For hamstring growth
For hamstring growth, the two are close. Dumbbell Romanian deadlift rates slightly higher: more stretch, easier to progress.
Glute-ham raise keeps more of the work on the hamstrings.
Both are good choices, and they train the hamstrings differently. Using both across your week covers more of the muscle than either alone: in studies, varied exercises grew parts of a muscle that one exercise missed. (Fonseca et al., 2014; Costa et al., 2021)
The research score comes from these, scored by hand from the studies. Lifter scores appear once an exercise has 10 ratings. How scores work
Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift. The same deep hamstring stretch with dumbbells: less tiring than the barbell version, though the weight jumps are bigger.
Glute-Ham Raise. Trains the hamstrings at the knee and hip together, but bodyweight is a lot to start with and hard to add to.
For hamstring growth, the two are close. Dumbbell Romanian deadlift rates slightly higher: more stretch, easier to progress. Glute-ham raise keeps more of the work on the hamstrings. Both are good choices, and they train the hamstrings differently. Using both across your week covers more of the muscle than either alone: in studies, varied exercises grew parts of a muscle that one exercise missed.
Dumbbell Romanian deadlift is easier: it’s easy to learn, while glute-ham raise takes some practice.
Dumbbell Romanian deadlift needs dumbbells, so a home gym covers it. Glute-ham raise needs a GHD or back-extension bench, so for most people it’s a gym exercise.
About the same: both rate Strong for joint and recovery cost in our research rubric.