Single Leg Romanian Deadlift: A Complete Guide

Quick Intro

Single Leg Romanian Deadlift, often shortened to the Single Leg RDL, is a unilateral strength exercise performed by standing on one leg and hinging forward at the hip while the trailing leg extends back for balance, then reversing the motion to return to standing. It’s the single-leg version of Romanian Deadlift, adding a balance demand on top of the same hamstring stretch.

Equipment Needed

The standard loading is a single dumbbell held in the hand opposite the standing leg. A dumbbell in each hand or a barbell across the front of the thighs also works once the balance is settled. Bodyweight alone is a sound starting point too, since balance is often the limiting factor here before load ever becomes one.

Why Single Leg Romanian Deadlift Matters

Hinging forward on one leg draws heavily on the back of the standing leg’s thigh (hamstrings, biceps femoris and semitendinosus), which lengthens under stretch as the torso tips forward, while the seat (gluteus maximus) drives the return to standing. The side of the hip (gluteus medius) works hard the entire rep just to keep the pelvis level, since there’s no second leg underneath to share that job, and the lower back (erector spinae) and the deep core muscle wrapping the midsection (transverse abdominis) both brace to keep the spine steady through a single-leg hinge. Holding the dumbbell on the side opposite the standing leg adds a pull that tries to turn the pelvis toward the weight, so the stance hip also has to resist rotation for the whole rep, and the front of the shin (tibialis anterior) makes small corrections at the ankle throughout. Balance is the main demand, and it is what sets this lift apart from a two-legged hinge: standing on one leg while tipping the torso forward and reaching the trailing leg back is a trained skill that a bilateral deadlift never asks for. Strength comes with it, along with a good share of flexibility and coordination.

When to Do It

Single Leg Romanian Deadlift works well on a lower body or posterior-chain-focused day, either as a unilateral complement to a two-legged hinge or as the main hamstring movement on a day built around single-leg work. Doing it earlier in a session, before fatigue makes the balance harder to control, is generally a better choice than saving it for the end.

Anyone with a current hamstring strain, a balance impairment or an ankle that doesn’t tolerate single-leg work well should approach this cautiously, reducing the range of motion or working near a wall or rail for extra support until confidence builds.

Getting Ready

A few minutes of easy movement, like walking or a light bike ride, raises body temperature before anything else. A handful of bodyweight reps on each leg previews how the standing leg and hip feel today and rehearses the balance the loaded version will demand.

Starting the first working set with bodyweight only, even if load is planned for later sets, lets the balance settle in before anything gets harder to control.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. The setup. Stand on one leg with a slight bend in the knee, the dumbbell in the hand opposite that leg, or the hands empty for a bodyweight set.

2. The hinge. Push the hips back and tip the torso forward, letting the weight travel straight down toward the floor and the trailing leg extend straight back for balance.

3. The depth. Continue hinging until the torso is roughly parallel to the floor, the hips staying square the whole way.

4. The return. Drive the hips forward by squeezing the glute of the standing leg, standing back up under control without pulling the weight up with the arm.

How Many, How Often

Single Leg Romanian Deadlift is dosed per leg, since each side balances and hinges independently and often needs a different starting point depending on which leg feels more stable.

Hips that stay square to the floor through the whole rep matter more here than how much weight gets added, since letting the hips rotate open is the most common way this exercise’s balance and hinge break down together.

Modifications and Variations

Single Leg Romanian Deadlift has two easier steps below it and one harder step above.

For an easier entry point that removes the balance demand, Romanian Deadlift hinges on both legs at once, a lower-complexity way to build the same hamstring stretch and hip hinge before adding single-leg balance on top of it.

For the same single-leg pattern with no load, Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift — Bodyweight is the right regression for anyone whose pelvis rotates noticeably once a dumbbell is added.

For a harder version, Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift — Ipsilateral Load moves the dumbbell to the hand on the same side as the standing leg. That pulls the body’s weight toward the stance side and asks the hip for a harder sideways correction, so the load is usually reduced at first.

Progression path: Romanian Deadlift → Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift — Bodyweight → Single Leg Romanian Deadlift → Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift — Ipsilateral Load.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Letting the hips rotate open during the hinge. It’s specific to what balancing on one leg tends to do under fatigue: as the standing leg tires, the hips often twist open toward the trailing leg rather than staying square to the floor. Moving the torso and trailing leg as one unit around the hip of the standing leg, keeping the hips square, protects both the balance and the hamstring stretch.

