with our exclusive 13-week strength training program. 3, 4, and 5 day per week programming options.
2. It's A Full Body Workout:
The deadlift truly is a full-body workout. Even though the upper body is trained isometrically, it still receives a huge stimulus because, again, such a heavy load is used. It's also great for grip strength.
When you first start doing deadlifts, you may be a bit surprised when you wake up the next morning and your upper back is sore. This is because the torso must manage the entire load.
If we were forced to only pick one exercise to perform, it would definitely be conventional deadlifts.
3. Improves Other Lifts:
The biomechanics of the deadlift mimic many other exercises. A few examples include the snatch, power clean, kettlebell swings, and back squats.
In other words, if you improve your deadlift, you will likely see improvements in many of the other exercises you regularly do.
Romanian Deadlift Benefits
Here are the top benefits of the Romanian deadlift.
1. Uses A Lighter Load:
The Romanian deadlift requires a lighter load as less muscle mass is used. This is due to the biomechanics in which the quadriceps are significantly removed.
As a result, a lifter does not need to use as much weight to get optimal muscle activation.
2. "Safer" To Perform:
We hate to use the term "safer" as it implies traditional deadlifts aren't safe. They are.
However, deadlifts are the most common cause of injury in the weight room. We could say this is due to faulty lifting mechanics and ego lifting, but regardless, injuries still don't appear as often with Romanian deadlifts.
3. Makes Use Of The Eccentric Contraction:
Unlike the traditional deadlift, the Romanian deadlift utilizes an eccentric contraction (check out our article on concentric and eccentric contractions for more information). And when compared to other lifts, the eccentric portion is also performed slower.
This is important for muscle mass development as eccentric contraction is responsible for a higher percentage of muscle damage.
4. More Of A Muscle Hypertrophy Exercise:
Again, because of the emphasis on the eccentric muscle contraction, the Romanian deadlift is generally seen as a movement to achieve muscle hypertrophy rather than strength. Of course, there's a crossover between these two variables, but you will typically perform the Romanian deadlift with higher reps and as an accessory to the conventional deadlift.
5. More Emphasis On The Hip Hinge:
While both movements are hip hinge exercises, the Romanian deadlift is "purer" in that the primary joint involved is the hips. Again, while the knees have a slight bend, this is to allow the hips to be pushed back rather than involve the quadriceps.
As a result, this can be beneficial to use if needed to train that movement.
6. Easier To Perform When Lacking Equipment And Home Workouts:
With the traditional deadlift, you need the barbell. Of course, we love the barbell; however, sometimes, you may find yourself in a situation where you have no access. If so, you're out of luck.
The cool thing about Romanian deadlifts is that you can use almost any implement, making it a great at-home workout. Of course, the barbell allows the heaviest load, which is one of several reasons why we love barbell training.
But if you don't have a barbell, you also have the option to use dumbbells, kettlebells, or just hold weight plates in your hand. In reality, anything you can hold works.
As a result, it's easier to do if you're in a situation with no barbell, like when you're on a work trip utilizing a hotel gym, stuck at home, or performing super sets with no barbell nearby.
Combine this with the fact you don't need as large of a load, and you have the perfect exercise to train anywhere.
Romanian Deadlift vs Deadlift: Which Should You Use?
We're now going to highlight instances in which each of these deadlifts works better. To be clear, this list is not saying one is better than the other. Use this as an easy way to see each move's benefits and the situations they're best for.
When To Use Traditional Deadlifts:
The following scenarios may call for the conventional deadlift.
- Pure strength training.
- Building foundations for new lifters, assuming they understand the hip hinge.
- Strength athletes.
- Trainees who want to build their glutes.
- Lifters with limited time who want to get the most bang for their buck.
When To Use Romanian Deadlifts:
On the other hand, this is when the Romanian deadlift is the optimal choice.
- Working with an injured back or lower back pain.
- Wanting to put emphasis on strengthening the hamstrings.
- Bodybuilders focused on muscle hypertrophy.
- Athletes who may not want to overload their neuromuscular system.
- Trainees who need to learn how to hip hinge.
- Those with limited hip mobility (make sure to perform hip mobility exercises to help with this).
- Lifters following at-home workouts.
- When performing super sets.
Prepare to maximize your gains with our exclusive 12-week hypertrophy training program. Choose between a 4 or 5 day training split and gain 2-12 pounds of muscle over 90 days...
Traditional Deadlift Vs Romanian Deadlift: Final Say
While the above list may seem like the Romanian deadlift has more situations in which it's the more ideal choice, this doesn't make it better. It's just a bit more versatile and can be used when the traditional deadlift can't.
Regardless, as you've seen, both the traditional and Romanian deadlifts are awesome. Rather than thinking "either-or," think, "I'm going to use both to improve my overall exercise performance and become insanely strong."
They're great complimentary exercises, and we strongly advise you to use both of them, assuming you're in good health, in whichever workout split you follow. After all, why pick one when you can do both?
Related:
-
Leg Press Vs Squat
- High Bar Vs Low Bar Squat
- Split Squat Vs Lunge
- Deadlift Vs Squat
- Trap Bar Vs Barbell Deadlifts
References:
- Lee S, Schultz J, Timgren J, Staelgraeve K, Miller M, Liu Y. An electromyographic and kinetic comparison of conventional and Romanian deadlifts. Journal of Exercise Science & Fitness. 2018;16(3):87-93. doi:10.1016/j.jesf.2018.08.001
- ESCAMILLA RF, FRANCISCO AC, KAYES AV, SPEER KP, MOORMAN CT. An electromyographic analysis of sumo and conventional style deadlifts. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 2002;34(4):682-688. doi:10.1097/00005768-200204000-00019
- Martín-Fuentes I, Oliva-Lozano JM, Muyor JM. Electromyographic activity in deadlift exercise and its variants. A systematic review. PLoS ONE. 2020;15(2). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0229507
Garett Reid
Author