I follow quite a few powerlifting pages on social media and almost always without fail, whenever there is a video of someone deadlifting with a sumo stance, numerous people will say things like “That’s not a deadlift!” and “That’s easy! Now try it conventional! I’ve noticed the vast majority of these comments come from people who don’t compete/coach in powerlifting and haven’t had any formal training in exercise.
As someone who has never been able to lift more sumo than conventional, I can’t relate to the sumo hate/claims that it’s easier. So where does the hate come from? Is it simply guys being pissed off that a woman is stronger than them at picking stuff up off the ground? Or is there something else?
How do you go about pushing back against sumo deadlift hate? I want to be as fair and accurate as possible when pushing back. I usually remind people that
a) although the ROM is shorter (this is usually people’s go to argument), it’s only one factor in how difficult a lift is. Ultra wide grip benches, wide stance squats, wide grip pull ups etc also reduce the ROM, but not everyone will lift more with these variants.
b) If sumo was an inherently easier lift, every single powerlifter who pulls conventional would transition to sumo to improve their total and be more competitive.
c) although you may get more freaks/outliers who lift sumo (people who overall aren’t that strong but have a massive sumo), average sumo maxes are pretty similar to average conventional maxes.
If they want to learn more, I usually point them to this well-written article by Greg Nuckols
Is there anything you disagree with or would add to hammer home the point? Assuming you agree!
Thanks for the post. I’m not sure that I would push back against sumo deadlift hate with a stranger unless I had good reason to. If it’s just some stranger who doesn’t even lift, let alone compete…who cares? Even the most well-thought out arguments or article is going to make a difference.
If someone were to engage despite these warnings, I would first clarify why someone thinks sumo is “worse” from an outcome perspective. Specifically, what does someone predict to be “worse” from doing sumo compared to conventional deadlifts?
A brief analysis:
Hypertrophy- neither are great for muscle size due to small eccentric and high relative fatigue, but would otherwise predict about the same muscle. The ROM differences are typically not large enough to produce significant hypertrophy differences, but this is admittedly speculative. No one has studied hypertrophy outcomes in this context.
Strength- strength is specific, so we can wholly reject any strength argument. People are likely to be stronger at the style they train, as predicted by the Specificity of Adaptation to Imposed Demand (SAID) principle. Whether one variant transfers over better for “general strength” is speculative, ultimately depending on how general strength is being tested. I would predict no difference in hip thrust 1RM after 12 weeks of sumo vs 12 weeks of conventional, for example.
Competition- whether sumo and conventional should be compared to each other in sport is a different concern, ultimately depending on an individual’s beliefs. In nearly all sports, people adopt a style that maximizes competitiveness. Some people are stronger with sumo vs conventional and vice versa.