Older Westside Deadlift Program, and More Sumo vs. Conventional Dead Horse Beating

[Etype]

In an article I recently read on EliteFTS (I just searched for it for about 15 mins and couldn't find it) some older programming that Louie prescribed at Westside in the 90's was outlined. The purpose of it in the article was as a ramp up for switching styles so one could maximize reps with good form. It prescribes a 5 week progression, starting at 15 singles @ 65% 1RM in week 1, to 6 singles @ 85% in week 5- It's all straight weight. The author recommended giving it a try for 5 weeks to refine sumo form and strengthen the muscles/CNS, then do a 1RM retest after the 5 weeks. I checked it against Prilepin's chart and the %/reps fall within the specs, so it can't be too bad, right? Barring any strong objections from the experts (and with a bit of weight from the answer to the question below), I'm going to give it a try.

I also found this article.
http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/choosing-conventional-or-sumo-based-on-your-bone-structure/

By their measurements, I have a long torso and long arms, which qualifies me for either style according to the chart. I currently have a conventional 1RM of 515#, and a sumo 1RM of only 405. I'm sure a lot of that is form and weakness from not using a wide stance often (both raw lifts, I just started in gear (single ply) and have a lot of work to do on my wide stance lifts). Is it worth it to bring my sumo up, or is trying to catch up 110# a battle that would be a harder fight than the returns are worth?

Thanks for the help.

[kingns]

The only way to know is to give it a try. 5 weeks isnt that long anyways and the worst that would happen is you switch styles for 5 weeks and realize your gonna be stronger conventional. Even if you dont switch styles completely, training sumo will help your conventional deadlift

[Lones Green]

A lot of people have a hard time with the Westside articles. Its best to look at them from the perspective of a progress report, like what they were doing at the time the article was written. It always changes. There have always been staples (conjugate method, sled work, tricep work, abs, etc) but if you were to go there now and then a year from now, what they would be doing would be slightly different. An exercise is kept if its effective.

In my opinion its very important to train both stances. I saw a lot of carryover when I started training my conventional stance just as hard as my sumo, particularly in my sumo deadlift lockout. I've done tons of rack work with straight weight and bands and my pull has increased quite a bit.

You could try that program if you want to, especially if what you're doing now is ineffective. But if you brought your sumo pull (and hip strength) up I think you'd see quite a bit of carryover to your conventional deadlift as well as your squat. Hips are very important.

[MarcusWild]

That was done on DE lower day after squats. That was before they did DE deads they way they are done today. It's not really a deadlift program, but a tiny portion of the overall program.

I agree 100% on using both stances in training. If one is a lot weaker, it means you have weaknesses to address that'll hold back your overall progress.