Tip The Deadlift That Builds More Muscle Search Skip to content Menu Menu follow us Store Articles Community Loyal-T Club Loyal-T Points Rewards Subscribe to Save Search Search The World s Trusted Source & Community for Elite Fitness Training Tip The Deadlift That Builds More Muscle The standard deadlift is great for strength but it' s missing something when it comes to hypertrophy Try this variation instead by Dr John Rusin December 2, 2016August 18, 2019 Tags Tips, Training The Deadlift Not a Great Muscle Builder While the deadlift plays a huge role in strength, power, and injury resilience, it's not the best movement for building muscle. It may sound like absolute blasphemy that the king of all exercises won't optimally build muscle, but there's a better option if your main goal is hypertrophy. Here's the deal: The standard deadlift is really lagging in controlled eccentric overload. That's the "negative" or when you lower the bar back to the ground. Once you get heavy, this becomes unsafe. This eccentric portion of the lift is arguably the most pivotal phase for overloading contractile units and sparking the breakdown and remodeling phase of tissue that leads to muscular hypertrophy. Do the RDL The hip hinge movement pattern can be trained many ways, including my favorite posterior chain movement, the Romanian deadlift or RDL. Every training program should include it. The RDL or Romanian Deadlift So what's the difference between the traditional deadlift and the RDL? Two words: eccentric loading. The reason the RDL is so effective for building mass through the hamstrings, glutes, and back is that it incorporates both the eccentric (lowering) and concentric (lifting) portions of the movement. It also "stretches" the hamstrings, which elicits an anabolic effect when loaded properly. Does This Mean You Shouldn t Deadlift Hell no. But if your goal is to build a big and strong backside, don't neglect foundational principles of exercise science, biomechanics, and movement anatomy like training each phase of a lift. Just remember, every deadlift is a hip hinge, but not every hip hinge needs to be a traditional barbell deadlift. Get The T Nation Newsletters Don' t Miss Out Expert Insights To Get Stronger, Gain Muscle Faster, And Take Your Lifting To The Next Level related posts Training Tornado Training – Part 1 The importance of rotational training in anyone's exercise program whether they're an athlete, a weekend warrior, or anything in between. Training Paul Chek March 1 Training Tip Deadlift Barefoot Here s Why Want to get better results from big pulls? Take your shoes off. Here's why, plus info on "active vs. passive" foot. Tips, Training Tony Gentilcore July 8 Videos Tip Ring Push-Ups – From Beginner to Advanced Push-ups on rings or straps are not only challenging, they also allow you to train around injuries and really target the chest. Here's how to do them. Exercise Coaching, Tips Drew Murphy January 25 Training Tip Pros and Cons of Training to Failure It's the most important key to muscle growth. And it'll fry your CNS and lead to injury. Wait, which is it? A little of both. Here's why. Bodybuilding, Tips, Training Christian Thibaudeau January 16