Wanna Be Powerlifter

Careful with the hips dude.

If it’s hurting you may not have the mobility for the stance you’re using. Some people’s hips just can’t take a lot of volume in it because like genetics are anatomy like their hip’s actual shape.

Sumo is notorious for fucking up hips. This isn’t so much of an issue if you’re an equipped lifter because the gear protects your hips where they get hurt (at the bottom).

I figure you have two real options:

  1. Sumo is your strongest stance, so you’ll want to pull sumo in meet. So train the component parts and pull sumo minimally in training. The issue here is that you’ll need to find a way to practice the technique because sumo is super technical. Block pulls may help here.
  2. Sumo isn’t your strongest stance, so fuck it off. Very probably the best option, and TBH most likely too.

For what it’s worth, Greg encourages most of us to steer clear of sumo. It’s very technical and tends to screw your hips up. The people you see pulling sumo successfully tend to be the ones with hips suited to it OR who have figured out how to train it without really pulling sumo much outside of meets. Neither are common.

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Sounds like sumo hating propaganda to me lol

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@MarkKO’s and/or Panora’s views may be a little extreme but there’s some element of truth in there.

Sumo can fuck up your hip joint quite seriously in fact perhaps even requiring surgery to fix it. This occurs when you train beyond your mobility which is in large part up to the structure of your hip joint as Pig was getting at and with plenty of volume. Think along the lines of using your femoral head to grind/sandpaper out your hip socket and related structures repeatedly. Or something less serious like hip impingement lel

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Knees can also easily get fucked if proper knee tracking / alignment over the line of the toes/foot is not maintained.

Train within the constraints of your individual hip mobility and you’ll most likely be alright.

It’s guys going plate to plate stance right off the bat that can get fucked up easy and really most people will get the benefits of sumo without going so extreme. Similarly trying to mimic other lifters form often doesn’t end well. If you don’t have his excellent hip mobility Yury Belkin’s deadlift form is likely out of your reach.

Might not look like the sexiest sumo DL ever but in the middle of the hip mobility bell curve we have a bunch of people whose sumo doesn’t look all that different from their conventional. Maybe a 5-10 degree difference in back angle. Regardless it’s still beneficial and adding in the other benefits of sumo that we still get from a safe conservative stance the cheaty wid-ish stance deadlift is viable for the majority of lifters.

Wherever your stance falls with vertical shins and stacked joints when the bar breaks the floor is a good place to start, balanced between ROM and leverage, and many lifters don’t end up straying too far away from this. Belkin himself is actually pretty close to vertical shins it’s the extreme hip mobility, technique/style of pull, DL bar and other factors which make his start position and execution so sexy.

Sumo is technical so don’t do sumo? With all due respect IMO that’s some bullshit and a bullshit point to bring up. Sumo like the other powerlifts is about as technical as complex as you want to make it. Stand wider than shoulder width and then pick up the bar with hands inside legs. ez.

Practical solutions are as Mark laid out minus the sumo being guaranteed total hip replacement thing.

If (and is big if) you can’t tolerate lots of sumo or don’t want to do lots of sumo e.g. building on conventional transfers well and in the end gets better results for management of technique and mobility do a few reps from the floor e.g. a rep or two on every warm up set/weight of conventional. Not so much volume and intensity your hips explode but enough to maintain adaptions/skill.

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I’m about 45 degrees on sumo and 25-30 degrees Conventional back angle

Allright time to reply to all the comments made:

The stance i was using wasnt really that wide, I was already keeping in mind i cant be a yuri belkin…
Idd say mine was something like this:

I think this is what im gonna be doing. I’ve talked about it with my coach, we’ve considered sumo twice now, but both times hips just start hurting. No mather the weight.

I think i’m gonna keep practising the form i’ve got now, which i’ll be posting allong with my training log of today.

Great insight as usual guys, I personally think i should just stick with conventional and just work a bit harder on it :slight_smile:

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So, here we go today’s training.

Squat beltless
4x6 147,5kg

This reminds me of the fact i did one big set of 10 with belt a couple months ago, and now im doing it for sets of 6 beltless, some decent progress imo

Benchpress
4x6 85kg
Felt pretty good, im liking bench at the moment.

Deadlift
4x5 145kg

First time in some time i actually was looking forward to doing the deadlift, wow.
I think my mentality regarding the deadlift plays a huge role in why its “lagging behind” my squat so much. If i keep this up, i might actually get half decent at deadlifting.

