What "Leverage" Actually Means in a Sumo Deadlift
Why the Bar Feels Heavy (And What Physics Actually Tells Us)
Have you ever picked up a heavy object and immediately known the way you picked it up wasn’t the best choice? Maybe it felt more heavy than it should have, or maybe you had to torque your body in an awkward position in order to get it up. You finish the lift, but you can’t wait to set the weight back down.
Most people attribute this to weakness, or poor form in some vague, undefined sense. But when you break down a common exercise like sumo squat deadlift, what's actually happening is more interesting than that.
If you follow my work, you know that I love looking at movement from the neuromuscular perspective. When a movement feels accessible and safe-ish, the nervous system is given the space it needs to learn. But here’s the thing—in order for a movement to feel accessible and safe-ish, you need to be able to identify what is anchoring you (to the ground and to yourself), and how to perform the movement easily.
This is where physics comes in. Leverage is one of those words that gets thrown around a lot in fitness spaces. Coaches cue it, clients repeat it, and somewhere along the way, the actual meaning gets lost. So let's be specific.
How a Deadlift Actually Works: Load, Fulcrum, and Effort
In any deadlift variation, you're working with a simple lever system. The load is the bar. The fulcrum, which is your pivot point, is your hips. In a sumo position, your knees are a pivot point as well. The effort comes from both back and your hips. This is what many people call the “posterior chain.” These aren't complicated ideas. But when you see them clearly, they change how you approach the lift.
Your lever arm is the thing that actually determines how hard the movement feels. In a sumo deadlift, your lever arm is your torso. Not your hands. Not your grip. Your mechanical advantage, aka your leverage, is dependent upon the torso position relative to the bar.
What Your Grip Actually Does (It's Not What You Think)
This matters because of what it tells you about the grip.
How you grip the bar plays a critical role in how successful you are picking up the bar because your grip on the bar is your anchor, both to the bar and to yourself. When you grip and actively pull the bar in toward you, you're moving the load closer to your pivot point. A load closer to the fulcrum requires less effort to move. This is physics, not a coaching preference. The grip, done intentionally, is what makes that possible.
There is actual technique involved in how you grip the bar, including which part of your hand connects to the bar and how you rotate the hands into the bar. Maybe someone has told you to “break the bar in half” when you grip the bar. That’s because that act of rotating your hands away from each other engages the pinkie side of the arm, all of the way up into the shoulder. Your anchor becomes the hand against the bar, but also the shoulders and back anchoring your to yourself. This makes the movement feel lighter because it’s easier to pick up a rigid object than it is to pick up a floppy object. You can think of this like picking up a rock versus picking up a mattress. Even if they weigh exactly the same, the mattress is way more awkward to pick up and move.
When you anchor the hands in a way that creates this tension all of the way up into the shoulders and back, it’s like the bar and the arms become a continuous loop, never breaking and never floppy.
There's also a feedback dimension here that's easy to miss. Each time the bar is set down and re-gripped, the hands reset their contact with the bar. That contact sends information up through the arms and into the broader system. It gives he nervous system updated data about where the load is and how to coordinate around it. Re-gripping isn't a reset of effort. It's a reset of awareness.
What this means practically is this: you can grip a bar in a way that keeps your upper back and shoulders disconnected from the movement, like the floppy mattress, or you can grip it in a way that integrates them. The difference isn't always visible from the outside. But it makes the movement feel very different.
Torso Position and Leverage: Where the Physics Really Lives
The torso angle is where the actual leverage plays out. In a sumo deadlift, the torso tips slightly forward as the lift initiates — this is normal, and often necessary. What would change the mechanics is if the hips and torso rose at exactly the same rate. That would actually make the lift mechanically easier, and it's worth understanding why: when both move together, the load stays closer to the pivot point for longer. The forward tip of the torso increases the length of the lever arm, which increases the demand on the system.
The length of your arms, legs, and torso are going to play a role in how you set-up. The length of your levers are different than the length of my levers.
None of this is about doing it wrong. It's about understanding what's actually happening so you can make informed choices, including when a little more torso lean is appropriate, and when it isn't.
Why Understanding Movement Mechanics Builds Confidence
Breaking down a movement into its basic components doesn't make it mechanical or joyless. It makes it legible. And legibility is where confidence comes from. Not from pushing harder, but from understanding what you're asking your body to do, and why.
You can check out the video breakdown/explanation below.
You can learn more about the physics of movement in the book, “Let Me Introduce You,” co-written with Adarian Barr. Or, you can learn more about the neuroscience of movement in the book, “Spinal Intelligence,” out now.