SHORT AND SWEET

Burn fat and build muscle with the SUMO DEADLIFT HIGH PULL. Wrestle through four sets with ringside tips from Gen C PT Chris Jillard

Blast through 100kcal in the time it takes to brew your morning coffee with this bodyweight-only fitness “snack”

Don’t be fooled. This may look like a move exclusively for muscle-bound bros, but use it with light weights and high reps and it’ll serve as your new favourite conditioning move. The sumo deadlift high pull is a full-body exercise that requires strength, coordination and power. “It’s a technical exercise, but it’s well worth mastering,” says Chris Jillard, PT at Feel Good Strength. “The aim is to pull the bar vertically from the floor to your upper chest in one movement.”

Thanks to the large range of motion, it employs almost all of the muscles in your posterior chain. That means you can get the maximum benefit from shorter workouts: burning calories, working your muscles and building up an engine.

Start by adding it to one workout a week, and incorporate it into a circuit format. Try 30 seconds of hard effort on a stationary bike, 10 bodyweight squats and 12 sumo deadlift high pulls, resting for 60 to 90 seconds. Then repeat three or four times. Sweat towel at the ready.

03 HIGH NOTES Once the bar passes your hips, maintain the upward momentum by pulling the bar with your arms. Let your elbows come out wide. Ensure that your core is braced throughout, and avoid leaning back as you come up. SCORCH CALORIES 04 HIT REWIND At the top, don’t try to hold it. Lower the bar under control – if you let it drop, you risk injury. The crucial points to remember are to keep the bar close to you and to maintain a straight back on the way down.

Pull in your belly button, keeping your eyes forward. As you start to extend your legs and stand up, squeeze your back muscles and glutes. Remember: it’s a vertical pull, so you need to keep that bar close to you.

01 GRIP TEST Stand with your feet just wider than your shoulders. Hinge at your hips and bend your knees to grasp the barbell. Your grip should be narrow, with your arms between your legs.