Why Don’t Strongman Do Sumo Deadlifts? 

Sumo deadlift is a popular variation for people to pull maximum weight!  Some people report a over 10% difference between the max weight they can pull using conventional and sumo. This makes sumo deadlifts fairly common in powerlifting competitions for athletes to pull max weights. However, in strongman events for deadlift reps or one-rep-maxes, we do not see strongmen do the sumo deadlift. This article offers two reasons to why we don’t see sumo in strongman events!

Axle Deadlift

In powerlifting competitions, the deadlift bar is 9 inches off the ground. While in axle deadlift events, the axle bar is usually around 18 inches off the floor. This makes sumo inapplicable to lifting bigger weights for most athletes! With a higher bar, you might find it more difficult to wedge in or pull-slack doing sumo.

Sumo deadlift also works best when you can push with your legs by finding your optimal set up. There are other axle bars that are 14 inches off the ground, which can be already at the knee level!  When the range of motion is taken away as the bar is double the height of a deadlift bar, most athletes will struggle to garner strength using sumo on an axle bar.

Biomechanically Awkward

Strongmen are typically known for their massive size. For example, Sean O’Hagan is 2.12m and weighs around 200kg, Eddie Hall at his heaviest was around 200 kg as well! The sheer amount of mass these athletes have can negatively impact their mobility! When we take a deep look at the demands of a sumo deadlift, we can see that hip and ankle mobility are crucial to a good set-up. You will need a healthy set of knees to push the bar off the ground as well.

Sumo’s setup include opening up the legs to the bar, which demands hip mobility; Pushing the knees forward, which demands knee health and ankle mobility. The whole movement takes a lot of stress off the lumbar spine and uses less posterior chain than conventional deadlift. This means strongmen may not be able to fully incorporate their lower back muscles. Apart from that, having less mobility and forcing the move may cause pain and higher chances of getting a bad injury.

In this video, you can watch Martins Licis warm up his joints to prevent injury!

Strongman Competitions Banned Sumo Deadlift

Almost all strongman competitions ban sumo deadlifts. A lot of people claim that sumo is cheating because one typically can lift more with sumo. Some also think that sumo is easier because there is less range of motion than a conventional deadlift. It can be true that sumo can generate larger pushing force than conventional and it is less fun to watch as the range of motions goes down. However, the demands for pulling a good sumo is very high and may not be the best deadlift variation for strongman.

Overall Thoughts on Strongman and Sumo Deadlift

Sumo deadlift may not be allowed in competition and awkward to perform for many. However, adding sumo to your training regiment may help you build muscles you would not develop if you only do conventional deadlifts!

Sumo deadlift can help you build better glutes, adductors (inner thighs) and quads! Besides, you can feel lower back relief while doing sumo deadlifts. Strongman like Brain Shaw actually added sumo deadlift to his training program. It is important to doing various movements for balanced muscle development. But for a lot of people, they can never get rid of the though that sumo is cheating! Especially in the strongman community!