One of the ways I actually get myself to do enough volume is density training.
I saw a challenge somewhere online, I believe an anecdote from Dan John, saying deadlift 315 for either 30 doubles emom or 60 singles every 30 seconds.
It was talked up like it’s hard. I didn’t buy that.
I’ve pulled 365 emom for about an hour before.
I gave the 60 singles in 30 minutes a whirl.
The first half I pulled conventional, the second half sumo.
It’s like rushed technique work.
I was properly using my quads to break the weight conventional.
With sumo I played around with the stance width, shin angles, how low I put my hips, grip width (slightly narrower is better), if not other variables. The sumo deadlift is highly technical, and I may have had my leverages changed to it being a more favorable lift now. Breaking the weight off the floor didn’t feel like shit.
I did the entire session double overhand.
That’s how I feel to progress this.
Stick to double overhand and add weight.
I like the parameters, this style to me is enjoyable.
I feel that the volume is not high enough, and that the weight is light enough that one could do this more than once weekly.
Note : I wrote this awhile ago, but after hitting some damn fast sumo deadlifts and pulling 385 double overhand in both sumo and conventional stances yesterday (I’ve pulled 405 doh on a handful of occasions generally conventional, but never 365+ that easily) decided to post.
Think of the deadlift you missed because it was too slow. Now most will name a slew of reasons, but they’ve missed one:
They missed it because their grip wasn’t strong enough to hold it at a faster speed at which the rest of their body is capable of.
(While the body, likely the lower back, wasn’t strong enough to finish the lift with that time under tension ie by grinding.)
I find as my HANDS get stronger deadlift SPEED improves.
As my hands get stronger so do my olys.
Strong hands allow a smooth moderate speed to fast deadlift and a nice crisp oly variant.
Hands are what keep me from hitting a 155-185 one arm barbell clean or snatch.
I can one arm deadlift these weights easily, I regularly high pull them, yet often enough the bar will slide right out of my hand near waist height.
It’s a matter of my hands not having the requisite strength at the higher velocity.
While I don’t know the exact physics and math involved, it’s quite obvious higher velocity/speed of movement adds a big multiplier to the force required by the hand to hold onto the weight through the completion of the lift.
To put it simply the higher velocity requires more sheer force/more hand strength to hold on and complete the lift.
This is a pro in favor of the use of bands while deadlifting. The increase in required velocity to lock it out tests the hands considerably building them in a way superior to the equivalent in straight weight.
I’ve found 315 straight weight + 200 in band tension at the top harder on my grip than my 515 deadlift PR.
The bands feel like they’re trying to pry your fingers open.
Likely this is an unspoken reason kettlebells are touted as a great grip strengthener. By design it is an implement of velocity, and therefore causes this grip effect.
Try holding 2 kettlebells in one hand vs 1 in each hand. You’ll see a drastic difference in speed of movement illustrating my points.
A weakness in the hand limits velocity, and higher velocity tests the hands even more.
I’ve held two 55lb kettlebells in my right hand and proceeded to swing them practically in slow motion. (Yes, thickness of grip comes into play too.) The contrast to one in each hand is staggering.
If you’re struggling with speed during pull movements you may be in need of stronger hands.
Dueces & scary screenshot eyes.
The relationship between hand strength and bar speed :
I’m 3 maybe 4 weeks into this current squat every day phase,
it’s Sunday in the early AM, ain’t no one around and I thought back to two conversations :
1. A few days after the Arnold comp this year a beginner was telling me how cool the steinborn squat is. Me? I said it looks cool, but likely isn’t as impressive as most think.
2. A buddy saying he’d like the Rogue Steinborn bar, and me ribbing him saying due to the awkwardness of the movement that even if he had the bar he’d eschew the movement anyway.
I decide to try it.
135. I tip it over, easy. Its off center, but light weight, I stand easily. I take it off to the side I picked from it comes down awkwardly.
“Huh, I need to concentrate on the “racking” of the bar. ”
Ok, onto 2 plates.
I honestly thought I’d have 315 in the bag, possibly as high as 405 in this, I have mad oblique and good bottom position strength…
I tilt it, and stand…with the bar way high on my neck and far more of the bar to my right. It was nowhere near centered, but unlike the time I pulled 495 like that there were no eye witnesses. ð or ð ?
Try to properly lower it, I’m not going to get reps like this. It comes down awkwardly, I wasn’t bent to the side enough or squatting deep enough.
2nd attempt same general description, but…I’m standing there at lockout and kinda shift the bar left to center and mentally freak. I think of my buddy pinching a nerve in his neck and lose it mentally. The bar starts swaying around, I follow…
Survival mode kicks in, I ugly and shy of lockout behind the neck push press or maybe jerk it over my head dropping it like it was a snatch.
(That movement needs work.)
I crack my neck. Mentally check myself, give my body the once over. I’m not hurt, my mind is just a little shaken.
Ok 3rd attempt…
Stand it, and fail to wedge under well.
4th…the bar standing is trying to run away from me.
5th…similar and I almost let it pull me over.
6th…I wedge under, start to tilt, and…..
