There are great sumo pullers ... and then there is Yuri Belkin

From time to time we have the unique opportunity to watch a great lifter perfom. One out of millions. Ed Coan of powerlifting, Michael Jordan of basketball, Usain Bolt of sprinting.

I believe, today, Yuri Belkin is THE icon when it comes to sumo pulls.

He mastered the most efficient starting position AND execution. 400kg (880lbs) is now a working training weight for him and recently he pulled over 420kg (920+lbs) several times.

Why is he so damn strong? What does he have what the others do not? I believe it is mainly two things: excellent setup and impecable execution.

(of course, he is super strong but that is not the issue we debate here)


Le't break up his setup first.

Super wide stance with toes to plates in order to minimize ROM.
Feet turned out significantly so that he can pull his hips as close to the bar as possible.
Shins vertical both from the front view and side view for direct transfer of power (he creates zero unnecessary leverage).
Torso pretty vertical around 60 degrees to off-load back and load as much as possible to hips and legs.

Now let's check the execution.

Spine as vertical as possible, he loads maximum into hips and legs.
Brings hips to the bar and knees out.
When the bar leaves the ground only couple of inches he already tries to use quads to lock knees as soon as possible and THEN he does the poweful hip hinge with glutes (two-phase sumo pull).


Enjoy:

Amazing, right?