Comments on: Surprise

By: J.B.

J.B. — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 19:49:49 +0000

Any time.
Most sumo pullers are like that (I am). I’m not surprised.
Front 1: solid. Should help.
Front 2: seems solid (especially the Snatch grip deads) Rack pulls are more beneficial for conventional pullers, so keep them low.
Add front 3: speed pulls to simply work on technique. Lots of rest, lots of sets. set up, pull, change set up slightly, pull. I think thats half the benefit of speed work is that you can really dial in technique.
I like good mornings.
The weights are comparable to your back squat.
Keep your head neutral, and eyes up.
The bar should maintain a position directly above your ankles, and your hips should move back and forth.
I use them a lot at the end of squat sessions to keep the work up, the shorter rom allows you to go further past where you normally could doing full squats.

By: ces

ces — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:32:17 +0000

Thanks.

My sticking point is absolutely at the bottom. If I can get the plates 1″ off the ground, I can lock it out.

I’ve read Pavel’s Power To the People again last night - at least the relevant parts about deadlift periodization - and will begin a two-front attack starting tomorrow morning.

Front 1: Cycling from lighter weights to heavier weights on a 6 week schedule.
Lighter weights move faster.

Front 2: I’m splitting my Back Squat and Bench days. On Squat days I’ll spend time doing more posterior chain assistance exercises - Good Mornings, Snatch-Grip Deadlifts, Romanian Deadlifts, Heavy Rack Pulls, One-Leg Deadlifts - for slightly higher reps…maybe 3×8 @ 80% or so.

I’ve never actually done any serious Good Morning work before. I understand at a basic level how they work, however, any expert tips would be appreciated. Loads to consider? Ratio of BS or DL to GM? Anything, really.

By: J.B.

J.B. — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:26:30 +0000

Nice work!
Deadlift has to be a technique issue. You’re plenty strong.
The last times you’d PR’ed on the dead were right after training with those guys out in Granite.
Where are you missing the lift? Stapled to the floor? Halfway? knees? or are you just missing the lockout? Since you’re lifting sumo, probably stuck on the floor. Are your hips too high? too low? are you sitting back enough? are you sitting in the hole too long? Are you holding your air? Are you tugging the weight, or are you building force through the floor?
You’re making progress, don’t sweat it.

By: Jesse

Jesse — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:17:18 +0000

Maybe you could retool your DL routine for awhile to work on your sticking points and technique?

Though I’ve never tried them, I could imagine a lighter weight with bands or chains would help strengthen the top part of the lift quite substantianlly? Maybe some speed pulls w/bands would help you explode off of the floor and give you extra load through the upper range of the lift?

Maybe the 375# is kind of mental? Next time you’re going for 1RM’s, trick yourself into thinking you have less weight than you actually do on the bar. I remember for a long time being stuck where I just couldn’t lift 3 plates (33lb rubber coated) on each side off of the ground. I’d see it there and think “I can’t do this” because it LOOKED too heavy.

So I just started with a 44 lb plate instead and got up to the same weight (and then some) by adding 10 lb weights. It looked lighter so it seemed more feasible, and sure enough, up it went.

Once I knew that I could do it, I went from not being able to lift that weight (~243) off of the ground to being able to pull 265 in just a couple of sessions.

Well, I also switched to lifting without shoes sometime during that transition, which I am certain helped…I already know you do that, so I won’t suggest it.

Best of luck and keep the faith. I’m sure you’ll get there soon enough.

And regardless, good job on the back squats.