The Romanian deadlift is a hinge, not a squat, and this Romanian deadlift counter follows the part that matters: the angle at your hips between torso and thighs.
Hold a dumbbell in each hand, push your hips back, and stand tall again. There's one mode and both legs stay planted. It's a quiet, controlled lift, and the coach's count lands as you finish each rep upright.
Phone setup
Lean the phone upright at chest height and take a few steps back until your whole body, head to feet, is in the shot.
Stand side-on to the phone, so the hinge shows up as an angle between your torso and thighs.
- Your hips travel backward as you hinge, so leave a little space behind you in the shot.
Form cues
- Push your hips back. Reach them toward the wall behind you and let your torso tip forward as a result.
- Keep your knees soft. A gentle bend is all you need. If your knees do the work you're squatting, and the counter reads your hips, not your knees.
- Drag the weights close. Slide the dumbbells down your thighs so they travel in a straight line.
- Finish standing tall. The rep ends upright, so squeeze your glutes and stack your hips under your shoulders.
Common mistakes
- Squatting the weights down. Bending your knees deeply turns the hinge into a squat. Send your hips back first and keep the knees quiet.
- Standing front-on. From the front the hinge flattens into your torso and the angle gets lost. Stand side-on instead.
- Half-standing between hinges. A rep finishes upright, so stand all the way tall before the next hinge.
How FitnessBruh counts it
The angle that counts is at your hip, between shoulder, hip and knee. You begin tall, the forward hinge is the far position, and finishing tall again completes the rep.
The count responds to the hinge at your hips rather than the bend in your knees, so concentrate on pushing your hips back and let the knees follow.
There's no one-leg mode. The counter reads one hinge with both feet planted, so how you hinge is down to you.
FAQ
Does the counter watch my knees or my hips?
Your hips. It measures the angle between your torso and thighs, so the hinge is what moves the count while a bent knee on its own doesn't. Think hips back, not knees forward.
Is there a one-leg setting for this exercise?
It doesn't offer one. The counter reads a single hinge with both feet planted, so stand on both legs and let the weights travel down together.
How tall do I need to stand between reps?
All the way up, hips under your shoulders. Finishing upright is what completes each rep, so a half stand between hinges leaves the count waiting for you.
