As we all know the deadlift is probably the most productive lift one could do, seeing as it works something like 85% of all skeletal muscles, and because it’s lifted from the floor (dead), it’s really hard to cheat and is the best strength developer there is. With that said I’m trying to improve my strength, speed, and power for baseball, and because I lift at home with no racks or bench I’m going to focus on deadlifts and power snatches and overhead squats, standing broad jumps/hi box jumps with some additional core work like windmills and the wheel.
But I was wondering which variation of the deadlift is best, conventional or sumo? I can do both just fine and am leaning towards sumo because the emphasis is more glute/hams as opposed to conventional where it’s more back. I say this because the glutes and hams are the key movers in sprinting, jumping, and just about anything that involves power.
Does anybody know which is better and why, as well as any other suggestions? I’m guessing it all depends on your focus, but any feedback would really help, thanks.
It depends on your body and how you personally respond to the deadlift variations. For playing basketball I personally found regular deads work the glutes just great. But, when I havent had deads as the mainstay of my program for awhile, It take me at least 2-3 weeks to get my back strong enough so I can hit the glutes really well.
As my back is getting stronger I find my ROM increases and I can get deeper doing deads without a tailtuck and its really just getting the glutes nicely. At this point I will start to grip slightly wider so I can get a little deeper. I found that this worked great and I developed some ridiculous explosive drive from the glutes.
If you’re purely talking about performance to risk ratio, I wouldn’t choose deads.
If you really want to do them though, conventional done strictly (straight back, low butt, shoulders pulled back) will have the most benefit a majority of the time.
[quote]buffalokilla wrote:
If you’re purely talking about performance to risk ratio, I wouldn’t choose deads.
If you really want to do them though, conventional done strictly (straight back, low butt, shoulders pulled back) will have the most benefit a majority of the time.
-Dan[/quote]
Dan, what would you suggest with performance to risk ratio, as I have found deadlifts, at least in my experience to be very safe, and greatly increase my performance. If I can check my ego and do them with good form. I’ve noticed that all of my other lifts go up when I do deads, and I just feel strong all over.
[quote]buffalokilla wrote:
If you’re purely talking about performance to risk ratio, I wouldn’t choose deads.
If you really want to do them though, conventional done strictly (straight back, low butt, shoulders pulled back) will have the most benefit a majority of the time.
-Dan[/quote]
Some sprint coaches believe that heavy DL’s place too much stress on the CNS, and therefore don’t use them.
On the other hand some sprint coaches use them because they consider them safer to do than squats and because you
can handle more weight. It sounds like 6 of one and a half dozen of the other.
I think deads are great for increasing speed mainly because they do demand so much from the CNS just like the movements you are trying to improve. However, I have found that really pushing the weight as much as possible is not as good because it gets to the point where you are doing anything to get the weight up and glute drive is diminished. I have had better results getting the weight as heavy as I can, but still feeling the glute drive. Then doing some complexes with deads and sprints will kick it into the next gear, even though you will have to drop your dead weight alot.
i believe you would be best served learning how to properly periodize deadlifts into your training. this is imperative. find a good coach or teach yourself the lift properly (“starting strength” is a great book to teach the nuances), manage your risk and do them within a program built for you especially off season.
to drop them (barring injury or noticable imbalance) in my opinion is to cheat yourself of neurological benefits of increases in muscular recruitment and coordination. meaning i am of the opinion that you will see some cool positive plastic changes in the nervous system if you use deadlifts judiciously.
buffalo qualified his statement about cost/benefit well otherwise i would have disagreed with him. i agree with the others who have said do both variations. this should minimize stress and optimize your deadlift experience.