First of all, I want you to think of an RDL forever more as a leg extension. Imagine that you’re doing an inclined leg press except the hip sled isn’t there and you’re using your legs to push the world away from you. Since the sled isn’t there you have to provide all that rigidity with your trunk and back muscles.
If I pause this video at the 4 second mark I like the angle of your torso and your knee flexion. I don’t like that the bar is way out in front of your center of gravity. You’re knees are a little more ‘out over your feet’ that I ike but that’s because you have the bar too far forward.
My suggestion is keep it closer to your shins. Here is a checklist I always recced to new lifters…
1.) wiggle your toes. You want to keep the projection of your center of gravity at or behind your mid foot. Don’t move the COG out over the balls of your feet or your toes. Keeping your toes pointed up or wiggling during the lift helps prevent this.
2.) bang your shins. Move the bar back against your shins then adjust your starting position to keep the bar close to your legs through the motion.
3.) PA fart. Stick your chest out like Pam Anderson. Clinch your lower abs like you’re going to fart (but please don’t).
4.) arms are ropes. Think of your arms as ropes that are strung between your shoulders and the bar. Don’t initiate the lift with your biceps. You’re arms are ropes so they should just provide tension between your shoulders and the bar.
5.) keep your back angle. This lift is a leg extension that pushes the world away. The angle your back makes with the floor should not change until the bar is past your knee. Once the bar clears your knee as far as I’m concerned you can put it back down & be proud…the RDL is done. If you keep your back angle static throughout the lift you will feel it most in your glutes & hips when the bar approaches and clears your knees.
A guy in a skirt once suggested that I do these at an ‘inch a minute’. (That was Dan John…a guy who also takes weight loss inspiration from bathroom walls but does know a thing or two about strength) I’m gonna suggest the same to you…take the bar and just drill this lift moving super slow, Ibrahim Shams style. Wiggle your toes, bang your shins, PA fart, arms are ropes, back angle, push the world away.