Who Should Do?
Strength And Power-based Athletes
Strength and power athletes focus on using progressive overload with compound, functional movement patterns for the majority of their training. This means that their training variables should be progressed frequently. It also means that the exercises should use movements similar to daily life and involve multiple muscle groups.
Similar to the normal Romanian deadlift, the single-leg variation uses multiple muscle groups to perform the correct movement. The main difference is that it uses one side of your body at a time.
It helps to develop functional hip hinge strength and power using one side of your body at a time. This movement pattern transfers well to most sporting events and daily activities. Examples include in the normal deadlift and when picking something up off the floor.
It’s a perfect deadlift variation for strength and power-based athletes to use alongside their main movements.
Bodybuilders
Muscle building, also known as muscular hypertrophy, requires a well-organized resistance training approach. As part of this, training intensity and training volume are two big contributors.
As a bodybuilder, building a well-rounded physique requires both of these for optimal muscle building. When stepping on stage, both the front and back half of your body need to match up.
The dumbbell single-leg Romanian deadlift is great for bodybuilders for several reasons. It trains three different muscle groups, effectively isolates your hamstrings, and develops core strength.
What this means is that it’s a great way to isolate your hamstrings to build a well-rounded physique. It also helps to develop your core and uses a compound movement pattern. For these reasons, it ticks all the boxes when looking to accomplish these goals above.
Functional Fitness Athletes
As a functional fitness athlete, your main aim is to develop strength and power using functional, everyday movements. With this, your training should consist of a number of functional movements that challenge both sides of your body.
The dumbbell single-leg Romanian deadlift is a unilateral exercise. This means that it works on each side of your body separately. Because of this, it’s a great way to develop a functional hip hinge when using only one side of your body.
Adding dumbbell single-leg Romanian deadlifts into your functional fitness training alongside bilateral movements provides a balanced approach. These are movements that use both sides of your body.
Who Should Not Do?
Novices or Beginners
The dumbbell single-leg Romanian deadlift is a challenging exercise with a host of benefits; many of which we’ve described below. However, the unilateral hip hinge movements take practice and skill to develop correctly.
As a novice or beginner, the majority of your training should focus on developing a solid foundation to work from. In this case, it would be better to develop the traditional deadlift before moving on to more challenging variations.
Once you’ve perfected or mastered the traditional deadlift, it’s time to move on to harder variations.
*Expert tip- When looking to progress your lifts, use the help of a personal trainer if unsure. They’ll be able to advise you on your suitability for different exercises and help you with the correct form.
Those with Lower Back Pain and Issues
Performing a hip hinge in the dumbbell single-leg Romanian deadlift places a lot of stress on your lumbar spine. As you flex and extend your back, your erector spinae work hard to ensure you maintain the optimal lifting position.
With correct performance, the dumbbell single-leg Romanian deadlift strengthens your lower back. However, additional lumbar stress is not a good idea if you already have lower back issues. Any form deviations will place a large amount of unneeded stress and potentially make existing injuries worse.
In this case, follow a lower-intensity rehabilitation program, strengthening your core first before progressing. Use the help of a trained healthcare professional who can assess your suitability to perform a hip hinge.
*Did you know? Acute lower back pain is one of the most commonly reported issues to healthcare professionals. It’s estimated that by 2050, 800 million people will suffer from lower back pain.
Benefits Of The Dumbbell Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift
Muscular Strength And Endurance
To build muscular strength and endurance, you need two things; mechanical damage and metabolic stress. This means that you need high-intensity exercise that causes your body systems to work hard during performance.
The dumbbell single-leg Romanian deadlift variation isn’t easy to perform. It isolates your hamstring and glute on one side of your body. This causes a large amount of both mechanical tension and metabolic stress.
Because of this, the dumbbell single-leg Romanian deadlift is a great exercise for building muscular endurance and strength specifically in these areas. As mentioned above, it also works your core; specifically your erector spinae which will also get a smaller training stimulus.
Enhanced Balance And Stability
To perform the dumbbell single-leg Romanian deadlift correctly, you need a large amount of core strength. When coming down, your erector spinae provides stability and helps you balance. This ensures you don’t move from the optimal lifting position.
Because of this, single-leg training which includes the dumbbell single-leg Romanian deadlift is great for improving balance control. Alongside being great for sports performance, it’s also especially important as we age. This is due to the natural decline in postural balance control.
Improved Athletic Performance
Resistance training is already well-known to enhance athletic performance. Whether you’re a strength and power-based athlete or a general sports performer, you can benefit from the single-leg Romanian deadlift.
It uses a hip hinge, which is a fundamental movement pattern used in most sports. Examples include Olympic lifting, martial arts, and CrossFit.
Performing the dumbbell single-leg deadlift helps to develop a unilateral hip hinge, allowing you to move more efficiently in daily life and sports performance. This effect of unilateral training seems to be sports-specific, meaning that it primarily benefits unilateral sports movements.
Muscle Symmetry
The dumbbell single-leg deadlift is a unilateral movement pattern. This means that it works one leg at a time. It also means that it requires one half of your body to work together whilst the other relaxes.
Regular performance of bilateral exercises, where you use both sides of your body, can lead to muscular imbalance issues, As you get used to the movement pattern, the stronger side of your body tends to take over.
Therefore, using a unilateral movement such as the dumbbell single-leg Romanian deadlift can prevent this from happening. Each side of your lower body needs to work at the same intensity to perform the movement correctly.
Frequently Asked Questions
The single-leg Romanian deadlift is a great functional exercise to target your hamstrings. It can also help to improve balance, stability, and sports performance when applied correctly.
Dumbbell single-leg Romanian deadlifts are effective as they isolate your hamstrings using a unilateral movement. To perform them effectively, you need to focus more on balance and muscle activation.
The single-leg RDL can be done with a single dumbbell or two dumbbells. However, using a dumbbell in each hand helps to maintain better balance and focus.
In a dumbbell single-leg Romanian deadlift, both your legs are in a neutral position. When using a B stance, you use a staggered position which places more emphasis on your front leg.
Resources
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