Hey Guys! I really want to qualify for nationals, but my squat is lagging. I’ve trained w/ a mostly high bar, neutral stance, but I can’t hit but 300lbs. tops (I’m 165 weight class). Taking into consideration my flexibility (very), my long-ass femurs (around 19". I’m 6’1) and my super-strong lower back I’m thinking a sumo stance w/ low bar, but what combo would you think could get my squat to my true max?
Here’s my 275 sumo squat yesterday. It was high bar. I hit 265 lowbar but my form was wrong (chest down)
With those stats I don’t know why you’re not squatting wide to begin with. Change the style and strengthen your glutes and hams.
If you’re going to sumo squat I’d suggest going low bar over high bar. My understanding is that there is a slight pelvic tilt when entering a sumo stance in order for the femoral head to sit in the hip correctly. So it would seem to me that trying to high bar a sumo stance would place a ton of stress on the low back as opposed to the hips.
Overall if you aren’t happy with your numbers I’d suggest playing around with bar height and stance width to find what works the best for you/where you feel the strongest since everyone has slight discrepancies in build.
If you want your lowbar sumo to increase do sumodeadlifts … If you want you “neutral” numbers to increase try your hand at front squatting…
once you plateau you need to find and address your weak areas.