The comparison of electromyographic activation between conventional deadlift and Romanian deadlift among trained men

This study was aimed to determine and compare the muscle activation of Romanian deadlift (RD) and Conventional deadlift (CD) exercise among trained men. Twenty (n=20) trained men (mean age=21.34±1.82 years old) were recruited to perform RD and CD with load at 80% of their one-repetition maximum (1RM). Participants performed both RD and CD in a cross-sectional counterbalance study design to avoid bias. Data was recorded with electromyogram (EMG) device and was analyzed using one way repeated measure analysis of variance (ANOVA) to indicate the significant differences in muscle activation between both deadlifts. Muscle activation of vastus lateralis (VL), vastus medialis (VM) and bicep femoris (BF) were analyzed and compared between RD and CD. The result showed that during CD, the VL and VM muscle activity was significantly higher compared to the data recorded during performing RD. In contrast, BF muscle activity was found to be greater during performing RD compared to CD. Overall, the findings showed the CD exercises activated more vastus lateralis and vastus medialis muscle while RD exercises activated more bicep femoris muscle. Therefore, this finding expresses as a piece of important knowledge for coaches to better understand the basic muscular activation during deadlift exercises.