Rounding the lower back to reach further into the hinge. Chasing extra range by rounding the spine, rather than hinging purely from the hip, shifts strain away from the hamstrings and onto the lower back. Stopping the hinge at whatever depth keeps the back flat, even if that’s short of parallel, protects the spine.

Rushing the tempo to avoid wobbling. Moving quickly through the hinge to get past the hardest part of the balance challenge makes the wobble worse, not better. A slow, controlled tempo on both the way down and the way back up gives the stabilizing muscles time to do their job.

Pulling the dumbbell back up with the arm. The arm is only a hook for the weight. Returning to standing by driving through the glute of the standing leg is what builds the strength this lift is for.

After Your Set

A minute of unhurried walking settles the breathing first. Sitting on the floor with the legs extended and reaching gently toward the toes stretches the hamstrings of the leg that just worked through a deep hinge. Rising up onto the toes a few times, then holding a light calf stretch, loosens the ankle that helped stabilize the balance throughout the set.

Going Deeper

Single Leg Romanian Deadlift usually sits alongside a two-legged hinge on a lower body day, added specifically because the single-leg demand trains balance and surfaces any left-right imbalance a bilateral lift can hide. Scheduling it before the stabilizing muscles have taken on fatigue from other lifts tends to keep the set noticeably more controlled.

Progress here often stalls on balance before it stalls on hamstring strength, especially early on: a lifter who hinges confidently on two legs may still find this exercise humbling purely because standing on one leg while bending forward is its own separate skill from the hip hinge itself. Practicing the balance without any hinge at all, just standing on one leg, tends to build that stability faster than adding load to a hinge that’s still wobbling.

Someone new to this exercise generally finds a stable bodyweight version within the first couple of sessions, and works up to a full working load on both legs somewhere in the four to six week range, often a bit sooner on the naturally more stable leg than the other.

How to Know You’re Improving

1. A stable bodyweight hinge on each leg with no wobble or hip rotation
2. Hips that stay square to the floor through the full range of the hinge
3. A torso that reaches close to parallel with the floor under control
4. A working load and rep count that feel close to even between the left and right leg

Hips that stay square through the whole hinge, not the exact depth or weight, is the marker of progress here.

Muscles Worked

• Biceps Femoris (the outer hamstring at the back of the thigh, taking the whole hinge load on one leg)
• Semitendinosus (the inner hamstring at the back of the thigh, lengthening under load alongside the outer hamstring)
• Gluteus Maximus (the largest glute muscle, pulling the single standing hip back to extension)
• Gluteus Medius (a smaller glute muscle at the side of the hip, stopping the pelvis rotating open as the free leg rises)
• Erector Spinae (the lower back muscles, holding the spine neutral while the body balances on one foot)
• Transverse Abdominis (a deep core muscle that wraps around the torso like a corset, keeping the trunk from twisting through the hinge)
• Tibialis Anterior (a muscle along the front of the shin, correcting at the ankle as the standing leg holds position)

FAQ

Why does this exercise feel so much harder than a regular Romanian Deadlift with the same weight? Standing on one leg removes the support the other leg normally provides, so the same working weight demands balance on top of the usual hamstring and hip hinge work (see Why Single Leg Romanian Deadlift Matters above).

Is it normal for one leg to feel noticeably less stable than the other? Yes, a balance or strength gap between sides is common and is exactly the kind of imbalance this exercise is good at surfacing, since a two-legged hinge can let a more stable side quietly do more of the work.

Why hold the dumbbell on the side opposite the standing leg? The weight pulls the pelvis toward it, and the hip of the standing leg has to resist that pull through the whole hinge. It is the loading that keeps the pelvis easiest to hold level while still training that resistance to rotation. Holding it on the same side is a harder version (see Modifications and Variations above).

Do I need to hold weight to get value from this exercise? No, a controlled bodyweight version is a training stimulus on its own, especially early on, since balance is often the limiting factor before load becomes relevant at all.

Should I add weight before I can do this exercise well with just bodyweight? No, a stable, controlled bodyweight hinge on both legs is worth establishing first, since adding load to an unstable hinge mostly trains the wobble, not the hamstrings.

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Related to Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift — Bodyweight as the easier version and Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift — Ipsilateral Load as the harder one.