Deadlift: Conventional vs Sumo

Once someone has spent some time in the gym and learned the basics of compound exercise like the Squat, Bench, Overhead Press and Deadlift they ask the question: “should I deadlift sumo or conventional?”. Maybe someone is feeling stronger in one stance over the other, or they are simply curious about the opposite stance and want to try out to “see if I’m more built for it” than they are for the other. Outside of competitive powerlifters, most people can and should be able to do both styles of deadlift, but which one “is better”.

Before we define better, let’s clear up the myth about these two stances. A lot of people think that they are built for sumo or built for conventional, however, this is a slightly flawed way of thinking. Folks who have good leverages to deadlift, have good leverages to deadlift. Period. Torso length, arm length, leg length, all play into the mechanics of the lift and chances are if you have longer arms, longer legs, and a shorter torso, you're going to be a “good deadlifter” regardless of where you put your feet.

Why are some people so much stronger in one stance than the other? Well this comes down to individual strengths and weaknesses. A Conventional deadlift is always going to put someone in a more bent over position than a sumo deadlift. If a person has a weaker back than legs/hip relatively speaking, they will likely lift more sumo than conventional. Unless we have aspirations to compete, this person should likely do more conventional deadlifts than sumo, even though they are stronger in the sumo stance. The conventional deadlift will work on their weakness, their back strength, which will likely improve their sumo deadlift, but also make them more resilient overall. The opposite can be true for someone who is weaker in a sumo stance. Maybe they lack the glute and hip strength or even mobility to generate meaningful force in this position. Sumo is a perfect place to strengthen this deficit as long as we check ego at the door.

Creating a balanced body is an important focus of a generalized strength program, we do not want to ignore lagging areas too much. Sometimes, folks who switch to sumo because conventional “feels bad” on their backs, continue to ignore their back weakness and unfortunately can still injure their back on a sumo deadlift. No matter what, bringing up weaknesses and creating balance is the name of the game. For folks who have learned the basics and have the technique down on these two different deadlift styles, I like to see no more than a 10% difference in 1RM between the two. If you deadlift 300lb conventional but can’t get 225lb off the floor sumo, you’ve got some work to do. 

While it seems that better is a hard answer to find here, it really comes down to your objectives in the gym. Chances are that if you’ve been lifting long enough to read this article, you like to push heavy weights, so it can be hard to take the hit to the number on the bar and focus on your weakness in whichever stance it may be. Remember why you are doing this. Is it to lift the most you possibly can or is it to create a strong resilient body that can handle whatever life throws its way? Keep that in mind the next time you are deadlifting, and consider bringing your stance closer, or wider, to build whatever it is that you may be bad at right now, you may even grow to love it.