Yep, I considered if this will kill me.
I restand it.
I realize…
These may in fact kill me or paralyze me or something.
My headphones are in the way of positioning, I toss them aside.
7th attempt (or so, could be #8 or #9).
Rechalk the hands…
I realize the form pointers, mental pointers, whatever you want to call them aka how to successfully do the lift :
â¢calm yourself
â¢stay aside/on side of bar, this is mental
â¢wedge in tight
â¢make sure you’re centered
â¢now get lower
â¢drop down atg as you tilt
â¢trust in your abilities, it’ll come down center and softly as you’re properly positioned
â¢stand
â¢now do set
â¢take a few breathes, mentally refocus on placing it down well
â¢squat atg
â¢tilt over/lean sideways hard
â¢keep hands on bar
â¢support it upright next to you with one hand and celebrate
â¢set it entirely on the floor
This is likely the most mental thought I’ve put into any odd lift I’ve goofed around with, at least in the first session. I have done a lot of one arm snatches after all.
That good set I picked well, squatted 5 reps(hardest 225×5 of my life), then lowered it well, held it vertically with one hand celebrate and “show control” and put it down nicely.
Physically I’d have been good for 315, likely more, though mentally I decided it smarter to wait till another day.
Give it time…there’s serious potential for good video here.
This was an interesting squat every day session.
-J
Training for this thoughts :
Actually focus on form.
Never fail.
Bottom position rack squats heavy
Landmine standing ab twists
Heavy high rep side bends
Frankly you’re not doing anything other than being a dick when you take 10+ plates a side and do multiple reasonable rep range sets with it.
(At least use effort aside from loading the plates if your going that heavy.)
I laugh whenever I see something prescribe low reps and a high percentage of 1rm on the leg press.
How are they loading the damn thing? Is there a fucking space shuttle welded on top of the sled? Maybe something bigger?
Maybe this is what you leg press for 6×12. Just weld the shuttle onto the sled.
Leg press machines have stupid high loading potential.
The zillion plate drop set can be useful, even fun once in a while, but really there are better ways.
As a kid I saw video of this 15 or 16 year old high school swimmer max out a leg press (oddly outdoors near the Olympic pool, Arizona for ya), and I’m talking ZERO space on the thing for anymore plates, and added his little brother to the thing only to wedge himself in and heave for somewhere around 5 or 6 reps.
At 10 years old seeing this was crazy, but now after being in a weight room it’s not that impressive.
I remember a kid back at the old commercial gym (he was short and heavy) who’d do like the aforementioned swimmer and take just about every damn 45 in the building only to do fucking singles, with knee wraps, long rest periods, and while wearing a god damn belt.
(During the kid’s 5 singles leg press hour everyone else loaded up with 35s and change. You’d get to see some strange ass plate loading combinations. Math and a dearth of plates will do that.)
Completely unnecessary…
Just like the small weak dudes trying similar pushing hands on knees looking like an eminent seizure of doom will strike their barely wedged in there asses.
(It’s a machine, not a powerlift, so bodybuild with it damnit!)
I saw a guy suggest as a rough standard being able to leg press your squat 1rm for 50 reps.
This is stupid easy.
However this is closer to the manner I suggest you generally leg press with.
Take around your squat max (look at that you’re now only needing ballpark 5 plates a side) and slow your rep speed down. Let yourself feel the muscles work and squeeze…and now shoot for 5 or so high quality high rep sets.
I generally hit around 4×35 like this and on the last set (the 5th) will loosen form and start repping normally for a lot of reps after hitting the 25th-30th rep. The last set could go to 100 reps, though around 75 is most common.
TLDR: More than 10 plates a side on the leg press is an ego and dick move. There are better and more courteous ways.
Yesterday I pulled 495 for the first time in more than a year.
Needless to say my lower back was stiff.
I rarely get sore, and when I do, I make it go away as fast as possible.
Getting blood flow to the area helps with this. So it’s time to train more.
For the deadlift I’ve seen sled pulling and the reverse hyper suggested.
Me?
I figured one arm snatches as they’re light, explosive, and hit all the same musculature over an even longer range of motion/distance.
A power movement to take away the soreness caused by a strength movement.
No real plan as far as sets,reps, or volume, I simply got in a bunch of reps with each hand.
Up to 115 in my left and 125 in my right.
Mostly singles, but a few sets of 3-5 to challenge myself (115×5 right hand being the most notable).
I even snatched into a few overhead carries with turns. Boom! Look at that I’ve now hit shoulders turning it into a full body session.
I goofed around catching low and in split stances. Hell, I even went for a new PR (145lb right hand), which I missed. There’s potential to get some big numbers here getting under the bar in a low split stance.
There’s technique work to do here, but it already allows me to eek out a bit more weight to arm’s length at any given time.
Here’s a mental trick:
Think of one arm snatches as throwing the weight overhead/to arms length.
Not only is this fun, but the thought can add power to your rep as you find yourself visualizing a scenario more on par with tossing hay into a loft or throwing weight over a bar while wearing a kilt.
Tricking yourself into thinking that bar needs to get airborne.
