If you want to get strong then lift something  heavy.

I don’t care if you do the Squat-Row or Deadlift, but grab a bar and start throwing some weight around.

This is the key to building strength.

If you lift heavy and shove a bunch of food down your throat then you will gain weight and get stronger.

Simple as that.

The sure way to build strength is via a Progressive method of lifting a weight for a set amount of repetitions. Once this goal is achieved you then increase the weight again and decrease the reps. Keep training until you can now handle this new weight for the “said” reps again. This training module will continue back and forth, increase the reps, increase the weight, decrease the reps. Work back up again.

It is not rocket science to build strength and size.

One of the best exercises I use to achieve this is the Deadlift. I have covered many types of deadlifting on this blog.  Today I will use the Sumo deadlift since I started playing around with these recently.

I prefer to pull using the conventional style of feet inside shoulder width, I actually go closer than that placing my feet about hip width. The sumo deadlift places much more emphasis on the leg muscles and in my opinion puts less stress on the back.

The set up to perform the lift is pretty much the same as the conventional style except for a few differences I’ll cover later.

• step up to the bar making sure your shins are in contact with the bar and also lined up with the rings on the bar.
• I point my toes outward
• place my hands on the smooth part of the bar inside the nurling
• be sure to sit your butt as low as you can pretending that your sitting in a chair
• pull your shoulders back as far as possible so that they are behind the bar
• keep your head up, once again shoulders back, chest out, lower back flat.

I use a over/under grip but some like using a double over hand grip. It is your choice find what works for you .

I then start the pull making sure that I drive with my heels and tyring my best to pull back, almost as if you had the feeling that you were going to fall backwards. Do not get on the balls of your feet, tyhis is bad and wiull result in a minimal pull at best.

When I pull using the sumo deadlift style I feel the emphasis mainly in my inner and outer thighs and groin. This could be due to my lack of flexability in this stance.

The main differences when pulling sumo style compared to the conventional style are:

• the placement of your hands is usually much closer than you would place them in a conventional pull.
• your legs are spread much wider, outside shoulder width
• I point my toes outward in the sumo stance and point them forward in the conventional stance
• I feel much weaker in the sumo stance than in the conventional

Remember this will only work 100% if you are feeding your body enough calories. You must eat more than your burning off, I cannot emphasise this enough.

I believe in lifting heavy so my current training program calls for 3 sets of 3 repetitions. Many balk at this type of training saying it is too taxing on the body in the longrun.

This may be true but it worked amazing for me last year beating my personal best deadlift by 15lbs. I was so close to pulling my goal of 675lbs. I’m sticking with this model again because it worked for me. I know my body better then anyone else so I will go according to how I feel. You should do the same. I deadlift from the floor once per week and sometimes I skip a week, again go on how you feel. Pay attention to your body and the signs it is showing you. I missed my peak last year by a few weeks. I won’t let that happen again.

I think the sumo deadlift is a great alternative to incorporate into your training to add variety and also I believe it will assist you in making you stronger when you go back to your conventional stance of deadlifting.

No matter what style, stance or method you choose the deadlift will always remain faithful as  the best way to build immense power and muscular size.

*These are my opinions take them and use them to help you or disregard if you find them not useful.

Keep the Faith,

The Machine