LEVEL UP Physiques

My take on RDLs. Most will probably disagree with me but frankly, these just really don’t make sense for glute growth. In addition they make little sense for hamstring and lower back growth as well. Does this make them useless? Not at all. But they are highly fatigueing and in my opinion offer little stimulus. Agree or disagree?

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READ BEFORE COMMENTING ☺️ To grow a target muscle optimally we need 3 things. 1. A force aligned with the target muscles fiber orientation (what direction it runs) 2. A considerable range of motion of the joint that muscle articulates. 3. Challenges the function of that muscle. The RDL checks some but not all of these boxes for several muscle groups. RDLs can provide SOME stimulation of the gluteus medius and gluteus minimus which can contribute to overall glute growth. However even those muscles aren’t receiving much range of motion. Hamstrings are being challenged but in limited range proving poor stimulation on those areas, unless of course the goal is strength at the end (stretched) range. The hamstrings are challenged at the end range but less as the concentric portion progresses. The low back also is not being challenged much because we ideally keep a neutral spine through this movement and the erectors extend the spine. We’d an exercise that challenges erectors from a fully flexed spinal position ideally. Furthermore the hamstring only serves to extend the hip as a secondary function, but as explained there is no resistance opposing hip extension because the line of force is not opposing that function. This would be the same idea as squeezing the butt at the top of the rep of a squat. That would serve no more resistance than just squeezing your butt with no weight. This is not a useless exercise by any means. In fact I program it often. However, it may not be great for hypertrophy. We can manipulate this exercise to have a much fuller resistance profile by banding the hip and tying the band off horizontally to a post. The band will challenge hip extension because the force of a band is intrinsic and not reliant of gravity, therefore it has a resistance in line with it’s end points. I’d argue a hip thrust variation is going to give much more bang for your buck with stimulation of all glute muscles especially when paired with a hip external rotation exercise such as a hip abduction machine. For the low back, extensions and Jefferson curls are great. The hamstrings are best stimulated in Nordic, seated, lying and standing hamstring curls.