Romanian Deadlift vs Good Morning --- how do they differ?

The way I learned both of these lifts is to keep legs 'straight' (slight bend in knees is normal), and push your butt out, causing your torso to move from perpendicular to the floor towards parallel, until you feel a slight stretch in hamstrings. The difference between the two is that in RDL the bar is held like a deadlift and in Good Mornings the bar is on the back, a bit lower then it would be for a back squat.

The movement between the two seems pretty much the same, so I'm just wondering if someone can enlighten me as to how the bar position changes the exercises (in terms of muscles recruited, etc).

I'm looking at these exercises as an assistance exercise for posterior chain in 5/3/1 and trying to figure out if there any benefit of doing one over the other.

The two are very, very similar lifts. The difference in bar position changes the leverage. IMO the good morning will hit your lower back a little harder than the RDL will. I was faced with the same decision and went with good mornings to work my lower back more since that is the weak point in my deadlift. If you are more concerned with hamstring development then go with RDLs.

Very similar movements that work the same muscle groups. If anything GM will work lower back more...or maybe not. I'm not entirely positive that's true.

Personally I prefer RDL for posterior chain assistance. You would do fine doing either though.

[QUOTE=PeterGibbons316;812307731]The two are very, very similar lifts. The difference in bar position changes the leverage. IMO the good morning will hit your lower back a little harder than the RDL will. I was faced with the same decision and went with good mornings to work my lower back more since that is the weak point in my deadlift. If you are more concerned with hamstring development then go with RDLs.[/QUOTE]

Thanks, that was pretty much my intuition. I did Good Mornings my last mesocycle but I notice that driving out of the 'hole' when doing squats is the limiting factor in squat reps, so maybe RDLs will hit posterior chain a bit harder. I think I'll give them a try this mesocycle.

[QUOTE=Engineer_Guy;812310231]Very similar movements that work the same muscle groups. If anything GM will work lower back more...or maybe not. I'm not entirely positive that's true.

Personally I prefer RDL for posterior chain assistance. You would do fine doing either though.[/QUOTE]

Yeah the difference is probably miniscule, but it doesn't hurt to switch things so I'll give RDLs a go this mesocycle.

[QUOTE=creepy1;812310731]Thanks, that was pretty much my intuition. I did Good Mornings my last mesocycle but I notice that driving out of the 'hole' when doing squats is the limiting factor in squat reps, so maybe RDLs will hit posterior chain a bit harder. I think I'll give them a try this mesocycle.[/QUOTE]
Sound logic. It all depends on what you are trying to get out of the lift. Sounds like your weakness is more in the glutes/hams and so RDLs would probably be a better fit to help you tackle that weak point.

Also, how is your hip drive? Are you keeping the hamstrings tight out of the hole? If your hips come forward and the hamstrings don't stay tight then they can't assist in the lift. Just something else to be mindful of. ;)

[QUOTE=PeterGibbons316;812312031]Sound logic. It all depends on what you are trying to get out of the lift. Sounds like your weakness is more in the glutes/hams and so RDLs would probably be a better fit to help you tackle that weak point.

Also, how is your hip drive? Are you keeping the hamstrings tight out of the hole? If your hips come forward and the hamstrings don't stay tight then they can't assist in the lift. Just something else to be mindful of. ;)[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the tip, I'll have to keep this in mind next squat day. I find that I can drive out pretty good for the first few reps on the final work set, but it gets tougher and tougher. I know its my last rep when I start to doubt if I'm going to be able to get out of the bottom. Once I get out though, the rest of the lift is not a problem, but I rack it cause I know if I do another I will probably have to dump it.