Sumo DL Foot Position

TR0berts

Unfortunately, I forgot to take my phone into the gym, so I don't have any video. I'm hoping it doesn't really matter for this question, which I'm not entirely sure how to ask, so I'll trust that my rambling is coherent enough for you all to understand. No guarantees.

I just (last week) added sumo DL back as an assistance lift - doing these on my squat day. I found that things seem to be more comfortable - especially regarding my back/torso angle - with my feet really close to the plates, like maybe 1 inch from them. I was surprised I could get into that position, as I wasn't able to previously - apparently, my stretching has improved my flexibility, even though it isn't obvious.

Anywho... I find that - especially, but not exclusively, on higher rep sets - that either my feet slide out further (although it doesn't actually feel like they do) or I tend to set the bar down off-center. Whatever is going on, I've actually hit my shoes. Luckily, there's about 1/4 inch from where my toes end to the end of the shoe, so I haven't crushed any toes...yet.

Has anyone else had an issue like this? And if so, how did you fix it? I've tried turning my feet back in a little, but that seems to put my hips back, so that it feels more like a conventional DL as far as my back is concerned. I've also tried not putting my feet out as far, but that also seems to put my torso at a greater angle, like a conventional DL. I guess that isn't the worst thing in the world, as I pull conventional on heavy lifts.

I don't know - any suggestions?

DopeItUp

My toes touch the plates so I bought a deadlift bar, it's 6" wider which gives me the buffer I need to have unbroken feet. Simplest solution if you have the cash. The slight whippiness and better grip are nice too.

As far as uneven bar movement goes, I generally find this to be a slight issue with mixed grip and hand placement (it's not as obvious as it seems to evenly space your hands sometimes when it comes to mixed grip). Either that or mixed grip and uneven lat engagement tends to cause the bar to move a little side to side. I tend to have to mentally cue myself to engage my overhand (left side) as strongly as my underhand side, which generally clears up the issue. Could just be natural asymmetry too.

Try double-over with straps sometime to see if it goes away, it's a bit easier to have a perfectly even grip and lat engagement that way. If the bar stops moving then it's probably one of the two things I mentioned, you'll have to play with your grip and lat engagement to see how it affects the bar. Video may help, I noticed I windmill slightly with poor setup sometimes.

I pretty much guarantee your feet are not slipping, regardless. These are just my experiences and not definitive by any means.

ETA: Side note, poor man's approach instead of a deadlift bar would be to put some smaller plates (say 25s or 35s) on the innermost parts of the collar, THEN stack the 45s on the outside. That'd give you a few inches right there, except it would make plate loading and weight calculation annoying. Hell you could even cut some 2" ID pipe to act as spacers. I used some 2" ID ABS pipe (for plumbing) and made 3" wide spacers so the plates would fit between the ceiling joists in my basement when I OHP. They weigh basically nothing which is handy for weight calculation. I'm sure you can buy pre-made spacers too (usually for band or chain usage) if you didn't want to handyman DIY it. Even some spare collars/clamps would act as spacers in a pinch. I would do one of these things, even if you fix the side-to-side shifting you want some buffer room - if you ever drop a deadlift (say, grip failure on one side) you ARE going to drop that side directly on your foot without some spare room.

TR0berts

DopeItUp wrote: »

As far as uneven bar movement goes, I generally find this to be a slight issue with mixed grip and hand placement (it's not as obvious as it seems to evenly space your hands sometimes when it comes to mixed grip). Either that or mixed grip and uneven lat engagement tends to cause the bar to move a little side to side. I tend to have to mentally cue myself to engage my overhand (left side) as strongly as my underhand side, which generally clears up the issue. Could just be natural asymmetry too.

Hadn't thought of it, but that sounds like that's probably my issue(s). Seeing as how I went double-overhand on my last set, I didn't have any problems. Of course, I was also consciously thinking of it, so I might have subconsciously done something else, too. And thanks for the tip on putting a 25 on the inside - that's easily doable. Since I calculate all of my plates beforehand - I do enough math during the day, I don't need to do extra at the gym - it'll be no problem to load.

SideSteel

That's a really great idea regarding the smaller plates on the inside.