To end I caught a quad and hamstring pump via repping almost the stack on leg extensions and doing a few sets of 50 on lying banded leg curls.
Good session, got to practice what is likely my favorite lift, and now have no lower back soreness.
Give the one arm snatch (preferably with a barbell and bumper plates) a shot when your lower back is sore.
In the midmorning I did some fat grip deadlift singles and some face pulls. Basically a light ass session. The two prior days of volume axle deadlifts had my grip shot.
Note that I still have PT to do later.
Afternoon : I’m at home doing my PT, and hold a 90 second wall sit. This pisses me off as I know I can
hit 2 minutes, I’d aimed too low. Within 5 minutes I was doing another wall sit. I went past the two minute mark and my quads felt dead.
In the last year I’ve shown three people how to power clean. It seems like each time I do (particularly the most recent), I clean up (get it) my form some after having picked up flaws in their form that I do as well.
Suddenly a light bulb lights up over my head visible to any who’d only have been looking and my mind is consumed with the thought “violent hip thrust”. It soon adds “once you’ve hit the power position” to it and…
I decide that it’s “double session time, oly form work”.
Apparently wall sits give me insight into improving my clean form and get me amped up to clean.
It went well. I learned to violently hip thrust (hip extension) from the power position and improved on how to more properly set up initially and then get there (into power position) properly.
The entire time listening to My Kinda Party on repeat and near exploding my headphones off my head.
Hell, I even improved (probably due to watching some Ivan Denisov kettlebell video) dropping a jerk back into rack when I jerk the barbell for my mandatory 3+ reps at my clean top set.
Physically a very solid day despite being one that 99% would take off.
The two best neck strengthening things I have found are:
The headstand
4 way neck isometrics
Notice how neither require equipment.
The Headstand
Bare knuckle boxer Bobby Gunn doing the headstand.
The headstand is quite self explanatory. I throw a pillow on the floor, or put my head on grass and with three points of contact (head, both hands, I do this a bit differently than the normal forearms on floor yoga manner) and hold for time.
When you’ve become good at these the ability you’ve gained to sustain impact will surprise you.
4 Direction/4 Way Neck Isometrics
For the 4 way neck isometrics I don’t actually use my hands as self resistance during the reps.
I do them like so : Standing up, generally shirtless and in front of a mirror, I flex hard downward first, then to the sides and backwards. I do slightly more reps backwards than to the other three directions for the postural benefits, and during each rep there is a noticeable shaking seen and felt. If I feel it is necessary and safe I will circle my neck to loosen it, but this I dont always do.
Strength Not Size
Now I find that these two things are the best things for my neck strength, the thing is though, that they seem to do nothing for the size of my neck.
I can feel that my neck is stronger, in fact in agreement with some old time strongman, I do in fact feel the vigor and vitality stemming from this increase in strength. In a nutshell I feel more rugged.
The look it’s building is a lean and mean neck not a Tyson neck.
For Neck Size
The only thing that has ever really built up my neck size was wrestling season in high school, the ~10 hours a week of having a person of 190lbs-300lbs pulling down on, and falling on my neck the only stimulus so far to build that fucker up in size. It was hilarious how disproportionately large my neck would get in season compared to the rest of me.
I think with partner isometrics this could be simulated, but it would need a willing and able partner (partner neck isometrics without good communication could equal death) a lot of man hours, and the better way would just be to go wrestle for some hours. (Yes, I’ve done the partner neck isometrics up and down, great contraction, but good luck getting a partner to assist you for 1 hour 4x a week).
That being said, once you’re reasonably strong in the neck, get a competent partner and try the up and down partner isometrics. To do them you’ll need to be on all fours, and the partner holding a rag or towel and pulling on it as this works better than him applying pressure via his hands to your skull/forehead.
However, you don’t need the equipment or a partner for neck strength.
Siegmund Klein wrote of Professor Attila doing a manual of arms with a 90lb 6 foot length of steel in front of European Royalty.
(Search “15 count manual of arms” if you don’t know what this is.)
He also wrote of Clevio Massimo during WW1 doing the manual of arms using not a rifle, nor a bar, but a 135lb Private. If only this was on camera.
Sig Klein showing similar
Using the 90lb length of steel sounds strong, but doable I’m quite confident I can do this with at least a regular 45lb olympic barbell, but how the hell was it done using a person? The guy being used as the rifle had to have stayed very rigid.
For perspective: realize a rifle weights 7-10lbs. The at the time US Army issue M1903 Springfield being 8.7lbs.
On a similar note: another old time strongman was said to have built his forearms and hand strength by twirling a heavy piece of iron as if it was a baton.
I have referenced this before, but can’t seem to find it on here, so it’s getting it’s own post.
J.C. Hise was the old timer that pulled 700lbs without warmup after hoboing his way across the country on a freight train to visit a friend in New Jersey.
There’s a few times this story is referenced on The Tight Tan Slacks Of Dezso Ban, I’ll let you search for them.
700lbs cold, and after a rough trip, now that is strong. Our need for warmups and perfect conditions is largely mental weakness. We’re capable of far more.
