Conventional, Sumo, Romanian, Stiff-leg… What’s the difference?
You perform a variety of hinging movements throughout your day (which probably comes as no surprise to you if you’re aware of the 5 basic movement patterns). So it makes sense to practice a variety of hinging exercises in your workouts, too, right?
Right.
Because when you practice hinging under resistance/load you’re actually working to prevent injury & improve functionality/proficiency in similar movements in your daily life. Maybe even more importantly, doing this in your workout routine NOW can help you feel more confident, independent & empowered to continue moving for years to come.
Like every movement pattern, there are a variety of exercises & variations you can choose from. The most common category of hinge exercises are deadlifts but hip thrusts & glute bridges are great options, too.
Today we’re diving into the most common deadlift exercises & addressing how to execute each one (conventional, sumo, Romanian & stiff-leg). We’ll also touch on some similarities & differences between them in the hopes to help you pick out which deadlift variation you want to focus on in your workouts right now.
Note: There are still a lot of ways you can create variation within each of these exercises; you can vary equipment (barbell, kettlebell, dumbbell, etc.), weight-distribution (bilateral, b-stance, unilateral), load placement (contralateral, ipsilateral, bilateral), tempo (rep cadence, pauses, etc.), range of motion (deficit, rack pulls, etc.).
For the sake of this post, we’re touching on these exercises in their most basic/traditional form with bilateral barbell variations.
CONVENTIONAL DEADLIFT
The conventional deadlift is most commonly executed with a barbell & weight plates. While this can be scary for some newbie gym-goes, most gyms have “pre-loaded” barbells (a bar with weights attached to it) that are lighter than traditional barbells (which come in ~35-45#) that you can use. Plus there is always the option to opt for a dumbbell or kettlebell version of a conventional deadlift as well!
The conventional deadlift is a compound exercise that works your glutes, hamstrings and quadriceps. Back & core muscles work to stabilize the bar path in this movement while your adductors & abductors are also working a bit to keep your lower body stable throughout your reps.
To set-up for a conventional deadlift your feet will be ~shoulder width apart & the bar will cross over your mid-foot/mid-laces when you’re standing & looking down at it.
Your hands will grip the bar outside of your shins & you’ll bend at the knees to bring your shins to touch the bar.
From here you’ll sink your hips down as you brace your core. This should make your elbow crease in line with (or almost aligned) with your knees.
Before you lift off in your first rep, think about engaging your lats/back by squeezing your arms to your torso (or “squeezing the armpits”).
In this starting position your shoulder, hip & knee joints should make a greater-than or less-than sign, depending on which angle you’re looking at.
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SUMO DEADLIFT
There are some pretty notable difference between the conventional & sumo deadlift which are primarily found in the set-up & execution of the lift.
The sumo deadlift, which can be done with a variety of equipment, is thought to recruit more glutes than the conventional deadlift. However, this isn’t necessarily the case. Instead of increased glute activation with the sumo deadlift, we actually see more adductor activation! Your hip adductors are the leg muscles that work to pull your legs in toward your body & generally work as stabilizing muscles.
In the set-up of the sumo deadlift your stance is wider than shoulder width, feet are angled out & knees drive out in the same direction as your foot angle. With these changes you’ll also be gripping the bar inside of your legs vs. outside of your shins.
When you sink your hips down for this deadlift you’ll actually end up sinking them back further & deeper than you do in a conventional deadlift. Your shin angle will also end up more upright/vertical than it is in a conventional deadlift. For some people this set-up can feel more like a box squat than a deadlift.
With this set-up your chest will be more upright & we won’t see that same greater-than or less-than sign as we did with our joint angles in the conventional deadlift. Even so, we still want the same core & back engagement to stabilize the bar in the pull!
psssst... my chest should be even more upright above!
The sumo deadlift is a relatively new lift to me (yes, even experienced trainers have movements we need to learn & improve… and even ones we neglect!)
The conventional & sumo deadlift have a lot in common: compound exercises, great for lower body strength, stability & growth, typically barbell lifts but can easily be swapped for other equipment, etc. But even so they are still fairly different! Take a peak below to see those differences highlight:
ROMANIAN DEADLIFT
This is a crowd fav & is commonly referred to in short hand as “RDL”. It’s generally thought that RDLs are a glute exercise but first & foremost (IMO) they are a hamstring exercise. This isn’t a bad thing & you can also find endless debates on this online. From my perspective, there are simply other exercises that stretch the glutes under load more effectively & through a larger range of motion than RDLs do… that’s a conversation for another day, though!
