I pulled 403# in the deadlift just now. That's just a few pounds away from 2.5xbwt. Not too bad for having only gone as high as 295 on my PTP deads. I think 3 things really helped me pull a PR today:
1. I treat every deadlift like it's a max attempt. I use every tension technique I know, dig in with my heels and start pulling like hell. This helps me to be ready for the weight, and even 363 came up extremely smooth and easy today.
2. Squats with chains, weighted pistols and heavy power cleans. To me, these are the exercises that best complement the deadlift. The squats with chains emphasize speed and acceleration while strengthening the muscles of the posterior chain in a non deadlifting specific way. The power cleans work the deadlifting muscles and teach them to contract quickly. I have heard it said, maybe by Louie Simmons, that you can't lift a heavy weight slowly. If this is the case, then power cleans should be a vital part of training the deadlift. Finally, the weighted pistols are unparallelled for teaching tension without tremendously heavy loading. Paraphrasing Dan John, a weight that can be lifted with one limb cannot be considered heavy. However, I challenge anyone to work weighted pistols without some degree of mastery of the principles of tension. Thus, they are a great bang for the buck exercise since they allow me to practice lifting heavy with a light load.
3. Frequent and consistent practice. I deadlift every day that I work out. If I am going to get good at one lift it will likely be the deadlift. I experiment with different set and rep schemes, but the one thing that never changes is that I am working the dead every day.
I am not what I would call gifted in the area of strength, and tons of people out there are doing 403# for multiple reps, but given the relatively short time I have dedicated to my current program (consistent since the beginning of November), I am very happy with these results. I will keep at it and fully expect to post a new PR every 4 weeks for several more cycles of this routine.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Excellent Martin. Especially very impressive considering the weight you mention using for the deadlift day in day out.
Maybe there are people who deadlift that for reps, but I tell you, there are far more people who don't even come close to lifting 2 times bw or even 1.5 times!!
I'm interested to know how you're going to fit in the KBs. I've read that DL & high rep KB pulls are a bit taxing on the back.
I've been doing KBs 3 times weekly with no problems yet. The test will be adding more weight on Monday when I start in with the 24kg. I've been lifting long enough and consistently enough that my back can handle quite a bit of volume, I guess.
Post a Comment