Hey Kara,

I’m trying to decide whether to pull sumo or conventional. My strength training background is mainly Olympic Lifting like yours and all the deadlifting I’ve done is Olympic pulls.  Have you tried both sumo and conventional? Which is your favorite? And is there anything other than personal preference which can help someone pick whether they do one technique or the other?

Thanks,
Deciding Deadlifter

Hi Deciding Deadlifter,

So funny you mentioned doing Olympic pulls.  That’s almost ALL I do and ever have done for my deadlift training…even for sumo powerlifting deadlifts!   Heavy snatch and clean pulls.  When meet time gets close I’ll do a couple of sessions sumo with and without the suit, just to get used to the technique, but my training is almost exclusively Olympic pulls.

I have tried both sumo and conventional deadlifts and weight wise raw I’m not far off with either.  I’ve never pulled conventional  in a suit so I can’t compare there.  It’s my lower back that keeps me pulling sumo.  It takes such a big toll on my lower back to grind out heavy conventionals, plus as you know…when we Olympic pull we keep such a flat back and I find when the weight gets really heavy I have a tendency to start rounding which my lower back isn’t very fond of.

As for picking one, personal preference is definitely a big factor along with leverages and strong and weak points. Some people are just built to pull conventional, some sumo.  Unless you notice a HUGE number difference between one vs. the other, just pick which ever you’re more comfortable with and enjoy training the most.  Either one you choose, be sure to experiment with different foot and hand placements to see which you feel the strongest with off the floor all the way through to lockout.

Also, don’t be afraid to train both lifts even if you are only going to use one style in competition.  Many top sumo deadlifters are known to do conventional training and vice versa.

Keep Pullin’ Heavy,

Kara