Barbell Sumo Deadlift
The barbell sumo deadlift is a wide-stance deadlift with your hands inside your knees, which keeps your torso more upright. That shifts more work onto your glutes and quads, with hamstrings and back assisting. Choose it if your hips suit a wide stance or you want a deadlift with a shorter bar path.
Muscles worked
The barbell sumo deadlift trains the glutes and quadriceps, with hamstrings, back helping.
Primary
Helpers
Weekly sets for glutes
Hard sets per week that Swole.fit plans for glutes, counting every exercise that trains it. Start a cycle near the growth line and climb toward the recovery limit before a deload.
How to do the barbell sumo deadlift
- 01Stand with your feet wide, toes turned out 30 to 45 degrees, and shins nearly touching the bar.
- 02Grip the bar about shoulder width with your arms hanging straight down inside your knees.
- 03Push your knees out over your toes, lift your chest and pull your hips toward the bar.
- 04Brace and push the floor apart with your feet, keeping your back flat as the bar leaves the floor.
- 05Lock out by driving your hips forward to stand tall, then lower with control.
Coaching cues
- Spread the floor apart with your feet.
- Knees out over your toes.
- Hips close to the bar.
Common mistakes
- Starting with your hips too high turns it into a stiff-leg pull, so sit them closer to the bar before you lift.
- Letting your knees cave in throws away the sumo leverage, so drive them out in line with your toes.
- Choosing a stance wider than your hips allow jams the setup, so narrow it until your shins can stay close to vertical.
How Swole.fit programs it
Log it once and the app plans the next session for you.
- Most sets land between 8 and 15 reps, the range the plan steers compound lifts toward for size.
- Week one starts around 2 to 3 reps in reserve. Each week you train a little closer to failure, ending around 0 to 1 in reserve before a deload week.
- Hit the top of the range on every set and the next session adds the smallest real jump in weight, rounded to the plates, dumbbells or stack you actually have.
- Sets for this exercise count toward your weekly volume for every muscle it trains: a full set for the primary muscles, half a set for the helpers.
The full method, with the maths, is in how mesocycles work.
Barbell Sumo Deadlift alternatives
Same muscles, different tool. Swap in one of these when the equipment is taken or your joints want a change.
Free programs that use it
Ready-made splits from the Swole.fit library. Pick one and the app runs the progression.
Log it. Let the app plan the next one.
Track your barbell sumo deadlift free. Swole.fit picks the next weight, counts your weekly sets and tells you when to deload.