Should You Do the Sumo Deadlift or Conventional Deadlift? | Men’s Health Muscle - video Dailymotion

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Is a Sumo Deadlift Better Than Conventional Deadlifts? | Men’s Health Muscle

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00:00 Conventional or sumo deadlift? Which one is better and is one of them cheating?

00:04 Welcome to one of the most never-ending debates in fitness circles over one of

00:09 the most fundamental exercises in the workout lexicon. The sumo deadlift and

00:13 conventional deadlift are both variations of a classic posterior chain

00:17 move, the barbell deadlift, although there's one noticeable difference

00:20 between both options, your foot position. The conventional deadlift has your feet

00:24 about hip-width apart inside your hands when you're grasping the bar. The sumo

00:29 deadlift shifts your feet outside the bar with your hands inside. Thing is, this

00:34 one tiny shift comes with several subtle adjustments to how the entire exercise

00:38 challenges your target muscles. No matter the deadlift, sure you're gonna train

00:43 your hamstrings, your glutes, and your back muscles and you'll get to move a

00:46 heavy load, but both of these deadlifts have different reputations and strength

00:50 circles and they offer different training stimulus too. Let's dive into

00:54 both and figure out which one is best for you. Now that we understand both

00:58 lifts a bit more, let's address the eternal knock on the sumo deadlift that

01:03 it's cheating. Plenty of trainers and powerlifters suggest that the sumo

01:07 deadlift is an easier lift since the classic hinge range of motion you use is

01:12 smaller. Because we've widened our feet, we've reduced the total distance that

01:16 the bar travels up from the ground which instantly means we're doing less total

01:20 work on some level. But here's the thing, if the sumo deadlift really was cheating,

01:25 then you would expect the world record to be sumo, right? Wrong, because it's

01:30 actually held by Thor Bjornsson who lifted 1,104.5 pounds conventionally.

01:36 Survey the powerlifting ranks and you'll see elite lifters who lift with both

01:41 styles and that's because each deadlift offers different challenges and favors

01:45 slightly different levers. Yes, the conventional deadlift results in a

01:49 greater range of motion through your hip hinge, but it's also easier on your hip

01:53 mobility and it allows you to stand and retract your shoulder blades more

01:57 naturally too. The sumo isn't cheating, it's just a different style of lift with

02:02 different total body demands. Both the sumo and conventional deadlift actually

02:07 share a host of characteristics because they're both barbell deadlifts. Both of

02:11 them challenge your hinge, meaning you'll train your hamstrings and glutes and

02:14 you'll challenge your spine with load too. Both lifts essentially allow you to

02:19 stand with a heavy load and squeeze your glutes and both lifts are going to be

02:23 among the heaviest weight exercises you do once you've mastered them. The

02:27 deadlift, regardless of style, is the strongest exercise you're gonna do. The

02:33 difference between these two lifts is all about how they challenge your hips

02:36 and challenge your spine and because of those differences, they both serve

02:41 different purposes in your training. The conventional deadlift is going to result

02:45 in your spine getting much closer to parallel to the ground and it will

02:48 challenge your butt to shift further backwards into your hinge. Because of

02:52 that and because you're lifting over a greater range of motion and thus for a

02:56 slightly longer span of time per rep, each conventional deadlift rep will

03:00 challenge your lower back and mid back more. And because you've pushed your butt

03:04 back more, you're going to aggressively challenge your hamstrings and glutes

03:08 over a larger range of motion. The sumo deadlift results in a more upright

03:13 torso position and this can help take stress off your lower back. It also has

03:17 you moving over that smaller range of motion so it's not going to be nearly as

03:22 effective at growing your hamstrings and glutes. Instead, it offers a greater

03:26 challenge for your quads and hip adductors which are placed into an

03:30 advantageous position to help you stand. That quad and hip adductor strengthening

03:34 though comes at a cost because you'll need to train more hip mobility to get

03:39 into proper position for the sumo. And this move isn't worth doing for quad

03:43 hypertrophy because even though your quads are activating here more than

03:46 they do on conventional deadlifts, they're not really going through a great

03:49 range of motion and point-blank you just have better options to train your quads.

03:53 So how do you choose which deadlift is for you? It all comes down to your goals

03:58 and your body structure. There are four main situations in which we'll want to

04:02 focus on the conventional deadlift. One, if you're chasing hamstring and glute

04:07 hypertrophy, point-blank this is a better hypertrophy lift since we get that big

04:11 range of motion and more loaded tension through those muscles. Two, if you want to

04:17 get better at Olympic lifts like this clean and the snatch, you'll need to do

04:21 the conventional deadlift because this translates directly to those lifts. Three,

04:25 if you have incredibly long arms and short legs, you'll find that you're

04:28 strong on the conventional deadlift because you can capitalize on the power

04:32 of the hamstrings and glutes more directly than you can on the sumo but

04:35 thanks to your long arms you still won't have to move over a vast range of motion.

04:39 And speaking of learning curves, the last group that love the conventional

04:43 deadlift is the beginner. There's a lot more to learn with the sumo deadlift and

04:47 it's harder to master your hinge motion from this position. So learn the classic

04:51 conventional deadlift first before thinking about shifting to the sumo.

04:54 There are two main situations in which we'll want to consider the sumo deadlift.

04:58 One, if you are dealing with lower back issues, you'll prefer the sumo. Your back

05:04 and torso are more upright in this deadlift and that results in less

05:07 overall back stress and less overall back risk. Second, if you have short arms

05:13 and very long femurs, you may want to give the sumo deadlift a try. It'll be

05:17 easier for you to find a naturally powerful position because of your

05:21 levels. Neither of these lifts though is essential for general fitness and to be

05:26 honest, if I could choose one deadlift for everyone on the planet to do, it

05:30 would be neither a conventional nor a sumo deadlift. It would be a trap bar

05:34 deadlift which is just an easier lift overall. Plenty of guys, even your

05:38 favorite pro athletes, just get strong at the trap bar deadlift and never even

05:42 have to touch the barbell. But if you're going to dive into barbell training,

05:46 instead of thinking of this as an either/or proposition, I'd actually

05:50 suggest you master both lifts. Start with the conventional but every six to eight

05:54 weeks consider cycling to the sumo and then cycle back to the conventional

05:58 after six to eight weeks of that. Those conventional deadlifts will bulletproof

06:01 you against injury when you're training them, forcing you into a more aggressive

06:05 hinge even if you have to go a little bit lighter. Meanwhile, the sumo cycles

06:09 will give your lower back a break while also letting you continue to lift heavy

06:13 loads and possibly even heavier loads once you learn to lift. Let everyone else

06:18 work their jaws and get caught up in the debate of which deadlift is better.

06:22 You'll be growing your hamstrings, glutes, and quads with both.

06:27 (upbeat music)

Should You Do the Sumo Deadlift or Conventional Deadlift? | Men’s Health Muscle

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