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Deadlifting Sumo or Conventional? Which Is Right For You?

If you struggle to find which deadlift is the best, there isn’t always a right or wrong answer to it.

It comes down to, which style are you stronger in and which is more comfortable for you.

How do you know which is good? Hip structure can tell a lot, here is why.

Hip Structure Can Tell A Lot About Your Deadlifts

Stronger in conventional? You may be strong in straight-ahead hip flexion.

Sumo deadlifts your strong suit? Hip flexion with hip abduction may be your strongest indicator.

What comes into play with each is 4 factors:

  • Location of hip sockets (further forward or back.)
  • How deep or shallow the hips are.
  • Angle of where the femur meets the pelvis.
  • Rotation of the femur and where it meets the pelvis.

These 4 factors can determine both the range of motion the hips can go through and the amount of tension you can develop in the hip position.

In All Honesty, Does Range Of Motion Matter?

Many people assume sumo deadlifts would be easier due to the range of motion.

Is this true?!!!!

Not at all…

But what is true is that sumos do have a shorter range of motion. It doesn’t mean that range of motion is the end all be all.

What is can show is that deadlifting conventional requires more mechanical work to complete the lift.

Considering most deadlifts take 5 seconds or less to complete and heavier deadlifts around 10 seconds. Our muscles have enough ATP and phosphocreatine to ensure max effort outputs lasting shorter than 8-10 seconds won’t be limited by energy production.

The reality is, the added mechanical work would impact the performance when deadlifting for numerous reps compared to a 1RM attempt.

When failing at completing the lift, you fail at the weakest part of the movement rather than the entire lift.

In the case where shorter range of motion is better, the top heaviest deadlifts have all been accomplished by using conventional form.

But Isn’t It True That Deadlifts Require Less Hip Extension?

In theory, it sounds true when you bring in what you lean in biomechanics.

Hip extension is defined as a movement in the sagittal (front to back) plane and torque is equal to moment arm multiplied by the load applied.

That would mean with sumo deadlifts, the distance between your hips and the bar is shorter, it would require less hip extension and torque to lift the weight?

Well….

Biomechanics wouldn’t apply here. Hip Extension Occurs in three dimensions:

  • External rotation
  • Sagittal – Front to back
  • Frontal – Left to right

Doesn’t matter how much the hip is abducted & externally rotated, the length of the moment arm is essentially unaffected. It will take as much torque to extend the hip.

Keeping in mind that hip extension occurs in 3 dimensions, the stance width wouldn’t affect the hip extension requirements in any way.

Escamilla found that hip demands were no different than the conventional & sumo.

Is There Any Significant Differences Between The Two?

Only two big differences were:

  • Sumo deadlifts are harder on your quads.
  • Conventional’s are harder on your spinal erectors off the floor.

Great! But How Do I Know Which Is Best For Me?

You pretty much need to train with both.

Try them out a few months and see which is best for you.

Eventually you will find one variation is easier to pull heavy weight with compared to the other.

From there, you can start attacking weaknesses.

If you find you pull more with sumo, your back may be a weak point.

If you pull more on conventional’s, then chances are, your quads are weak.

Either way, you can quickly find out where your weak points are at and build a strategy to build them up.

Try for a couple of months with both variations and determine which is the right fit.



This post first appeared on Home Page – Blog | Deadlift Workouts - #1 Deadli, please read the originial post: here

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