Let's do the Romanian Dead Lift.
1. While standing, grasp a pair of kettlebells or dumbbells and hold them at your sides (beginners can use just their body weight). Keep your knees slightly bent as shown above.
2. Contract your abdominal muscles and clench your buttocks tight while pushing the buttocks backward, what we call hinging from the hip.
Your upper body and arms should stay motionless. Reach a position where your upper torso is parallel to the floor and upper and lower back are flat, as shown in the second photo.
3. While in this position your hands holding the weights should fall past your knees toward the middle of your lower leg. You should feel a stretch in your hamstrings (along the back of the leg).
4. Pull yourself back up to the starting position and repeat the movement for a total of 8-to-12 repetitions.
5. The movement should take 3-to-4 seconds to lower, a brief 1 second pause at the bottom of the position and about 2 seconds to return to the starting posture. It is not a fast or jerky motion.
6. Tips for success: Do not round your upper or lower back. Keep your eyes looking straight ahead at the beginning and toward the floor as you descend.
Do not allow your arms to drift out far away from your legs or let the weights to fall toward your toes.
Standing on boxes or weight plates to perform this motion will not add difficulty or enhance results. What that does is round the lower back and place excessive pressure on the sacroiliac (hip) joints and in the long term, can result in back pain.
7. Muscles worked include the hamstring group; abductor magnus; the top portion of the gastrocnemius in the calf; lumbar erectors; abdominals and deep intrinsic core muscles; lats as stabilizers of the hip and arms strengthened from holding the weights.
8. Athletes with inflexible areas – in the lower back, hamstrings, calves, hips and ankles or have tight or rounded shoulders -- will find this motion difficult to perform and should not attempt it until they become more flexible.
Disclaimer: Do not begin any physical activity described in this column without prior approval from your health care professional.