Rows 4x10
facepulls 4x10
chin ups 4x7-8
tricep pushdowns 4x8
ab wheel rollout 4x10

Video links in order: Squat (today) and sumo (from couple days ago)

Just wasn’t meant to be then.

today’s training:

Highbar beltless squats
4x8 122,5kg

2sec paused benchpress
4x8 85kg

Deficit deadlift
4x5 137,5kg

Incline db press 4x12
pendlay rows 4x12
hanging leg raises 4x12

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Today’s training:

Split squats
4x12 42,5kg
Getting better at these. Still nowhere near impressive weight, but ill take it.

Single leg romanian DB deadlifts
4x12 15kg

leg extensions
4x12 80kg (gonna go either heavier each week, or add a reps each week, project bigger quads is on its way! Time to get me some jean ripping quads :smiley:

Leg curls
4x12

Leg press
first time taking the leg press seriously. I already feel my quads getting bigger.

Snatch grip deadlifts
4x8 72.5kg

walking lunges
4x20 steps(?) No weight, just to get more blood flowing.

planks 4x45 seconds
ab wheel rollouts 4x12

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Ur sumo DL looks awesome, are u training for a meet?

I’m indeed training for a meet!
Good that it looks awesome. but it doesnt feel awesome haha

Today’s workout:

Safety Bar Squats
4x5 117,5kg

Romanian Deadlifts
4x6 90kg

close grip benchpress
4x7 82,5kg

Overheadpress
4x8 40kg

Rear delt fly’s
lat pull downs
tricep pushdowns
bicep curls
hanging leg raises
4x12 all

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today’s training:

Squats beltless
4x6 150kg
I think i wont be able to add 2,5kg to this next week tbh.
Weight was feeling pretty heavy the last 2 sets. The extremely hot weather might have impacted me to more than i realise. I’ll see what my coach programs for me. (

Benchpress ((competition style))
4x6 87,5kg
Kind of the same story with bench as with squats. The 3rd set i was in a really good groove, and weight was moving SOLID. 4th, i lost that groove again. A well.

Deadlift
4x5 147,5kg
By the time deads came around i was pretty tired, and but i got it done nontheless.

Facepulls 4x12
rows 4x12
and some ab wheel rollouts 4x12

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first belted training in 5 weeks. Felt good, but felt the typical belt discomfort for the first 3 sets.

highbar squats
4x8 127,5kg
Belt with highbar for the first time in ever.
can get used to it. :smiley:

2 second pause bench
4x8 87,5kg
Damn this was hard. coach was expecting that though, so thats a good sign i suppose.

Deficit deadlifts
4x5 140kg
Feeling like a summer breeze. Deadlifts feeling good is a good sign

pendlay rows 4x10
incline dumbell press 4x10
hanging legg raises 4x15

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today’s training:

Split squats 4x6 45kg (feeling awesome. Could feel my quads burn.)
Single leg romanian deadlifts with dumbell 4x8 20kg
leg curls 4x12
leg exstensions 4x12
at this point my legs where fried.

Leg press 4x12
snatch grip deadlifts 4x8 75kg

planks 45 seconds
ab wheel rollout 4x8

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Safety squat bar
4x5 122,5kg

Feeling easy as fuck. Squats are feeling mighty fine!

Romanian deadlifts
4x6 90kg

Close grip benchpress
4x6 85kg

Overheadpress
4x6 42kg
Form’s feeling pretty good. I think i finally got it down, now its time to get this to a somewhat respectable weight, and build those shoulders…

Laterall raises/rear delt fly’s 4x12

lat pull downs 4x12

tricep/bicep 4x12

hanging leg raises 4x12

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Today’s workout:

One of the best workouts so far this prep.

Squats:
4x5 155kg
Felt like i had way more in the tank. Like 5+ reps on each set.
The belt on helps allot…

Bench:
4x5 90kg
FUCK this was EASY. I think probably the easiest 90kg has ever felt, Someone was watching me and said “why aren’t you going heavier?”

Deadlifts
Same story as with the above two. Feeling crisp like a hot piece of chicken.

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And when is the meet? I looked back a bit and you only said something about yes you were doing a meet.

It’s just great when things starts to rock.
Will sit here tense all over waiting for them PR’s

22nd/23rd of september. Its the biggest meet in the Netherlands to! People all over the world can compete. Im super excited.

I hope i can cary this momentum into the meet, and through the upcoming weeks of training. I have a feeling its going in the right direction though

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