Does anyone have advice for accessory exercises that would help me with a really wide deadlift stance? The competition dl bar will be 61 inches in between the plates. I simulate this in training by putting a 35 and a 10 lb plate inside before the 45s. I normally place my shins just outside the rings. With the dl bar simulation I start with my legs making a 90 degree angle and my shins are about 3 inches outside of the rings, my feet are about 1.5-2 inches away from the 45s. This makes it a little easier than shins outside the rings, but I would like to know of some ways to strengthen the groin and hip joint for safety.
if your gym has olympic collars, you can throw those on before the 45’s to do extra-wide sumo pulls. You could probably accomplish the same thing by stacking at least 4 5 lbs. plates or cookies on before loading 45’s.
I’ve personally found that ultra-wide sumos are of limited value. As for groin/hip strength, try the “good girl / bad girl” machine.
Zercher squats are a nice lift that can simulate a sumo deadlift also, and you will probably get more range of movement out of the exercise than you’ll get with a sumo deadlift.
Play around with your stance, I know it seems to make sense that the wider you go, the lower you’ll be and the more power you can produce…however; you might find that your leverages are weaker in wider stances than in narrow.
I pulled sumo for the longest time and started doing more conventional pulls in training and my conventional is stronger than my sumo…just something to keep in mind bro. I hope this helps.
Thanks, that helps. What is the good girl/bad girl machine, can it be done without a machine? God I like the sound of that. I’ll have to try Zercher squats then, I’ve seen examples of them somewhere before. I play around with my setups a lot and since I’m short, 5’6", if I can put my feet out close to the the plates of a dl bar without comromosing leverage I’ll have a lockout about 2 inches above the knee and 10 inches off the floor. I think that is a short rom even at 148.
hip adductor/abductor is what I think he is talking about.
You can also use bands to strengthen the adductor/abductors.
Thanks you guys. Is the adductor/abductor excercise the one where you start out with your legs in a position similar to a sumo deadlift and you just close them and then open? If so, the name good girl/bad girl makes sense.
Yes. Slutty abductors, prude adductors.
Yes. Slutty abductors, prude adductors.
EDIT: double post.
So, uh, I’ll just add that I feel that glute-ham raises will help with pulling from the floor.
You can experiment with pull-throughs using a sumo stance, I never managed to find a cable stack with enough weight to make them especially effective, but it’s a nice little movement to round things out. Kettlebell swings might not be a bad idea either, but again, the lack of weight doesn’t make them hugely effective IMO, it does help with timing.
I think regular box squats, making sure you know how to use the hips can be helpful.
and yes, the abductor machine is what I was talking about
← / → or → / ←
Wide belt squats. You can also set them up so you are starting from the bottom position in your sumo stance, or put a weight or block on the floor so that you only squat an inch deeper than the start of your sumo pull.