Note: this is an older post I’m bringing back to life, written ages ago on my personal blog.
If you know me personally, are following my videos or blog, then you probably know that I’m a big fan of correct exercise naming —I said ‘fan’, I didn’t say I’d get obsessive about it, well maybe sometimes—, you might have read my article here where I talk about naming Kettlebell Cleans correctly for what they are, rather than using “Clean” for many different type of Cleans.
In January 2015 I decided that I had enough of calling the Romanian Dead Lift (RDL) and as of that day I’m going to call the RDL for what it really is, which is a “Hip Hinge Hang Lift”, I won’t be calling it a Romanian Dead Lift anymore, as the weight is not dead on the ground, I first mentioned this in an older video I posted on Youtube back in 2014 covering Dead Lifts which you can view here. If we all keep calling it RDL it will just continue to cause confusion amongst newbies.
Romanian Dead Lift is now know as the Hip Hinge Hang Lift AKA 3HL
For a lift to have the word DEAD in it, the weight needs to be dead on the ground upon each repetition, i.e. not moving and needing to be lifted without momentum, and RDLs never hit the ground on each repetition.
The only dead that comes into play with the hang lift is when you ask your client to initiate the hang by Dead Lifting the weight up to starting position.
An acronym I propose to replace RDL with is 3HL (Hip Hinge Hang Lift), the RDL was never performed with a squatting movement, only hip hinging, therefore it’s quite appropriate to include the movement into the name and acronym.
If you don’t agree, please feel free to use the comment section below and explain why, if you do agree, I’d like to hear from you as well. But heck, ya’ll had since two thousand and fourteen to speak up and didn’t!
I made a video explaining the above, check it out below, go on and have a bit of a laugh at my silly attempt of bringing humour into this.
RDL is dead, 3HL or Hip Hinge Hang Lift is the new name of this awesome exercise that should be used instead of deadlifts if you’re lacking flexibility or looking for an exercise to increase time under tension.
Barbend.com has some great info on the Romanian Deadlift worth checking out.
