☆-Shaped Deadlifts (Wide Grip Wide Stance)

You’d think that a wide-grip deadlift on its own would be quite enough.

This one features a wide grip plus a wide stance. (The ‘☆-shaped’ title just refers to the shape of the body at lockout, and is a bit more fun to log than ‘wide-grip, wide-stance, but not really sumo deadlift’.)

What Makes It So Awesome

• If your upper back is not a weakness, it will be here.

• The start position is an abomination. With the limbs stretched outward, it feels as though there is nowhere to draw power from to start the lift (unless maybe you are sumo by nature; will get to that in a moment).

• If you are primarily a conventional puller, you cannot just grip and rip this. Some of us tend to rely on something moderately dive bomb-y to get the weight going – either for physical or mental reasons. This completely erases any sort of edge you might have been gaining from that. (That goes double if you have to hang out at the bottom to fiddle with straps.)

• Piggybacking off of the above, if you tend to pull fast off the floor and grind at lockout, this will magnify everything going on at the top portion of the lift. It’s a nice way to work through that part of the movement specifically, without having to pile on a ton of weight.

• I think this should build the sumo deadlift nicely, and probably wouldn’t be as much of a culture shock there as it might be for someone who mainly trains conventional.

• As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to appreciate lift variations that don’t require using so much weight all the time. Ratios on this will vary, but I usually top out at only 75%-ish of my conventional deadlift.

• This is a great lift to get good at for it’s own sake. When moving heavy objects around in daily life, this position does seem to come up in one form or another.

How To Do It

I don’t think this is incredibly fussy to perform.

Grip

The grip width would be wider than a normal deadlift.

If you want a true snatch-grip, you’d grab the bar wide enough that it sits at your hip crease at the top of the pull. However, anything beyond the center rings should bring in some extra struggle for the upper back.

Strap usage is very much encouraged. The grip will most likely give out well before the muscles do.

Stance

The stance would just be something wider than shoulder width.

I hesitate to call this a ‘wide grip sumo’ because the mechanics still feel like a wide stance conventional to me. If you feel more sumo in it, feel free to call it whatever you’d like.

Technique

To start the lift, you might need to be a bit further over the bar than you are normally. Aside from that, standard deadlift technique protocols apply.

I don’t think this one is all that easy to screw up. The wide grip forces you into a position where you are pretty limited in how you can move. There really isn’t a whole lot of room for creativity.

Usage

As a Main Lift

Deadlift training for me usually goes something like this:

1. Pick a deadlift variation that feels absolutely miserable.
2. Work on that until I can’t stand it anymore.
3. Transition (gradually or abruptly) back to a ‘normal’ deadlift, which now feels like a cake walk by comparison.

This lift is perfect for building some physical and mental resilience before moving on to something slightly less brutal. It can make a nice lead-up to a conventional/ sumo deadlift test or training cycle, but even riding this down to a regular snatch grip deadlift can feel pretty refreshing.

Here’s what that might look like:

• Week 1 – ☆ Deadlift 3″ Block – 3×5

• Week 2 – ☆ Deadlift 3″ Block – 5×3

• Week 3 – ☆ Deadlift Floor – 3×5

• Week 4 – ☆ Deadlift Floor – 3×3

• Week 5 – ☆ Deadlift Forget it, I’m done. 

• Week 5 – Sumo/Conventional – 1-3rm

* I do find the ☆ deadlift to be close enough to either a sumo or conventional to not need much specific training there before testing, but your mileage may vary on that.

As a Supplemental Lift

This should be pretty easy to work in as supplemental or builder lift.

If you’re already pretty strong, it can be a bit fatiguing (though this can be the case with any deadlift variation). One way to keep that in check could be to alternate pulling off the floor and off a block each week.

Example:

• Week 1 – ☆ Deadlift 3″ Block – 3×4-6

• Week 2 – ☆ Deadlift Floor – 3×4-6

• Week 3 – ☆ Deadlift 3″ Block – 3×4-6

• Week 4 – ☆ Deadlift Floor – 3×4-6

• etc.

Progressive Range of Motion

As illustrated above, this lift lends itself well to gradually taking off of varying block heights, especially when adapting to the excruciatingly awkward start position. You can start on a high block with a narrower grip (if needed), then work your way down and out over a period of time.

Like this:

• Week 1-2 – ☆ Deadlift 3″ Block

• Week 3-4 – ☆ Deadlift 2″ Block

• Week 5-6 – ☆ Deadlift 1″ Block

• Week 7 – ☆ Deadlift Floor

Side note: If using an abbreviated ROM for longer chunk of time, it can be a good idea to keep some lighter, full ROM hinges in there somewhere alongside it – maybe in the same workout, or on a secondary deadlift day.

Any of these options can keep you busy for weeks on end, without getting too beat up in the process. (And, as an added bonus, you’ll probably have some nice trap, rear delt and spinal erector development to show for it.)

Final Thoughts

I stumbled on this movement during a phase where every single lift that I could possibly use a borderline snatch-grip on, I did. This was definitely a keeper out of that pile. I haven’t seen many people using it, other than Jonnie Candito professing his love for them here and hitting a nice set of 455/5.

This and the traditional snatch grip dead are the only deadlift variations that tank on me when I am at a lower bodyweight, with this one taking the cake there. Just about every other deadlift variation is unaffected or will even go up if I drop a few pounds. But this one… just… nope.

It’s just a slight variation of a basic lift, but ticks a lot of boxes for bringing up common weak points.