RDL vs SLDL

[IronWill]

I've been watching a lot of videos for both. While the descriptions are different. What I see people doing in the videos, well, pretty much looks the same. What am I missing?

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by IronWill

I've been watching a lot of videos for both. While the descriptions are different. What I see people doing in the videos, well, pretty much looks the same. What am I missing?

They are different. Here is my article on the differences:


Comparing Stiff Leg Deadlifts And Romanian Deadlifts | Huge Gainer

Long story short, the RDL is ridden down the thigh while moving the hips back. he RDL is stopped when the lower back wants to break. Watch as I ride the weight down my legs:

Steve Shaw, 635 pound Romanian Deadlift - YouTube

Steve Shaw, 635 pound Romanian Deadlift - YouTube

Also, watch this:

The RDL

[Off Road]

BtB has it. . .
The RDL is more "hips back" with bent knees.
The SLDL is more "bend at the hips" with straight legs.

[gaspers04]

I feel that they are essentially the same

[BigJosh]

Excerpt from Starting Strength Volume 3 by Marc Rippetoe:

Romanian Deadlifts

Once upon a time, as legend has it, the incredible Romanian weightlifter Nicu Vlad vistied teh U.S. Olypmic Training Center. Vlad was strong.....
word is on the street he front squated 700 pounds for a double. So when Vlad performed an exercise that no one had seen before, it quite naturally got a lot of attention...
The exercise involved taking the bar out of the rack from the hang position, stepping back to clear the rack, and then lowering the bar down to the mid-shins and raising it back to the hang position. This movement looked like a deadlift, but one that started at the tope instead of the bottom, so naturally it had to have a new name. The term "Romanian Deadlift" has been applied to it since....
The RDL has two important characteristics that distinguish it from it's parent exercise. The first is that it uses very little quardriceps because the knees start off nearly straight - unlocked, but not very - and pretty much stay that way, so the quads don't have an opportunity to actively extend the knees during the movement......
But more important is the difference in the fundamental nature of the two movements. The deadlift starts with a concentric contraction as the bar is pulled from the floor, and the eccentric phase is not really emphasized because the lift is essentially over after it is locked out at the top. In contrast, the RDL is like the squat in that the movement starts with eccentric contraction, the "negative," which precedes the concentric. The bar starts from a position of knee and hip extension, the bar is lowered down to into flexion, and a stretch reflex initiates the concentric contraction back into extension....
The RDL starts in the rack with the pins a little lower than the level of the hands in the hang postion.

Stiff-Legged deadlifts

The Stiff-legged deadlift (or SLDL) is possibly a more familiar exercise in most gyms, as a result of the fact that many people do the deadlift wrong and it ends up looking this way accidentally. The SLDL is essentially an RDL off of the floor -without the stretch reflex but with the higher hips, more horizontal back angel, and more vertical shins of the RDL. SInce the SLDL starts on the floor, it involves a longer range of motion than does the RDL, whis is supposed to stop at the point where the low back unlocks due to limitations in hamstring extensibility. Most people can't do a strict RDL all the way down to the floor with the bar loaded with 17-inch plates....

Take your regular deadlift stance, with the bar directly over mid foot.....
The SLDL is essentially a deadlift done according to the five steps (outlined for the regular deadlift earlier in the book) but without step 3, the dropping-the-shins-forward-to-the-bar-part.

Again, each rep is replaced on the floor,reset, and pulled from a stop; it is a deadlift, not an RDL, and each rep starts from a dead stop.

[brad1224]

BTB Hit it on the head. Great one man

[BigJosh]

As for the quotes I took the time to type them out of the book Starting Strength Vol3. It is not the complete write up of those sections, but I did not take anything out of context.
I know it's a matter of semantics, but I think it is incorrect to say the only difference between the 2 movements is that one the bar is ran up against the thighs, in the other the bar is held out. There is more to it than that.
One is a concentric movement the other eccentric.
Once starts from the hang, the other from the floor.

I challenge anyone saying other wise to read the sections in the book which I quoted. If you still want to ignore or disagree with the way it is spelled out in the book and claim otherwise, fine. Whatever. But at least take in the information before blindly rejecting it and stating otherwise. You owe that to yourself.

[Fazc]

Well where it starts, ends and all that noise is individual anyway. For my money, the difference is in the purpose:

RDL is used to groove an arched back pull where the prime mover is the hips/hams. The weight used isn't as high as for the SLDL because it's just a far stricter exercise.
SLDL is used to groove a round back where the lower back flexes as well. It's basically very similar to a full conventional deadlift.

Very different purpose and performance. I think if you do a sloppy RDL then it will end up looking like a partial SLDL and then in my opinion you've also completely missed the point. For me personally, I wouldn't say that video Steve posted is an RDL. Upper back rounds, it's a partial SLDL. For my money! So apart from it being a good feat of strength, I'd question the value in it. If you're rounding and flexing your back why not just take it all the way down? The RDL typically stops shy of the floor because of a nice arch in the back, shoulders back and tight locked (but slightly bent) legs. But if you're rounding your back and bending the legs to that degree anyway, why artificially stop the movement? Makes no sense to me.

But having said that arguing over semantics seems a bit silly really, especially in this. It's all about what you're doing the movement for, and knowing how it's going to assist you.

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by BigJosh

As for the quotes I took the time to type them out of the book Starting Strength Vol3. It is not the complete write up of those sections, but I did not take anything out of context.
I know it's a matter of semantics, but I think it is incorrect to say the only difference between the 2 movements is that one the bar is ran up against the thighs, in the other the bar is held out. There is more to it than that.
One is a concentric movement the other eccentric.
Once starts from the hang, the other from the floor.

I challenge anyone saying other wise to read the sections in the book which I quoted. If you still want to ignore or disagree with the way it is spelled out in the book and claim otherwise, fine. Whatever. But at least take in the information before blindly rejecting it and stating otherwise. You owe that to yourself.

My RDL info is based on Rippetoe's. Watch his video.

The RDL

Video tại vimeo.com - Đăng tại www.KyXaoViet.Com

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by Fazc

I wouldn't say that video Steve posted is an RDL. Upper back rounds, it's a partial SLDL.

Not sure what upper back rounding has to do with how I am driving that lift. I am driving it by moving hips back.

Also, when you say partial, what do you mean? I am about 1-2 inches off the floor so it can't mean depth. I assume you mean it's not a true RDL?

I perform mine in the same manner Ripp describes his. My upper back rounds, but I've never heard it discussed, so perhaps I missed something. My lower back stays tight, and my hips drive back. I ride the back down my leg, and do not allow my lower back to break.

I don't understand the upper back comment so perhaps you can explain more why you feel that's important to an RDL.