Go through the whole video to really understand the notes I provide here. 1. Tilt hip a lil backwards at start of motion and maintain it throughout. 2. Don't lock out knees, just a slight bend and maintain it throughout. 3. Chest up: think about keeping chest up throughout the motion. 4. Slow eccentric: go down slow, 1-2-3-4-5. Take corrective action of find any, like knee bending, chest sagging etc. 5. Internal cueing: knees back, chest up, tummy out. Repeat these cues in your head throughout the motion. 6. Optimal depth: hit the depth where the pain is maximum in hamstring, without compromising on any of the above points.
I do find it interesting that I always felt my hamstrings doing a deadlift but I could never feel them with the Romanian deadlift, and, after I found your channel through Juji Mufu, I had watched some of the videos with Jared and how he taught the Romanian deadlift and now I absolutely love that exercise, I feel it every single time and sometimes you do have to humble yourself and say after 20 years you can always learn something new
You can thank AthleanX for spreading lies about "bad" exercises. People need to understand that there's no proof that upright rows cause shoulder impingement, and if it hurts you then just do something else, it doesn't mean it's inherently bad for everybody.
also, really cool to see mike in the gym like this! not a crazy omg session but just some kinda chill gym technique talk. feels like 2013 again suddenly lol
I just started incorporating SLDL into my leg routine. These are great tips! I’ve found that when I try and go for maximum stretch I do end up bending my back a bit - Now I know! Really appreciate these tips. Invaluable! Love this series on Targeting the Muscle!
When I listened to Jared’s cue of pushing your butt back and up, that’s when I really felt my hamstrings for the first time. That small piece of advice has really helped me grow.
This video is awesome! Keep grinding! I love working out with this playlist! Question for you... have you ever used Next Level Diet? I got a custom muscle-building meal plan from them and it's really working for me.
What a great video! Beginner here Just got some dumbbells for home workouts, trying to hit all muscles, I'm putting together a program from your videos Been watching a bunch of SLDL and RDL vids, but this one really solidified SLDL for me Thank you Dr Mike May your butlers be obedient and your Lamborghini's many
Just wanted to say thank you for all the videos and your approach to teaching. I started my journey in January and you were one of the first channels I found and I know it has saved me hours of mistakes. Thank you and loved your fat loss series and explanation and I’m seeing great results!
1. Arching lower back. 2. Knees almost locked out, stable, don't bend. 3. Chest up. Don't let back round. 4. Slow eccentric. Slow down. Fast up. 5. Optimal Depth. Stay in your active range. (grows with time as your hammies lengthen. remember, mobility is strength in end range motion). Stop when lowback/upperback rounds/ both.
As a former dancer and dance teacher, I totes agree with the internal cueing! Grrrreeeeat tips. And I WILL achieve world-collapsing hammies. Mahalo, Dr. Mike!!
Thank you for talking about arching ONLY for the point of hamstring stretch and not the classic BS about don’t round your spine. If you want to grow your hamstrings, put the strain on them. If you want to grow your spinal erectors, put the strain on them. You won’t die and you’ll get a badass back canyon
Totally. I will say that because there is not a major consensus on spinal injury mechanisms yet, I might caution people from going ultra heavy with a rounded back. It might be 100% fine, but I don't think we know that confidently enough yet to commit to it full-steam. - Dr. Mike
While combining all the cues: Knee back, Chest up and tummy out, a cue i like to keep in my head is the bar path... Keep the bar close to your body(Quads, knees , shins)
Honestly I think the muscle soreness and pump in the hamstrings feels the most like actual pain, not sure if it's because hamstrings rarely get worked in real life or they have different pain receptors but they never particular feel good when "worked", like the burn in quads vs hams, is totally different
This also stretches your nerves a lot, if you go too deep it might be the sciatic nerve that's stretching along with the muscle. So if you have stiffness in the glutes for example that affects the nerves, you might actually feel the pain and not the stretch/burn in the muscle, or the pain masks the markers for good muscle work. Maybe.
