stiff leg dead lifts

[IronKitten]

Originally Posted by HSfootball16

besides, the lower back should be getting hit anyway. if your knees are just unlocked then your still doing strait legged DL (i beleive). i always though SLDL and RLDL were the same exersize just a different name.

They're very similar. The main difference is the amount of movement in the knee.

In the SDL, there's minimal movement in the knee with the primary movement being through the hip. Knees should be bent slightly, a little short of lockout.

In the RDL, you're simply adding a little more movement through the knee.

It's like stepping stones, really. CDL - lots of knee movement. RDL - some knee movement. SDL - little to no knee movement.

[1quick1]

I also bend my knees slightly but it's very important to not round your back. It's very easy to do but you have to remember to stick your ass out and keep your back locked perfectly straight. Start with low weights and go threw the motions. A lot of times the lower back will have strength issues when starting them.

[Eric3237]

These two exercises, stiff legged deads and Romanian deads, I think have sort of been wrapped around each other in myth and shadows

Everybody seems to have a different take.

Not to mention that some people teach the conventional deadlift based on it's difference from these other two. So you get this kind of thing like "conv. deads are more like a squat than the stiff or Romanians".

I actually do think that the stiff legged deadlfit has basically had elements of the Romanian deadlift molded into it in "recent" years and so that has really created some confusion. Ian King, oh he of the spinal flexion addiction, says it was the influence of later Europeans teaching a flat back and the popularity of the Romanian deadlift that did this. I think he is probably right on that. But I think, of course, that he is WRONG, that the Europeans were wrong about flat back (naturally arched) being more healthy and superior. Of course they were right. But that is a different story.

The stiff legged deadlfit actually has the bar traveling out from the body and there is no 'butt back" in it. Originally it WAS done with spinal flexion. I think most people doing stiff legged these days are doing a sort of morphed version of a Romanian and the original stiff legged. So it people seek to explain it by the degree of knee flexion allowed in the two movements.

The original Romanian deadlift was basically a deadlift done from the hang position with the knees and hips always in slight flexion (you never lock out) and lowered to just under the knees are a little lower depending on flexibiltiy.

If you know much about deadlfiting it will look like the lowering portion of a good deadlfit and then you will also see that no knee flexion is required of most (provided they aren't very inflexible) to get to this position. You just keep the back set, flex the hips by moving the butt back, and lower the bar down to just below the knees are a little lower. Only if you sought to lower the bar more than this would you need more knee flexion. And if you artificially sought to produce more knee flexion, which I have seen, then you are doing a very unnatural thing.

Lots of people pretty much explain a stiff legged deadlift as the same thing as that. It's not. The bar does not hug the body and it probalby was most likely done originally with completely straight legs and rounded back. If only slightly rounded back. You are basically bending over with the bar and picking it back up in the same way.

There are some die-hards who still do that. And many others who call what they are doing stiff legged deads but are doing a sort of version of a Romanian. The semi stiff leggeds ARE done to place more STRESS on the lumbar erectors. Whether rounded or not, moving the bar away from the shins is going to do this. While Romanians will train the heck out of lumbar endurance (and overall back endurance) while tageting the glutes and hamstrings greatly.

[MONSTAFACE]

every time i read a post from eric i feel dumber and dumber lol. JK

[Eric3237]

Well you know I have to choose who I believe as well. The problem is you got a lot of people who claim to have seen this movment performed for years before it was ever dubbed Romanians. Jim Smytz claimed to have named it at his workout center in 1990 after seeing a Romanian lifter do it. Others have also claimed to have seen it years before and some of them named it too

From what I can gather one big thing is you never fully straighten you knees. They stay flexed at around 15 or a little more degrees. They don't flex anymore or less at any point in the movement. A lot of people will do simultaneous knee and hip extension at the top of the ascent but it is supposed to be a hip thrust alone. The thing in question is if it was ever "locked out" at the hips or it the torso was always slightly forward.

I actually do both versions, locking out and not locking out. Not locking out slows the movment down but it focus a lot of back endurance and endurance overall. Locking out allows me to do it a little bit more on the strength-speed end of things because I am not slowing down the bar as much. This is just my personal take. In general I would remind people to always fully lock out their deadlifts! And in general, classic or not, I'd rather fully lock it out and contract the glutes...for my main way of doing it. And do the non lockout kind as an alternate version to work on endurance more.

[1quick1]

Very informative info Eric.

[Eric3237]

I actually found a vid on youtube with good form, lol.

This is actually a comparison of the barbell trajectory of romanians versus powercleans but the romanian part is the "classic" romanian at least as far as I've been able to tease out what classic is. It's really quick but if you watch real close you will see how it matches with the description I gave above and notice particularly that knee flexion does not change throughout.

You Tube

I do want to note that if you try to mimic his depth and you don't have the ROM your lower back will round out and you will no longer be doing a Romanian (or anything good, imo). It doesn't matter if you stop just below your knees or lower or even if you can reach the floor as much as it matters you do it right. ROM can be improved but an injured back is much harder to fix.

[MONSTAFACE]

great vid eric. im gonna study that for a little minute

[ChinPieceDave667]

man that is a great vid. thanks.

[widdoes2504]

Great video man. Thanks.