Both conventional and sumo have their own benefits as they put focus on different areas.
Personally I have made the transition from conventional to sumo mainly because of lower back problems. I have herniated discs in the l4-l5 area and have to be very careful when doing conventional deadlifts. Even when doing the exercise with proper form I had a tendency to eventually put too much load or tweak/reinjure my herniated discs. This was pretty much an endless cycle of rebuilding and eventually injuring my lower back setting me further back.
The sumo deadlift shifts more of the load to the legs and hips and acts to "lock" in your lower back when performing it correctly. When going from conventional to sumo you will definitely notice a lot more involvement with your legs and hips, but your lower back and traps will still be heavily involved. Not to mention that depending on how wide you place your stance, the distance your pulling the weight from the ground is minimized which helps to prevent injury in those with back problems.
I would recommend trying out both stances, everyone has a preference and people are simply built differently. I personally always found the conventional deadlift awkward for my body type and sumo just feels much more natural and solid for me. When trying out sumo for the first time I'd recommend going lighter than you would if you normally train with conventional deadlift stance due to the different muscle group focus.
|
Threaded Mode