Difference Between Deadlifts and Romanian Deadlifts

Deadlifts vs Romanian Deadlifts

Exercising and working out muscles is a usual routine for the sports buff. One cannot really survive an active lifestyle without enhancing stamina or building up the needed muscles. While athletes perform different forms of exercise needed for them to be efficient in their chosen sports, there are different exercise moves that can be common for the sports buff.

Deadlifts may be one of the most popular forms of exercise of all, along with push-ups and crunches. This exercise can be effective in strengthening legs and back muscles. It can be described as a compound ground movement that involves the use of a bar or a barbell.

There are several moves that are included in deadlifts. The athlete can perform the shins on the bar where he is supposed to be as close to the bar as possible to shorten the distance of the bar’s center of gravity and that of the lifter. This can be beneficial for a leverage position. The next step is to inhale deeply to increase intra-abdominal pressure.
After this, the lifter should force his abs out which will provide him with a natural belt which can brace his lower back and abdominals. This would be more effective when the lifter uses a real belt just so the abdomen is pressured against a solid brace. Remember to avoid jerking the weight off the floor. Rather, lifters should push away from the ground after developing a high level of full body tension.

The lifter should then keep the bar against his body the entire lift to maximize the leverages. Finish the move with a powerful lockout contraction while avoiding hyperextending the lower back and contracting the glutes.
Doing deadlifts may be effective in building stamina and enhancing power potential of an individual. They may also be effective in adding mass to the body and develop rigidity while preventing injury in activities that may require the individual to stop and bend his back. Deadlifts, nonetheless, are often confused with Romanian deadlifts.

Both deadlifts and Romanian deadlifts require the use of a bar or a barbell, but the difference is drawn from the moves done by the lifter in these two exercises. Athletes doing Romanian deadlifts keep the bar away from the floor, executing what seems to be a stiff-legged deadlift. The Romanian deadlift is more advisable for beginners as it allows the knees to flex a little more and lets the lifter practice the ways in which he can push the hips back further and thus preparing him for the regular deadlifts.

Both the regular deadlift and the Romanian deadlift can be effective in developing stronger hamstrings and glutes, except that the Romanian deadlift requires the lifter to keep the barbell in close contact with his legs throughout the lift. Doing Romanian deadlifts, therefore, can be easier compared to regular deadlifts.
A typical move in performing a Romanian deadlift includes maintaining the knees straight as the bar slides down the legs and the hips pushed back farther. This can well target the hamstrings and glutes without causing stress on the muscles found on the lower back.

Simply put, Romanian deadlifts are similar to a traditional deadlift except that the first includes movements that develop the flexibility of the hamstrings. Conventional deadlifts involve the bending of the knees while Romanian deadlifts do not. Thus, it can be said that there is less new extensions when performing a Romanian deadlift compared to a traditional deadlift. While Romanian deadlifts target glutes and hamstrings, a regular deadlift recruits the lifter’s quads and soleus along with the muscles of the lower back.

There may be subtle differences between the two in terms of movements, but these forms of exercise can give varying results to athletes. Those with extremely flexible bodies who can hyperextend their knees are the perfect performers of Romanian deadlifts because of the minimized exercise injuries involved.

Summary:

1.Both deadlifts and Romanian deadlifts involve the use of a bar or a barbell.
2.Regular deadlifts include the bending of the knees while Romanian deadlifts are more like stiff-legged lifting.
3.Deadlifts target the soleus and the quads while Romanian deadlifts improve the flexibility of the hamstrings and glutes.
4.There is a lower risk of injury in Romanian deadlifts than in deadlifts.

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