Problems with Sumo (even though parts of the lift feel better than conventional)

Pain & Rehab Forum [Moderated]
1

Hello Doctors,

I tried sumo yesterday because I have been curious about how it would feel this time around (have tried it previously). It felt really amazing! It was much easier to get into position to start each rep than conventional. The only part that felt bad was the lockout. My hamstrings and uppermost portion of the calf muscles started acting up. When I tried sumo before this was a problem then as well. One thing that happens is the the hamstrings near the insertion point always click and generally feel weird right at lockout (not a big issue). Then the uppermost portion of the calf muscle seems to almost hurt a bit as if it cramps up (not sure if actually cramping up, but just feels similar). I wouldn’t have been concerned about this at all, because I could easily just keep doing conventional, but Sumo feels so natural all the way up to the lockout that I want to “investigate” further. Are there other cases of this happening when people have tried Sumo? How could I overcome this if I wanted to put in the work? I am guessing just practicing with very light weight to force my hamstrings and calf muscles to adapt to the new movement pattern.

Thanks,
ColoradoMinesCole

2

If the movement is fairly new to your current training program, I would just give yourself time to adapt to it. The angles are a bit different at the hip during lockout compared to conventional, but nothing that would cause me to make any specific recommendations beyond starting with a tolerable stance width and slowly progressing from lower RPE work (6-7) to higher RPE work (8-9) over an extended amount of time.

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