Sumo Deadlift

Waddle up to the bar with a wide bear-stance, paws gripping inside your knees. Push the floor away like you are standing up from a cozy cave squat, then lock out tall and proud. Keep your spine as steady as a tree trunk and let your legs and hips do the heavy hauling.

Instructions

1. Stand with feet wide and toes turned out slightly; bar over mid-foot.
2. Bend at hips and knees, bring shins close to the bar, and grip the bar inside your legs.
3. Set your back neutral, brace your core, and pull your chest up to create tension on the bar.
4. Drive through the floor, extending knees and hips together as the bar rises close to your body.
5. Stand tall at lockout with hips and knees fully extended; shoulders over hips.
6. Lower the bar by hinging at the hips first, then bending the knees once the bar passes them; reset and repeat.

Benefits

• Builds total-body strength with emphasis on hips and legs
• Often allows a more upright torso than conventional deadlifts
• Develops glute and adductor strength due to wide stance
• Improves hip extension power and posterior-chain development
• Trains bracing and full-body tension for athletic carryover

Key Points

• Keep the bar close to your body the entire rep.
• Brace hard before the pull; maintain a neutral spine.
• Drive knees out to track over toes and keep hips close to the bar.
• Think "push the floor away" rather than yanking the bar up.
• Lock out by squeezing glutes, not by leaning back.

Common Mistakes

• Letting hips shoot up faster than the chest
• Rounding the lower back or losing brace off the floor
• Starting with the bar too far from mid-foot
• Knees collapsing inward instead of pushing out
• Overextending at lockout by leaning back
• Bouncing reps without resetting position and tension