I pull sumo usually when I wear gear, but have been pulling conventional more often now.
The biggest thing that helps my sumo pull is the box squat. When that goes up, my sumo goes up. Some technique/speed work is also done, but for singles at about 65%-75% of max. For reference, my best sumo pull is 430, and my best conventional is 375 (both at ~210lbs).
[quote]Stronghold wrote:
earthshaker wrote:
You are right, most of the top sumo pullers are wearing shoes,like wrestling shoes, but not chucks.
Vogelpohl pulled his 835 in chucks.[/quote]
Yeah, I know. Hence why I used the word most.
When did I say they weren’t? For the purpose of pushing out to the side of the shoe they are not needed if technique is solid.
Yes. They do offer those same things, but in my experience and with others I have known who pull sumo the Asics are better. More comfortable and allow for more weight to be pulled. Again when technique is solid.
Have you seen every single top sumo puller over the last 35+ years?
Yeah, as a “starting point” towards the goal of doing all your weightlifting barefoot. I had used chucks before I tried sumo pulling in socks. It made a world of difference when I did. Look, if you prefer chucks more power to you. My reasoning for suggesting barefeet,socks,thin-soled shoes for sumo was because it worked for me, and for most guys I have competed against and trained with over the last 10 years.
[quote]SteelyD wrote:
Let me take this a step further.
Do you tailor your assistance work to the fact that you pull Sumo? Do you do anything differently (or at all) that you might not do if you didn’t pull sumo?
For example, do you do rack pulls sumo? (I’ve honestly never seen that, hence the question.)
[/quote]
You’ll have to take this for what its worth, my best deadlift is a lot less than other guys on this site (465lbs).
I have started doing sumo stance rack pulls, but on the lowest pin setting (just a few inches higher than if the bar was on the floor). Its not much easier than pulling from the floor, and i use marginally more weight, but i find it really lets me keep perfect sumo form with a heavier weight and a wider stance. It takes a lot of straining to get the weight moving, but so far i’ve had great results from it. If i can get it from the pins one week i can generally get the weight from the floor the next (take that for what its worth from a relative beginner). I came back from a back injury and not deadlifting for 8 weeks, and broke my previous PR by 5kg after 4 weeks of doing 3x3 deadlifts from the floor once a week, then sumo pulls from below the knee in a rack to a max triple once a week.
I’d be interested to see if anybody else does the same.
For me, I have found that doing conventional DL on the power rack (rack pulls at level below knee) has helped my sumo squat tremendously. I had problems with locking out on sumo with heavier weight, but when I started doing conventional DL’s, the sumo’s have been getting easier and easier and I have been breaking my PR’s by 5-10 Lbs at least every other week.
[quote]maraudermeat wrote:
i use the cheater pull as well.
my nuggets… or should i say my nugget of advice would be to start with a just outside shoulder width stance and slowly work on getting it further out as you get stronger in the hips and groin.
i like to think of the legs in a sumo lift like a jack. you are attempting to get your legs as close to parallel with the bar as possible. doing so puts a great deal of tension on the hips. you know if you are in a good position if you have to work to get down to the bar. as you decend, force your knees out as hard as you can. much like a squat.
then as you initiate the lift, keep forcing the knees out and as the bar reaches knee level push your hips forward to the bar to complete the lift.
the hardest part of a sumo lift is getting the timing down. only through practice will you instinctively know when to quickly force those hips through. usually when i miss a sumo pull it’s becuase i miss timed getting the hips through.
a really good technique for teaching this is to set up the deadlift on an elevation right around knee level and basically just force the hips through to complete the lift. [/quote]
Thanks for this advice.
I lol’d at “cheater pull”
I just started pulling sumo about a month ago. It has bumped my deadlift by about 50 lbs. I am short with little T-Rex arms. At the moment, I am placing my shins about 2-3 inches outside of the ring past the first knurl.
what do you guys reccomend doing for improving my pull off the floor and past the shin, thats the hardest part for me …well probaly everyone, i lift at a Ballys so i cant do any crazy PLer shit with gizmos and bands.
[quote]LiveFromThe781 wrote:
what do you guys reccomend doing for improving my pull off the floor and past the shin, thats the hardest part for me …well probaly everyone, i lift at a Ballys so i cant do any crazy PLer shit with gizmos and bands.[/quote]
Pull with the plates on matts or boxes. You may be able to stack up 45’s to do this. This will be similar to a rack pull, but you can stay in your normal sumo stance. Be sure that you are trying to pull in the same groove as your floor pull.
[quote]Stronghold wrote:
LiveFromThe781 wrote:
what do you guys reccomend doing for improving my pull off the floor and past the shin, thats the hardest part for me …well probaly everyone, i lift at a Ballys so i cant do any crazy PLer shit with gizmos and bands.
Pull with the plates on matts or boxes. You may be able to stack up 45’s to do this. This will be similar to a rack pull, but you can stay in your normal sumo stance. Be sure that you are trying to pull in the same groove as your floor pull.[/quote]
when i do RPs currently i do them on top of like those plastic stand-on thingys that they use in group exercise classes and i just put them really far apart so i can still have my legs out nice n wide and i use my close grip too…im just thinking that would help me more with locking out which im fine with instead of off the floor…maybe i should use a deficit or something?
hmmm i have another idea…i think the rack i use has a gap in it so that i could slide the bar through and do partial deads that would stop at like the 90 degree-ish part of the lift, just before the lockout just hoping that wouldnt be ultra taxing on the lower back
Feedback, please.
Thanks to those of you who have PM’d or posted in my log so far:
I would say to try to get your hips down a little more and be sure to push your knees out and your heels down. Arch your entire back hard and snap the weight off of the floor, power through with your hips at lockout instead of hyperextending your back.
its good to use both. I pull sumo, conventional and snatch grip. its good to alternate grips and master all of them since they all work different parts of your legs and back and will help you with overall deadlifting strength