Mark Church is our new Olympic Weightlifting coach (see short bio here - scroll down the page)
Photo courtesy of Flatirons CrossFit
Mark taught us on using the Romanian Deadlift (RDL) to improve our Olympic lifting, particularly the "hip pop" - that moment of transition between the deadlift portion of the lift to the explosive pulling of the weight using your hips.
The RDL is very similar to the Stiff-Legged Deadlift. The only difference is that the knees are bent throughout the movement in the RDL, whereas the knees are locked in the Stiff-Legged Deadlift.
The RDL is a great tool for building strength in the legs (particularly the hamstrings), core, back and shoulders. The movement is almost the same as in the clean and jerk and snatch. You must keep the back arched and the shoulder blades pulled together throughout the movement. I discovered that my back, especially my shoulder blade area, is weaker than I thought and it felt the strain after only a few reps. Mark said this is an area most people are weak in. Also, keep the knees bent at the same angle throughout the movement.
Romanian Deadlift Tutorial video
