Romanian deadlift vs deadlift: what's the difference?

The difference between a Romanian deadlift (RDL) and a deadlift is where the rep starts and how much the knees bend. A deadlift starts on the floor with bent knees and is a push-and-pull to standing; an RDL starts standing, lowers the bar along the thighs with the knees nearly still, and turns around before the plates touch the floor. The RDL is lighter, longer at the bottom for the hamstrings, and — in the Zyra Workouts catalog — filed differently depending on whether you use a barbell or dumbbells.

Muscles worked

Why the catalog files the barbell RDL under back and the dumbbell RDL under hamstrings

Honestly: it is a quirk of the catalog rows, not a statement that the barbell version trains a different muscle. The barbell RDL row was written alongside the deadlift (back primary; hamstrings, glutes, forearms secondary) and the dumbbell RDL row was written as a hamstring exercise (hamstrings primary; glutes, back secondary). The app counts volume from those rows, so the choice matters in your week:

• Three sets of barbell RDL add 3 sets to back and 1.5 each to hamstrings, glutes and forearms.
• Three sets of dumbbell RDL add 3 sets to hamstrings and 1.5 each to glutes and back.

If your hamstring bar on the dashboard looks low despite plenty of barbell RDLs, this is why. You can either accept the count, log the dumbbell row when you want hamstring-first credit, or create a custom exercise with the muscles set the way you prefer. We are flagging it rather than hiding it because a volume number you cannot explain is not worth much.

Setup and execution

Deadlift. Bar over mid-foot, grip outside the legs, shins to the bar, brace, push the floor away with the bar on the legs, stand tall, return hips-first. Full checklist in the deadlift guide.

Romanian deadlift (either equipment). Start standing with the load in front of the thighs. Soften the knees a few degrees and then keep that angle. Push the hips straight back so the load slides down the thighs, back flat, until you feel the hamstrings limit the descent — usually around mid-shin. Drive the hips forward to stand. The knees do not bend further as you lower; if they do, the lift drifts toward a deadlift and the hamstrings lose the stretch. With dumbbells, keep them touching the legs the whole way.

Rep and RIR targets by goal

All three are compound exercises and share the compound table:

The rep ceiling is the number the app compares your last set against: the midpoint of the rep range plus the RIR target (round((min + max) / 2) + RIR). RIR is reps in reserve — how many more reps you could have done. These targets are the app's defaults, not a law; a program you build yourself can set anything.

How progression steps on this exercise

Equipment sets the step. Both barbell lifts move 2.5 kg at a time (one pair of 1.25 kg plates in the default gym); the dumbbell RDL moves 2 kg per hand, because dumbbell racks and stacks are assumed to step in fixed increments. The rule is the same: clear the rep ceiling and the load goes up one step with the reps reset to the floor; miss the floor and it comes down one step; otherwise hold. Each of the three rows keeps its own history and its own estimated 1RM (deadlift, barbell RDL, dumbbell RDL). This is arithmetic, not a trial result.

Alternatives

The swap ranking keeps the primary muscle, so the two RDLs get different lists:

The dumbbell RDL's list is the one most people expect from a hinge. If you log the barbell version and want hinge alternatives, use the exercise search rather than the ranked swaps.

The short version

Deadlift: from the floor, knees bend, heaviest, 180 s rest. RDL: from standing, knees still, lighter, hamstrings stretched, 150 s (barbell) or 120 s (dumbbell). Barbell RDL counts as back in the app; dumbbell RDL counts as hamstrings. Same targets, steps of 2.5 kg or 2 kg by equipment. Educational overview only — training guidance, not medical advice.