Hey guys, new here so sorry if I made any mistakes making this post. Also, I’m not entirely sure if I’m posting this in the right category so I apologize in advance.
Anyway, recently I came across an emg study comparing the sumo and conventional deadlifts and the results surprised me. The study makes the sumo appear to be better overall, though I’ve always thought conventional is better for bodybuilding and general strength? That’s why I’d like to get more opinions.
My sumo and conventional have always been pretty much the same in terms of strength, and I’ve always used conventional as my main one, but now I wanna focus more on bodybuilding so I’d like to know which one would be better to implement in my program.
I’d say whichever one moves you closer to your goals. If conventional hits your back better and that’s what you’re using it for, do that. If sumo hits your adductors and quads more and that’s your goal with deadlifts, do that.
Using EMG studies to tell you which one you feel most comfortable using and work the muscles you want worked seems unuseful to me.
The problem is, both are pretty much the same to me. I can get into a strong position and move the same weight with both. I even get sore on the same places from both (upper back and traps as well). I am aware that conventional is supposed to work your back more (which is what I’m after) but the study suggests that sumo is better even for that.
When you do conventional, do you feel sore in different areas compared to sumo? If not, and they both feel exactly the same to you and you are roughly the same strength, flip a coin and pick one and use that for a couple months and then switch when you feel like you’re stalling on just get bored of it.
I really don’t know that an EMG study on other people with different leverages and abilities is going to tell you to decisively use one over the other if your own firsthand experience seems to be they are equal. Maybe you use that study to push you one way or the other since you say they’re pretty equal I guess
