I think you should try both and be able to do both to some extent. But the question is whether you want to pick the form that simply allows you to lift the most or pick the one that gives you the most bang for you buck and, frankly, gives you more hypertrophy.

If you are a powerlifter who can pull more at sumo's then you answer is simple. Sumos decrease the range of motion and if your body type allows it it simply requires less work. Less work isn't necessarily good if your looking to be strong and big in a overall way. For most people who can do them and are not competitors I thing using conventional for their main form of pull is going to give them the most bang for their buck. Sumos use similar muscles to wide stance squat...almost exactly the same.

Given all that, no matter what style you choose for your bread and butter in the long run, I disagree that someone who is inexperience with deads and who hasn't been doing a lot of wide stance anything should start out with sumos no matter how flexible you are. I don't see why he should recommend sumos in general just because he does them as this tends to be a bodytype and preferential thing rather than a one is better thing. But I have a feeling, and my feeling are usually right in the long run :), that going staight to sumo is going to beat the hell out of your hips if you are inexperienced because the forces on the hip joint are much greater.

I guess ill be trying both!!! Actually the gym manager does that the normal way... he reccomended sumos to me because he said they would be less strainful on the back....?? I just wanna do the damn deadlifts that are gonna thicken my back :)

Most will probably say im overdoing the cardio at the moment.. but my main goal is probably cutting and then i will go into a clean bulk... at the same time i wanna get these lifts down so i might as well work with this program... ive never been this fat in my life.. and i attribute it to the job i just loss because it was super stressful and i think that had something to do with it... that and all the drinking that job made me do hahahah

good luck with this program. i've been using something very similar since jan this year and I am very pleased with how i've done with it so far. i was doing HIT for several years so i had to start retarded light just to get used to the increased volume and frequency.

btw, i dont know how the others feel but IMO conventional deads are the way to go if you're looking for back strength and thickness.

Eric makes some good points about the sumo deads. I am just learning deadlifts myself and I started out with the conventional stance and I think it will do me good in the long run. They are tough, but I feel like they tax every muscle in my body and are probably one of the most benefitial lifts in my arsenal.

Cardio is always good to do. Even if your bulking or cutting. If you stop drinking your weight will go down fast. Small changes make noticible difference in diet. If you do the cardio,lift heavy and eat healthy you will still put on muscle/lose fat.

For your goals your cardio is fine. My recommendation for back width and thickness is conventional deads. I got more results from conventional than sumo. Just my 2 cents. :)

Good to see you back at it Flawed, stay motivated brotha.

Stressing the back and straining the back are two different things. Like the others said conventionals will give you a much more overall results/bigger back. If you want the back big, like you said you did, you have to stress it!

Good luck.

THURSDAY 08/23/2007

HIIT Cardio:
Warmup - Light jogging about 4 minutes
HIIT - Sprint 13sec/Jog 30sec x 5
Cooldown - Light jogging about 4 minutes

I used to always do HIIT on a elipitcal... it is so much harder running sprints... i used to be able to blast out 8 minutes of 30sec/30sec on a elipitical... this is about my 5th HIIT workout and this is the first time i made it all the way through the sprint/jogs without taking a few second walk to catch my breath... and im only sprinting like 13seconds!!! but its good to know my cardio is getting better.

If you wondering why im only sprint 13 seconds... its because the only straight away i found around my apt is about that long... I live in a hilly area of wisconsin

When i get done running i love to just sitdown and let my body continue to sweat... some people think thats gross lol but i think it feels amazing... like all my stress is just flowing out of my body with my sweat