By Michael Beiter, CPT
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The deadlift is known to be one of the most effective exercises for well…pretty much everything. It is one of the first moves taught to athletes at the high school level. That new “sport” they show on ESPN (which I refuse to name) uses it as one of their base movements. You can bet your ass any bodybuilder with a barn door sized back will attribute their posterior development to it. And I haven’t met a 600lb deadlifter who I’d be comfortable calling a slouch. If this isn’t enough to convince you of its effectiveness, throw 250lbs on a bar and do 5 sets of 10. I’m willing to bet it will have you weeping on the floor trying to rationalize why you aren’t able to stand up.
There are 2 major disciplines when it comes to the deadlift; the conventional style and the sumo stance. While both require you to “simply” pick up a weight and put it back down, there are several complexities for each that when learned and practiced can have you successfully pulling big weights. Let’s not forget the importance of staying injury free as well.
This article will cover some tips on executing a proper sumo deadlift. Before we dive in be aware that the style of this lift is much more demanding on the hips than the conventional stance. With that in mind it shouldn’t be a surprise that anyone looking to train with a sumo stance needs to test and find appropriate maxes instead of just transferring your conventional numbers over. It may be tempting but trust me, DON’T DO IT. You’ve been warned.
On to the tips:
- Approach bar with straight legs. Image may be NSFW.
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Consistency is the name of the game when learning a new lift. I’ve experimented with several different widths in regards to foot position but the most important factor is that you can find a comfortable position and get there every time you approach the bar. Everyone is different and personal preference will reign supreme but when setting up against the bar I make sure my knees are locked out and legs completely straight. The bar should be against your shins. This ensures that from one set to the next you are not changing your stance. Sounds simple but it is very easy to forget. - Find appropriate toe angle.Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view. The first and second tips are synonymous with each other in that once you have your width and shins in position, the feet need to follow suit. With a wide stance in the sumo pull you are allowed to point your toes outwards. Doing this helps a great deal in feeling stable through the lift and also to ensure that your knees track properly (see next tip). I haven’t found a position that seems to work with everyone but I’d say I’m close to 45 degrees with my placement. Again personal preference varies. Just know that anything less than 30 degrees is wrong, take my word for it or try it yourself. It will only take one rep for you to find out why. - Drive knees out, drop straight down.Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view. The best tip I’ve heard to help the sumo pull came from Dave Tate. “Drop your nuts on the bar.” He’s right. But before you can do that you need to make sure your knees are set up as such that when you begin to pull the weight up you aren’t going to run into yourself. This is where the knees tracking over your toes are so important. When you turn your toes out in a closed chain exercise (deadlift) you are locking your legs into an externally rotated position. This sounds scary but what it allows you to do is push your knees out over your toes and create a straight shin angle so that you have a straight shot to pull the bar to lockout with minimal to no interference from the legs. Anyone who has gotten themselves into a sloppy set of deadlifts knows that if you don’t set up right you can easily start running into yourself and making the lift much more difficult. So bottom line: once your feet are set, aim to push your knees outwards over your big or middle toe. Combine this with dropping straight down on top of the bar and you are set to start your pull…almost. - Keep cervical spine neutral.Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view. So far every tip has been about the set up. It is my hope that you can begin to understand that proper set up can lead to EASY execution. As the saying goes “you can’t out train bad form.” This tip will address the final piece before actually moving the weight. Right now you are set from the waist down, but what to do with the other half of your body? Obviously we want to keep our back in a solid, arched position for as long as possible. When dealing with maximum loads this is usually the first thing to go – this is understandable. However when using sub maximal loads we want to maintain proper back positioning as much as we can. Everyone knows that lumbar extension is good but when we move all the way up to the spine to the cervical area, many lifters are practicing improper form. For a long time it’s been understood that “skying the eyes” and looking up during a lift is proper. Recent research has disproved this aggressive position and recommends that lifters maintain a neutral neck position. A good image of this would be to have a tennis ball tucked under your chin the whole time with the goal of maintaining that position through the lift. Now I have found another way to support this: if I look up the whole time during my set up, when I drop to grip the bar I often grip unevenly. This, as you can imagine leads to some ugly dead lifting. Pick a spot 5-10 feet in front of you on the floor, stare at it and you’ll be good to go. - Hips, hips, hips…and more hips. Finally! You’re set up and ready to lift. Now what? Spread the floor with your legs and drive your hips through as fast as possible. When you think you’ve hipped through enough, do it some more. This lift is all about the hips. Stay upward as long as you can. Remember when you were to “simply” pick it up and put it down. That’s what’s going on here. I’m not kidding when I say that if you take your set up seriously and practice proper form with the sub-weights, then this will be the easy part.
Now go out there and channel your inner sumo wrestler. Your new PR’s await you.
Mike
Have a question or comment for Mike? Email him at mike@nutrisportfpt.com.
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