Competitive deadlifting.

[Draft]

Random question. Was watching a vid from the 2008 IPF WC and alot of the competitors seemed to be deadlifting sumo. Is this legal? What would the advantage be with respect to lifting normally?

[tinytraps]

Why would they do it in the wc if it was not legal??

Sumo uses more glutes hammys than lowback you get a bit more out of the suit as well. Alot more technical than "normal" deadlifting and is really an individual thing, some lifters are more suited for it than others.

[Draft]

Yea I realised after asking whether it was legal it was a stupid question. I guess I was just more surprised that it was.

Cheers for that TT.

[nate225]

Answer is yes in PLing but usually no in Strongman.

Sumo suits some body types (leverages) more than others - there's a good study on this somewhere (PMan might have it???).

[Pilsner]

Further to Nates reply, sumo offers better leverage for many lifters particularly smaller lifters and female lifters where the distance from the ground can be minimized.

As lifters get bigger and the weight is moved a reasonably distance due to the size of the lifter (and leverage advantages for sumo decrease) more lifters tend to pull conventional.

Eastern block training also tends to focus on doing squats / deadlifts multiple times a week, which is more do-able using sumo style as it does not load the back to the same extent as conventional.

Finally the body type of the best deadlifters, like Nick Hansen or Andy Bolton or Lamar Gant is usually suited towards conventional. Hence lifters without ideal deadlifting leverages, will potentially benefit more from Sumo.

[Draft]

Cheers for the responses guys. Helps heaps.

Also makes some sense as to why most of the female lifters in the 52kg class were going sumo.

[Old Bull]

Further to Nates reply, sumo offers better leverage for many lifters particularly smaller lifters and female lifters where the distance from the ground can be minimized.

As lifters get bigger and the weight is moved a reasonably distance due to the size of the lifter (and leverage advantages for sumo decrease) more lifters tend to pull conventional.

Eastern block training also tends to focus on doing squats / deadlifts multiple times a week, which is more do-able using sumo style as it does not load the back to the same extent as conventional.

Finally the body type of the best deadlifters, like Nick Hansen or Andy Bolton or Lamar Gant is usually suited towards conventional. Hence lifters without ideal deadlifting leverages, will potentially benefit more from Sumo.

Also makes some sense as to why most of the female lifters in the 52kg class were going sumo.

They also have a wider pelvic structure which tends to suit Sumo better.

[big MAC]

I only started deadlifting in 2009, and quickly found that despite a big front squat and things that supposedly help off the floor, my leverages (long torso, long femurs, med arms) make it hard to get the weight off the ground. I really do have an oly lifters build.

After much experimentation I have shifted to Sumo and immediately was able to lift similar, if not bigger weights. As mentioned, mostly it depends on leverages.

[mr natural]

yeah i'm the same, find the sumo style works alot better for me, found the normal way felt totally wrong for me.

[Matrix]

I agree with Big Mac here, IMO sumo stance suits a certain structure, if you have relatively short arms and a long torso a sumo stance makes it easier to maintain a neutral spine throughout the lift as you dont need to squat down as low and bend forward at the hip as much at the start of the lift, as such you start the lift in a more upright spinal position which emphasizes more leg drive than spinal erector strength.

With a conventional stance, the forward lean at the hip is greater, which generally suits a longer armed and/or more flexible lifter.

One great benefit of the Sumo stance is the inner thigh activation which can add greatly to thigh thickness in certain bbuilding poses like ab/thigh and most muscular.

[EMC]

you could have short legs and proportional torso and long arms and you would be able to be very upright with good levers for pulling conventional. however if you expand on this and one were to have a longer torso his leverage would be decreased(slightly) as he will be over the bar or hips lower...if thats nuetralized by having longer legs you need up being a completely proportional lifter...

the deadlift is more leverage technical than lifting technical. people lift wrong because their setup wrong.

"do not try to stuff your body in a position in which it cannot assume"