And why it truly doesn’t matter…
For our Deadlift cycle you will have the choice to pull sumo or traditional. A sumo deadlift means the athletes feet are in a wider position and their hips are a bit lower, bringing their chest up taller. Like with all things in life it is not as simple as you should do this vs you should do that. Tons of things come into play during the set up, the pull, length of the athletes limbs and body mechanics, but it generally boils down to: “it really doesn’t matter, as both are legal in most if not all powerlifting federations, involve very similar joint motions, produce relatively similar moment arms and torque profiles, and if someone feels better pulling one way over the other, then party on!”
To dig in a bit deeper, “if someone has a long torso relative to their femur length, they may benefit from a sumo stance due to being in a more vertical torso position and exposing their spine to comparatively less shear force than with a conventional deadlift. Conversely, someone with a long femur and short torso may be comfortable pulling a house off it’s supports with no back issues due to a shorter lever arm length of their spine.” Now this is not a hard and fast rule. More importantly is how an athlete feels during the lift and if they are feeling muscles working differently in one style of lift over the other.
The coach can always help guide you on which one to choose for the cycle, but we encourage you to try both as you warm up and then make a decision. You can also click HERE to read more from this article!