How to do a Landmine Romanian Deadlift
Reviewed by Jim Parker, CPT, B.A. Kinesiology
About Landmine Romanian Deadlift
Barbells
Landmine
Workouts with Landmine Romanian Deadlift
Target muscles worked
Instructions for Proper Form
Landmine Romanian Deadlift is a variation on the more standard Romanian Deadlift. Like other Romanian Deadlifts, this is a compound movement that primarily targets the hamstrings and glutes. The use of a landmine can add a small amount of stability to the movement compared to other equipment.
- Position yourself with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart and a slight bend in your knees.
- Grasp the landmine with both hands such that your fingers are underneath the landmine.
- Hinge at your hips to slowly allow the weight to descend. Your knees should still have roughly the same slight bend as before.
- Stop and hold this position for a moment once you feel a stretch in your hamstrings. Some exercisers may be able to reach the floor, others may be limited by flexibility.
- Engage your glutes and hamstrings to drive your hips forwards in order to raise the weight.
- Hold this position for a moment at the top of the movement while maintaining tension in your glutes and hamstrings.
- Maintain good posture by keeping your core engaged, shoulders back, chest up and knees behind your toes.
- You should feel this exercise primarily in your glutes and hamstrings. You should feel a stretch in your hamstrings at the lowest point in the movement.
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Landmine Romanian Deadlift is also known as:
- Landmine RDL
Common Form Mistakes
Going too Low
While your knees are going to bend a bit as you drop your hips back, limit your range of motion to as low as your hip hinge allows. Hamstring flexibility is the deciding factor in how low you should go.
Rounding Your Back
Rounding your back will allow you to reach closer to the floor, but also increases your risk of injury, and reduces the effectiveness of this exercise. Focus on keeping your shoulders back, and your lower back braced to support your spine. Hamstring flexibility is the deciding factor in how low you can go.
Weight & 1 Rep Max Calculator
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Alternative Exercises to Landmine Romanian Deadlift
1. Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift
97.6 mSCORESWAPPED 3,824 TIMESThis exercise is a variation on Romanian Deadlifts. Like other Romanian Deadlifts, this is a compound exercise that primarily targets your hamstrings and glutes. The use of dumbbells can help with some limitations in mobility, and is a great starting point for anyone working towards performing Deadlifts or Romanian Deadlifts with a barbell.
- Beginner
- Hamstrings
- Dumbbells
2. Seated Leg Curl
98.8 mSCORESWAPPED 2,900 TIMESSeated Leg Curl is a weighted, isolation exercise that targets the hamstrings. Because a vast majority of lower body exercises tend to be compound movements, this exercise is a great way to isolate the hamstrings for building muscle mass, and developing strength. The use of a machine restricts your range of motion, and adds stability, allowing you to focus on exertion more than stabilizing the movement.
- Beginner
- Hamstrings
- Leg Curl Machine
3. Lying Hamstrings Curl
95.8 mSCORESWAPPED 1,766 TIMESLying Hamstring Curl is a weighted, isolation exercise that targets the hamstrings. There’s a relatively short list of isolation exercises for lower body muscle groups. Because of this, this is a great addition to a lower body workout in order to build strength and muscle mass in the hamstrings specifically. The use of a machine restricts your range of motion, and adds stability to the movement, allowing you to focus on exertion rather than stabilizing the movement.
- Beginner
- Hamstrings
- Leg Curl Machine
4. Romanian Deadlift
98.6 mSCORESWAPPED 1,491 TIMESRomanian Deadlift is a variation on the more standard Deadlift. It’s a compound exercise that primarily targets your glutes, and hamstrings. Unlike the standard Deadlift, this variation focuses mostly on driving your hips forward to raise the weight, and restricts movement in your knees. This is a great exercise for building strength, and can translate well to other exercises that utilize a hip hinge.
- Intermediate
- Hamstrings
- Barbells
5. Deadlift
98.7 mSCORESWAPPED 1,282 TIMESDeadlift is one of the three powerlifting movements. It’s a compound exercise that primarily targets muscles in the rear chain (backside of the body), and is great for developing strength in these muscles. It’s a staple in most programs, and is often used as a metric for tracking strength.
- Intermediate
- Hamstrings
- Barbells
6. Smith Machine Stiff-Legged Deadlift
84.6 mSCORESWAPPED 935 TIMESSmith Machine Stiff-Legged Deadlift is a variation on the more standard Romanian Deadlift. Like other Romanian Deadlift variations, this is a compound movement that primarily targets the glutes and hamstrings. The use of a Smith Machine restricts your range of motion, and adds stability to the movement. This allows you to focus on exertion, or learning the movement rather than focusing on stability.
- Beginner
- Hamstrings
- Smith Machine
7. Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift to Shrug
68.5 mSCORESWAPPED 867 TIMESThe Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift to Shrug combines the hamstring and glute focus of the RDL with upper back strengthening via a shrug. Executing a hip hinge with dumbbells, followed by a shoulder shrug at the top, this exercise effectively targets the posterior chain and traps. It's an efficient way to enhance lower body strength and upper back muscle definition in one movement.
- Beginner
- Hamstrings
- Dumbbells
8. Kettlebell Sumo Squat
87.3 mSCORESWAPPED 864 TIMESKettlebell Sumo Squat is a squat variation. Like other squat variations, this exercise is a compound movement that targets the hamstrings, glutes and quads. Positioning your feet wider than you would for a standard squat helps to recruit the inner thigh, as well as help individuals with mobility limitations.
- Intermediate
- Hamstrings
- Kettlebells
9. Single Leg Romanian Deadlift
80.8 mSCORESWAPPED 845 TIMESSingle Leg Romanian Deadlift is a variation on the more standard Romanian Deadlift. Like other Romanian Deadlift variations, this is a compound movement that primarily targets the glutes and hamstrings. Performing this exercise on one leg, is a great way to identify, and help address, discrepancies in mobility, strength, and stability between sides. This is a great exercise for anyone looking to improve their ability to perform a large number of other compound lower body movements like Squats, Lunges, or even Olympic lifts.
- Intermediate
- Hamstrings
- Dumbbells
10. Good Morning
90.4 mSCORESWAPPED 792 TIMESGood Morning’s are a compound exercise that primarily target muscles in the rear chain (backside of the body), but especially the hamstrings, and lower back. While this can be an effective exercise, there is some risk to performing this exercise with a loaded barbell on your back. If you’re unfamiliar with this exercise, try starting with a dumbbell variation as you learn the movement.
- Intermediate
- Hamstrings
- Barbells
- Squat Rack