I would suggest that all women pull sumo. It is due to more hip flexibility. Width stance is a matter of preference and levers, but for guys it is mostly a matter of hip flexibility and most of us just don’t have it.
As far as training goes for DL, I pull a lot of sumo but I am a conventional lifter. I have found I don’t lose much strength and it gives me a break. The reverse seems to happen for the Sumo lifter. Pulling conventional seems to give the Sumo puller a break and it seems to create gains if done correctly due to overall strength building.
You know, I have tremendous hip flexibility, but don’t seem to have tremendous strength in the sumo position. As an experiment, though, I am pulling both conventional and sumo once a week. Are you saying that you think cross training only benefits the sumo puller?
Everyone should train both stances for the benefits of each. Example—I am a conventional puller, but I train Sumo on my squat day, because i treat my squat day as a hip day, and my DL day as a leg day.
Increased flexibility is not necessarily what you should use to determine your stance. I have had many young lifters who were extremely, painfully flexible in their hips…i mean could do a plie’ to the floor in their sumo stance. But the increased flexibility can lead to a weaker pull because your hips/groin have lost some explosiveness.
For this guy, we had him stop stretching his groin and hips after workouts so he would tighten back up a little, and because he had the flexibility and the balance, turned his feet almost pointing straight out each way…If you can do this stance, the pull is a stright up motion and it willl never drift forward.
Sumo pullers with increased flexibility often can have a hard time pinpointing where the pull needs to start. They will settle too low and pull from an improper position. You have to pay attention to the angle of your quad as you set up.
PM me if you have any more questions…or if you have vids so we can analyze your pull…or just get the trip to LA together with PMPM
^^^ That explains a lot. Never could understand why I was so weak trying to pull in that position when I can “do a plie to the floor.” I have almost the same problem with squat. Bounce off my calves practically. Tend to go too deep.
Thanks for that. I may send you some vid when I can actually pull decently again.
Speaking of hips, I hadn’t touched the Prowler for several weeks. I took it up to my parents’ house yesterday and showed it to my brother. My brother does 24 hour adventure races, kayaks for days (literally) at a time, runs and mountain bikes, etc. He is an endurance athlete, but he has decent muscle mass for a small endurance athlete. He’s my height and probably 160, with great big calves and good legs.
Anyway. I said, “This is my cardio.” He said, “That’s not cardio, that won’t train you to run for 12 hours. Nothing with weights is cardio.” I said, “Yeah, it’s pretty much anaerobic, but it still destroys your heart and lungs.”
So, he pushed it a couple of times with a couple of plates, and then naked, and I think he was close to spitting blood. I love seeing how someone who is so “fit,” is so not “fit” in a different realm of exercise. I know if I attempted what he does I wouldn’t have a chance, but I think he respects what I do a little bit more now.
But yeah, I pushed the prowler a few times and my hips are sore. Ooops.
DC is right it is all about getting some strength. I think that if you are sumo, that if you decided you are sumo then Conventional is a supplementary exercise. This is also a way to enhance the conventional deadlift, if you lift conventional then you will do some sumo pulls. It is not rocket science It is just fixing a weakness.
DC I have seen some awesome high deadlift pullers that are sumo, and some awesome low conventional pullers, that have converted over to sumo. Go to Powerliftingwatch and check out Willie Albert. I have known him since he was a kid. He was conventional.
cross training sumo vs conventional never sounds like a bad idea, but saying that all women should pull sumo bc of hip flexibility is a fucking ignorant statement. sumo puts a lot more stress on your hips and will wear them out sooner.
[quote]CBear84 wrote:
cross training sumo vs conventional never sounds like a bad idea, but saying that all women should pull sumo bc of hip flexibility is a fucking ignorant statement. sumo puts a lot more stress on your hips and will wear them out sooner. [/quote]
And that can make sex difficult. Gotta love that - “Honey, we need to switch. My hip’s cramping up again.”
[quote]CBear84 wrote:
cross training sumo vs conventional never sounds like a bad idea, but saying that all women should pull sumo bc of hip flexibility is a fucking ignorant statement. sumo puts a lot more stress on your hips and will wear them out sooner. [/quote]
And that can make sex difficult. Gotta love that - “Honey, we need to switch. My hip’s cramping up again.”[/quote]
Maybe its because i am a conventional puller, but my back usually cramps up first.
Saturday I had to get out of the house for a few hours.
I went to my gym, forgetting that it is closed for maintenance for a week. Then I went to the RMLC, thinking they’d be open on a Saturday afternoon…no dice, they were open from 5-7 for some reason, and it was 3. So, I went over to the Better Bodies Fitness. My old friend Sunny used to work at Better Bodies, they are huge gyms with semi-ghetto equipment.
I asked how much to drop in - $15. Ouch! I gave her my card, then she brought it back and said I could just go in. Score!
I wandered through an acre of treadmills, and then an acre of machines, before I found the free weights down a dark hallway. Signs everywhere threatening my membership if I brought a gym bag on the floor. Well, I don’t have a membership…so I brought the bag and no one said anything.
Squatted to 265, benched to a few singles at 155, deadlifted with various stances 225, playing wide, medium, and narrow.
Then, I went off to my asian massage parlor for my scrub down. Heaven.
Sunday, went climbing for two hours. I’m out of practice, my hands are still feeling it.
Hey. I’m joining BB this week because they have round plates for DLing. Which one did you go to? You realize that a monthly membership is cheaper than a daily drop in!
[quote]kpsnap wrote:
Hey. I’m joining BB this week because they have round plates for DLing. Which one did you go to? You realize that a monthly membership is cheaper than a daily drop in!
[/quote]
Yeah, there isn’t one near me, I was just down over by RMLC and needed to kill time before my spa appointment. I went to the one on Iliff and Chambers. Thought about taking a picture of the incredibly bent bar, it was S-shaped, but I was too lazy to do that.
If you go to that Iliff one, bring your own collars! I think I saw four total!
[quote]inkaddict wrote:
Um, that’s called an EZ Curl bar…sheesh, newbs!
[/quote]
That gave me a good laugh. PMPM not knowing what an EZ curl bar is.
The BB I’m joining is at Wadsworth/Jewell. Pretty cheesy place. But, damn it, I need the round weights. And they are surprisingly hard to find at gyms near me. My local rec center has them but isn’t set up for deadlifting. Like there’s NO space or tolerance for such training. For $10/month at BB, I can handle the ghetto equipment and bring my own collars.
[quote]inkaddict wrote:
Um, that’s called an EZ Curl bar…sheesh, newbs!
[/quote]
That gave me a good laugh. PMPM not knowing what an EZ curl bar is.
[/quote]
I’m glad. PMPM will probably murder me though, since she can’t take a joke
[quote]inkaddict wrote:
Um, that’s called an EZ Curl bar…sheesh, newbs!
[/quote]
That gave me a good laugh. PMPM not knowing what an EZ curl bar is.
[/quote]
I’m glad. PMPM will probably murder me though, since she can’t take a joke ;)[/quote]
