10 Best Sumo Deadlift With Chains Alternatives for Hamstring Strength

The Sumo Deadlift With Chains is done standing with a barbell. Ranked closest by our scoring: the Sumo Deadlift With Bands, the Reverse Band Deadlift and the Sumo Deadlift. Two harder versions, the Clean and the Power Clean, are listed below as progressions rather than swaps.

Sumo Deadlift With Chains

Each substitute is scored on movement pattern, muscles worked, equipment and body position. Read how we rank alternatives

How to Do the Sumo Deadlift With Chains

The steps for the Sumo Deadlift With Chains itself, so you can judge how close each substitute below really is.

Hamstrings, with abductors, adductors, forearms, glutes, lower back, middle back, quadriceps, traps · Barbell · Advanced · Compound

  1. You can attach the chains to the sleeves of the bar, or just drape the middle over the bar so there is a greater weight increase as you lift. Attempt to keep the ends of the chains away from the plates so you don't hit them when you lower the weight.
  2. Begin with a bar loaded on the ground. Approach the bar so that the bar intersects the middle of the feet. The feet should be set very wide, near the collars. Bend at the hips to grip the bar. The arms should be directly below the shoulders, inside the legs, and you can use a pronated grip, a mixed grip, or hook grip. Relax the shoulders, which in effect lengthens your arms.
  3. Take a breath, and then lower your hips, looking forward with your head with your chest up. Drive through the floor, spreading your feet apart, with your weight on the back half of your feet. Extend through the hips and knees.
  4. As the bar passes through the knees, lean back and drive the hips into the bar, pulling your shoulder blades together.
  5. Return the weight to the ground by bending at the hips and controlling the weight on the way down.

The 10 Best Sumo Deadlift With Chains Alternatives

10 substitutes, ranked by how closely each one matches the Sumo Deadlift With Chains on movement pattern, muscles worked, equipment and body position. The higher the score, the less you change. Cards with a "How to perform it" link open to show the steps; every card title links to that exercise's own alternatives page. Harder versions are tagged as progressions and kept out of the top spot even when they score higher.

Each link re-ranks the list below for the kit it names. Pick one to hide the substitutes you cannot set up.

  1. Sumo Deadlift With Bands

    1. Sumo Deadlift With Bands

    99% match

    Hamstrings · Advanced · Compound

    It uses the same equipment and still works the hamstrings.

    • Barbell
    How to perform it
    1. To deadlift with short bands, simply loop them over the bar before you start, and step into them to set up. Ensure that they under the back half of your foot, directly where you are driving into the floor.
    2. Begin with a bar loaded on the ground. Approach the bar so that the bar intersects the middle of the feet. The feet should be set very wide, near the collars. Bend at the hips to grip the bar. The arms should be directly below the shoulders, inside the legs, and you can use a pronated grip, a mixed grip, or hook grip.
    3. Take a breath, and then lower your hips, looking forward with your head with your chest up. Drive through the floor, spreading your feet apart, with your weight on the back half of your feet. Extend through the hips and knees.
    4. As the bar passes through the knees, lean back and drive the hips into the bar, pulling your shoulder blades together.
    5. Return the weight to the ground by bending at the hips and controlling the weight on the way down.

    Sets and reps: 3 to 5 sets of 5 to 8 reps.

    Why this matches
    • Movement: deadlift hinge, the same as the Sumo Deadlift With Chains
    • Primary muscle: hamstrings, the same as the Sumo Deadlift With Chains
    • Equipment: free weights, the same as the Sumo Deadlift With Chains
    • Body position: standing, the same as the Sumo Deadlift With Chains
  5. Clean Deadlift

    5. Clean Deadlift

    95% match

    Hamstrings · Intermediate · Compound

    Pick this when you want an easier version that still works the hamstrings.

    • Barbell
    How to perform it
    1. Begin standing with a barbell close to your shins. Your feet should be directly under your hips with your feet turned out slightly. Grip the bar with a double overhand grip or hook grip, about shoulder width apart. Squat down to the bar. Your spine should be in full extension, with a back angle that places your shoulders in front of the bar and your back as vertical as possible.
    2. Begin by driving through the floor through the front of your heels. As the bar travels upward, maintain a constant back angle. Flare your knees out to the side to help keep them out of the bar's path.
    3. After the bar crosses the knees, complete the lift by driving the hips into the bar until your hips and knees are extended.

    Sets and reps: 3 or 4 sets of 6 to 10 reps.

    Why this matches
    • Movement: deadlift hinge, the same as the Sumo Deadlift With Chains
    • Primary muscle: hamstrings, the same as the Sumo Deadlift With Chains
    • Equipment: free weights, the same as the Sumo Deadlift With Chains
    • Body position: standing, the same as the Sumo Deadlift With Chains

  8. Progression

    8. Clean

    90% match

    Hamstrings · Advanced · Compound

Sumo Deadlift With Chains FAQ

What muscles does Sumo Deadlift With Chains work?

The movement primarily targets the hamstrings and glutes via hip extension, with strong adductor and erector spinae involvement due to the wide stance and torso angle. The quads assist at the initial drive; maintain a hinged hip and braced core to maximize posterior chain activation.

What is the best bodyweight alternative to Sumo Deadlift With Chains?

The Nordic hamstring curl is the most specific bodyweight option for hamstring strength and eccentric control; keep hips locked and lower slowly to maximally load the distal hamstrings. If Nordics are too advanced, use single-leg RDLs with slow eccentrics and a focus on hip-hinge mechanics.

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