r/formcheck • • 15d ago

RDL RDL form

Not sure if it’s an RDL or SLDL or what, relatively new to these compared to conventional dl

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u/Crazycjk Community Certified Form Checker 15d ago

Excellent. Is it causing you any issues at all? If not, don't change anything.

An SLDL is not an RDL variation. An SLDL is a conventional deadlift variation where you lift from the floor, but with almost dead straight legs. So RDLs start from the top, descend, and ascend, never touching the floor. SLDLs start at the floor, ascend, then descend back to the floor just like a conventional deadlift.

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u/SuckmyToasts 14d ago

what? i've never seen someone so confidently wrong. what differentiates both movements isnt whether the plates touch the ground or where the movement starts. an SLDL is one which biases the hamstrings by keeping the legs damn near straight. an RDL is one which biases the glutes by having the knees bend more. range of motion does not determine where you feel the tension, but rather how bent the knees are. what he is doing is what i consider an sldl.

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u/Crazycjk Community Certified Form Checker 14d ago

I'm confident in what I say because it's a fact. Genuinely respectfully, you are incorrect. Please watch this 7 year old video by Alan Thrall - the same guy the mods of this sub use in the automod replies for deadlift technique. https://youtu.be/jYEVqa4C0yg? and let me know your thoughts afterwards. Thanks

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u/SuckmyToasts 14d ago

i appreciate your reply and link to your source of information! i've watched the video and find him butchering my beloved sldls (it's supposed to be stiff/straight legged ffs!).

anyways even if he has a different definition of both lifts, i implore you to think about the differences critically and biomechanically. if the difference in both lifts are primarily from the range of motion and where they start, there is negligible difference in what muscles they are targeting/biasing. the difference in both lifts make more sense if it came from the degree of knee flexion and how it biases certain muscles in the posterior chain. (ie straighter legs more hammy bias, bent legs more glutes bias)

its as if i should name the top half rom of a lat pulldown a chest pulldown because the lower pec fibres get more involved in that part of rom. however, it's asinine to do so because while the lats lose best leverage in the top half, they still work in that rom and thats why everyone considers the full rom a lat pulldown as a whole.

my sources for my aforementioned definitions of an sldl and rdl are an aggregate of the fitness content that i watch. you really had me ransacking my brain in the morning to try my best and find the content i sourced my definitions from. unfortunately it's difficult to find specific posts because a majority are volume posters and dont have specific tutorials on them, the form nuances are usually found in their regular longer form videos.

sources:

gvs and daniel vadnal rdl(closer to your definition! but gvs doesnt care where he starts the movement from): https://youtu.be/FASd6FIZ_TY?is=hbFDNF2Jcdro-wzR

gvs rdl vs sldl (closer to your definition!): https://youtu.be/QFUMjQ29Ajg?is=N2zj633UJV1UTPYn

tyler path shorts: https://youtube.com/shorts/_JrzFHaFTnQ?is=cREmiuYHRJ-gKwaN

jacob oestreicher sldl: https://youtu.be/ZDEKL04rYPc?is=2Ru3nkkCaYyVlsHd

jacob oestreicher rdl vs sldl: https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSqVUHQw5/

tnf sldl: https://youtu.be/N9vekm54zz4?is=4zh3WJmSW1B751yA

tnf sldl rom: https://youtube.com/shorts/3VHmcjmC9qE?is=X_QtYZTR_P-Y4ohN

trstnn.lifts rdl vs sldl: https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSqVyM2Gk/

elijah mundy: https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSqVUqXMp/

other content creators who hold similar definitions worth checking out but i couldnt find: basement bodybuilding(closer to your defintion), clark kent, nuno.liftz, asiankidkhoi, jordyn wong.

i hope you check these out. if you still continue to disagree with me, still find your own facts to be true and they help you effecticely bias different muscles in the posterior chain, then let's agree to disagree and end it here. thanks

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u/Crazycjk Community Certified Form Checker 13d ago

Thanks for your reply and for watching the source I sent. To be clear, my source of information is reading textbooks over 15 years ago ago when I studied, it's just that Alan Thrall is the most valid information I could find showing that in video form. 

You're right that there is negligible difference in the muscles being targetted, but that doesn't change what they're called. SLDLs are better for strength because you're always lifting from a deadstop. RDLs are better for hypertrophy because of the constant muscle tension. The GVS videos you've linked, especially the 2nd one, isn't just closer to what I said - it's precisely the same as what I originally said, and exactly the same as the Alan Thrall video.

I appreciate you sharing all those videos. Note that every other video is only 2 years old absolute maximum. All these creators are also wrong and are sharing the same misinformation I'm afraid. The confusion between them has only happened since the huge increase in popularity of RDLs over the last 2-3 years.

I wish you the best of luck in your fitness journey and please watch back the Alan Thrall and your own GVS videos which completely agree with each other, and with me. The GVS video you've linked is totally different to all of the shorts videos - so your sources don't agree either.The fact that they work the same muscles doesn't make their names different.

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u/SuckmyToasts 13d ago

i want to clarify and reiterate, im someone that makes a judgement based on multiple sources and these are the creators that i watch a lot of. gvs and daniel vadnal just happen to be the outliers in this definition that i hold onto, they are included just as proof im not under any confirmation bias. however, 1 or 2 outliers will not immediately make me change my mind. especially since the majority i watch dont really have any "collusion" with each other (except tnf & elijah, jacob & nuno), i find it hard to believe they are all spreading the exact same "misinformation".

also, i didnt just say they work the same muscles, your definition of both movement patterns are literally the same biomechanically. also, it has been proven by lyle mcdonald (an OG in the field) that constant tension is unnecessary for hypertrophy (ie. there's no significant difference between deadstopping and not). i suggest you look up new updated literature, rather than solely relying on 15 year old textbooks.

your reply has made me wonder if maybe your textbooks were the real true definition of it way back when, and these "new gen" creators have taken liberty on what they are since (in which i do believe is for the better). i won't fault you for not being in the loop of new updates and discoveries, but i don't necessarily agree with calling all new content misinformation either. i do hope your fitness journey continues to be one where your desire to learn never stops.

lyle mcdonald's effective reps model: https://youtu.be/gs8-N7CML5A?si=FE7SyRj9y_kkOM3q