When it comes to the RDL, it will look very different from conventional & sumo deadlifts. There is significantly less of a knee bend and each rep starts at the top of the movement vs. the bottom.
Setting up for your RDL you’ll have your feet somewhere between hip & shoulder width apart & generally facing forward. If you’re using a barbell you’ll grip the bar just outside of your legs or right in line with them.
To get into the starting position of an RDL, you’ll want to perform a conventional deadlift to lift up to the top position- remember RDL reps start at the top & work down vs. start at the floor & work up!
Once you are standing, you’ll make sure your core is braced & armpits are squeezed tight before beginning your descent by pushing your hips backward.
The range of this movement is smaller than other deadlift variations- you typically won’t have the bar go all the way down to the floor in each rep. Instead, you’ll focus on pushing the hips backward & pulling them forward & the bar will move up & down in response to that hinge. In most cases this means the weights will get to about mid-shin before being lifted back up as the hips press forward.
It’s common to slightly tuck your chin to your chest in this exercise to help with spinal alignment as well, although not always necessary to do.
Here’s an RDL in action so you can see the set-up & first couple of reps… note especially the change in knee bend & how the bar does not reach the ground between reps.
In comparing the conventional, sumo & RDL, we actually see a lot of differences! Let’s have a look-
STIFF-LEG DEADLIFT
We are ending our deadlift category conversation with the variation I program least for my clients; the stiff-leg deadlift. This variation will highlight the hamstring muscles more than any other variation due to removing the knee bend almost entirely & therefore placing more tension/load on the hamstrings. Personally, I tend to stay away from giving clients stiff-leg deadlifts (or doing them myself) because 1. I think there are better options for hamstring exercises and 2. if done incorrectly we have the biggest potential to load the lower-back.
Don’t get me wrong, loading the lower back isn’t inherently bad! Like any other muscle, to strengthen the lower back we do need to load it. But also like any other muscle, if this isn’t done appropriately we can end up aggravating it. And with in my experience stiff-leg deadlift form can easily slip into this category if not monitored carefully.
The stiff-leg deadlift is closer in relation to RDLs than conventional or sumo deadlifts in just about every single way. Stiff-leg deadlifts emphasize the hamstrings over other lower body muscles. The set-up also requires a more conventional deadlift rep to lift the weight off of the ground & begin your reps at the top. We also will have a similar grip on the bar (just outside of or in line with legs) & your stance will be somewhere between hip & shoulder width. Reps are completely produced by the hips hinging (similar to RDLs) and still require core & back engagement to stabilize the bar.
If you look to compare the stiff-leg deadlift with conventional or sumo deadlifts you won’t find a whole lot in common aside from the similarities in name & muscles involved.
Making your choice…
You’ve learned all about the different deadlift variations & now it’s time to decide which one(s) you want to include in your current workouts!
You might be deciding this based on your experience level, equipment accessibility or even which muscles you want to emphasize. Keep in mind there truly is no “right” way to go about training, rather there are numerous ways you can put together a workout & exercise so it works best for you & supports your goals.
If you feel lost in making this decision, here are some “if - then” scenarios that might be helpful:
If you’re brand new to the gym/working out start with a conventional deadlift. Most other deadlift variations are built off of this one. You might decide to go with a kettlebell or dumbbell version over a barbell.
If you’re newish to the gym & are have been going consistently multiple times/week, include a Romanian deadlift on another day (typically not the same day as your conventional deadlift)!
If you’ve been going to the gym for a bit & have hit all of the “traditional lifts”, try switching up your deadlift to a sumo format.
If you’re an experienced lifter & have previously utilized all of these deadlifts in your workouts in some capacity, you might consider varying the equipment you use, load placement, tempo, ROM or even implementing a different rep/set scheme.
Regardless of your experience level, if you’re going to a commercial gym I almost always will suggest opting for another hamstring-centric exercise over a stiff-leg deadlift… especially if you are already performing a conventional, sumo or Romanian deadlift in another workout!
summary points…
You and I and everyone else hinges ever single day. Therefore we should be prioritizing hinging in our workouts in a variety of ways!
One of the most common hinge exercise categories is deadlifts. Within that category you have conventional, sumo, Romanian and stiff-leg variations.
All of these exercises are unique in some ways and similar in others.
There is no one “right” way to incorporate deadlifts into your workouts. Pick a variation you enjoy, that challenges you & one you can be consistent with!
Questions on deadlifts? Drop them in the comments or EMAIL ME HERE!
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