I always do RDLS with a decent bend in my knees and feel it more in my glutes. I straightened my knees quite a bit and after 2 sets with 265x8 it felt like my hamstrings were ripping off when I can usually do 315x10-12 on RDLS with no direct sensation in my hams
Absolutely fantastic video! I've been afraid of deadlifts since I started training. This helps a lot. You've done other videos that also helped. I'm still a little afraid for my back and I do back hyperextensions instead some, but this encourages me to keep SLDLs in my routine.
This videos are really improved with moving examples. He’s so correct when discussing these overlooked groups. They’re in lots of our routines, but how many of us take them as seriously as we should?
What’s being demonstrated here is actually Romanian Deadlifts (RDLs), which start the hinge from the top; SLDLs start the hinge from the floor (essentially, a conventional deadlift with a higher hip position). The cueing and suggestions presented works for either, though SLDLs will have you return the weight to the floor, which will slightly bend the knees if you don’t have the flexibility. Still a good video, though!
Interesting. As far as I understand it, RDLs are not formal nomenclature in modern sport science. People were doing the exact same variation of SLDLs all over the world before the Romanians made them popular. I think the best nomenclature is to call all fixed-knee, moving-hip hamstring-targeting deadlifts SLDLs, and then be more specific about other details, like "from the ground" or "with a wide grip," etc. - Dr. Mike
@@RenaissancePeriodization Weird. I thought it was some dude named Roman that coined it. In all seriousness, thanks for the take; definitely learn something new every day!
One little thing that makes it even better for me is letting the bar naturaly come a little forward at the bottom. The bigger moment arm makes the force higher at the most stretched position
Amazing video as always! Could you please do one on bent over Barbell rows? I'm an intermediate trainee and according to the Team FullROM members my technique is pretty good but everytime I try bent over BB rows everysingle other muscle in my body exept my back becomes the limiting factor.
I remember you telling the jacked asian guy from the John Haack video to have less knee bend and it makes all the difference for me in feeling the hams and not glutes.
I know some people have Kyriakos Grizzly pictures instead of mirror in the bathroom but.... i will have yours Dr Mike! ;) Amazing knowledge , amazing channel! My biceps are sore again since I watch your videos! Thanks! Greetings from Poland!
Literally just had a workout with a friend who was struggling with feeling his hamstrings on these and gave up on it when I couldn't give him the right cues. This is exactly what I needed this week
i hope we get some of these focused around triceps and shoulders too! i've been struggling for almost a year now without much progress.. very informative video as always
Last point about depth really resonates. I’ve been trying to increase my ROM on this exercise but finding it less intense on my hamstrings and glutes and more in my lower back lately. Thought maybe I just reached a point where ai need a deload week (prob do anyway), but I think it’s more that my form is breaking down at depth and taking tension off. Thanks for the video, definitely connected with this one.
Hey Dr. Mike, I know the focus is hypertrophy BUT, what if you want/need to gain ROM? Would love a series on gaining full ROM /recovering full ROM for hips and shoulders with your total science approach Was also gonna ask about how the fuck this is distinct from RDL and I see you've already clarified - it's not! Love the content as always.
Dr. Mike, Thanks as always. I love this new series. Do any of the tips change if the primary goal of the exercise is as an accessory for conventional deadlift, vs. just for hypertrophy?
For the first rep of the set, I'll bend at the hips as described, then bend the knees a little, then bend the hips into the space that's created, and then squeeze the quads back up against the hams, and that's the starting point. I seem to find that burning stretch better squeezing up from the quads than sinking down from the hips.
Thank you for doing this! As a weightlifter, I do a lot of (similar) RDLs, but I could never figure out why I couldn't feel SLDLs quite right in a hypertrophy block. I thought at first it was due to weightlifting shoes, but your video answered the question -- too much quad / knee bend.
I’ve always done them like this!! and just realized recently that people were bending their legs and using too much weight . Dorian explains it too. Another cue that works for me is to literally scrape your legs with the bar the whole way up and down.. I also like to use a narrower stance
Omg this is going to be a huge difference, I hate any deadlifts because I can't tell wtf I'm even feeling properly. It's like OK, I move big weight but I don't feel crap, it sucks.