The sumo deadlift uses a wide stance with the hands inside the knees. The conventional deadlift uses a narrow stance with the hands outside. Lifters often ask which suits them. This article summarises the abstracts of four studies: a video analysis of powerlifters, a muscle-activity study of football players, a study of body proportions and strength in novices, and a 2025 comparison of joint movement and muscle activity in experienced lifters. The studies describe how the two styles differ; none shows that one style builds more muscle or produces better long-term results. This site’s guides to the trap bar and straight bar deadlift and to barbell specifications cover related choices.
Study one: how the technique differs (2000)
Escamilla and colleagues, in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise in 2000, filmed 12 sumo and 12 conventional lifters at a national powerlifting championship. The sumo group used a much wider stance (70 cm against 32 cm), turned the feet out more (42 degrees against 14), held the bar with hands closer together and had more upright trunk and thigh positions. The knees and hips extended about 12 degrees more in the conventional group. Vertical bar distance, mechanical work and predicted energy expenditure were roughly 25 to 40% greater in the conventional group. Ankle and knee moments differed between styles, but hip moments did not differ significantly. The authors attributed the differences to technique.
Study two: muscle activity (2002)
Escamilla and colleagues, in the same journal in 2002, recorded muscle activity from 16 muscles in 13 collegiate football players performing both deadlifts at a 12-repetition-maximum load, with and without a lifting belt. Overall activity in the vastus medialis, vastus lateralis (two quadriceps muscles) and tibialis anterior was significantly greater in the sumo deadlift, while the medial gastrocnemius (calf) was more active in the conventional deadlift. The belt condition produced greater rectus abdominis activity and less external oblique activity. The authors concluded that athletes may choose either style depending on which muscles they consider most important.
Study three: body proportions (2019)
Cholewa and colleagues, in the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine in 2019, studied 47 people (28 men and 19 women) with no deadlift experience. After instruction in both styles, they tested a one-repetition maximum (1RM) in each, in random order. There was no significant difference between sumo and conventional 1RM overall. The only significant link between body measurements and the ratio of sumo to conventional strength was with the ratio of sitting height to total height (r = 0.297), which led the authors to suggest that sumo may be slightly advantageous for novices with longer torsos and conventional for those with shorter torsos. Repetitions to failure at 60% of 1RM were higher in women than men for both lifts.
Study four: joints and muscles in experienced lifters (2025)
Hanen and colleagues, in Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology in 2025, tested 30 experienced male lifters performing both styles at 85% of 1RM. The sumo style showed greater range of movement in the frontal and transverse planes at the hip and knee, whereas the conventional style involved greater hip flexion and ankle dorsiflexion. The conventional deadlift produced higher hip extension moments, and the biceps femoris (a hamstring) showed greater activation in the conventional deadlift. The vastus lateralis was more active in the sumo style during the first phase of the lift. Tibialis anterior and erector spinae thoracis activation were greater in the conventional lift. The authors concluded that the conventional lift targets the posterior chain, particularly the hip extensors, while the sumo lift emphasises the anterior chain and mediolateral stabilisation.
What the studies add up to
- The styles differ in stance, joint angles and distance the bar travels, the 2002 study found higher vastus medialis and vastus lateralis activity overall in sumo; the 2025 study found higher vastus lateralis activity in sumo during the first phase only, and higher hamstring activity and hip extension moments in conventional.
- In novices, neither style produced a clearly higher 1RM overall, and the relationship with torso length was weak (r = 0.297).
- Three of the four studies used experienced or athletic lifters, and the 2019 study used novices of both sexes, so evidence for other groups is thin.
- Muscle activity is not the same as muscle growth, and none of the studies compared training results over weeks.
For equipment, the studies describe no difference in kit between the two styles: both used a barbell and plates.
FAQs
Which deadlift style lets people lift more?
In the novice study, 1RM did not differ significantly between styles overall. Torso length explained only a small part of the difference between individuals.
Does one style involve more work?
In the 2000 powerlifting analysis, vertical bar distance, mechanical work and predicted energy expenditure were roughly 25 to 40% greater in the conventional group.
The bottom line
Sumo and conventional deadlifts differ in stance, joint angles and muscle emphasis, with higher vastus lateralis activity in sumo in two studies (in the 2025 study during the first phase only) and higher hamstring and hip-extension demands in conventional in the most recent. The four studies do not show that either style is better for strength or muscle gain, and body proportions explained only a small part of who lifted more in novices. The practical choice is whichever style a lifter can perform well with the equipment and space available.
Sources
- A three-dimensional biomechanical analysis of sumo and conventional style deadlifts, Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 2000 (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- An electromyographic analysis of sumo and conventional style deadlifts, Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 2002 (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- Anthropometrical Determinants of Deadlift Variant Performance, Journal of Sports Science and Medicine, 2019 (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- Biomechanical analysis of conventional and sumo deadlift, Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, 2025 (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)