Stats
Currently I’m 245 lbs at 6′. My first 405 deadlift was at 17. It took me until just shy of 22 to hit 495(strapped) add a few more months and being 22 for me to hit it raw. I’ve yet to hit 545, the next 45 and 25 a side jump increment.
In prior posts I’ve mentioned grip as my main weakness over the years. Now it seems to be just below the knee to just above the knee. The grip has solidified, but now a new weak point in the lift to hammer.
Natural Squatting + A Surprise
For years my deadlift and squat moved hand in hand. As long as i could hold it, add ~40lbs to my squat and I could pull it. The two lifts very much trained each other for me or so I thought. When I stopped squatting very frequently(mental burn out from 180+days of daily squats) I assumed by pulling regularly that I’d be fine. Apparently take out the leg work, and my pull regresses.
Now I could start squatting every day, but I have no inclination to. I’m bored of it. Even barely doing the movement it has still been maintained more than 6 months of neglect later. I have short limbs, I’m built for it, but the deadlift is different. My short arms and stocky build don’t classify me as a natural puller. The deadlift needs work, it’s more of a challenge, and right now seeing it regress I’m more inclined to go full retard on it and brute force my way to some huge PRs.
Mood Bro + Hairs Up My Ass
I very much train by mood. I’ll hit whatever I feel like once I’ve stepped onto the gym floor. I never truly know my main lift for the day until then. I play around, and if something was very good, or very bad the day prior, or even that morning I may go back and hit it again. Often and generally for many days in a row.
So lately I’ve had a hair up my ass for all things fat bar. I bench fat bar, I power clean fat bar, and most importantly, and prioritized I deadlift fat bar. About 6 months ago I pulled 484 on it. At my gym a 220lber, younger than me just pulled 600(regular,not fat bar, don’t shit yourselves). Mix the two in my mind and I have a crazy goal(crazy to outsiders). Add about 80lbs to my max(regular bar), and use the fat bar instead.
Now remember I don’t want to squat, my natural easy to build lift, I want to bust the pulling issues in another way. I started doing low back practically every session, and while it’s been shooting up in strength, the pull hasn’t.I didn’t gain deadlift strength, I just added more strength to an already diesel bodypart. As I said the dead zone is around the knee. I can break a good deal off the floor and have the rep die at knee level(roughly).
Partials + Extra Range Reps
For years I had a weekly obsession of Saturday shrugs+partial squats. All done far heavier than my deadlift and squat maxes. They both give you some stupid strength. So suffice to say I’m not a stranger to doing partial movements.
Separate and related I’ve always enjoyed doing pulls with longer range too. Snatch grip deads, pulling from blocks, or the ultimate lift of elevated stiff leg deadlifts. I’ve noticed that these all seem to help my pull. I do either for a few weeks, even during dark times of deadlift regression, and soon after I hit a new PR.
Hopefully you are following my train of thought, I’ve had it explained to me that, and I’ve realized that my patterns of reason resemble chaos to others. Bear with me:
- Longer range helps strength off floor.
- My weakness is floor to above knee, particularly knee area(just below to above)
- I decided to Power Clean standing on the blocks for a laugh
- A Louie Simmons article where an anecdote of below knee to above knee high rep partials for a man not built to deadlift
- 2+2 = Ding Ding Ding
- Partials- I’ve done them for years, overloading the strong point for retard strength, time for……
- Weak Point Partial Deadlift – Ding Ding Ding, moderate weight, high reps, brute force my way through the weak point with lots of volume- We Have A Winner
The Pump
These partials ended up making this one of the best workouts of my life. After the regular deadlifts were done I dropped the weight back to roughly 300 and did 4 sets of 5 floor to above knee+ 5 mid shin to above knee, and on the last set added in some full range reps at the end. My traps were thoroughly stretched and sore, lots of time under tension. Breaking the weight off the floor pumped my quads, and my ass was on fire from the RDL like pumping in the second half of each set. My lats were fired up, this is a rarity, and my grip was thoroughly worked. Lots of time under tension.
Honestly top 5 sessions of my life. I felt pumps in places I rarely do. This post has now got me fired up, and I think its time to go kill it doing the exact same lifts right row. No reason you can’t pull with frequency, Bob Peoples did.
-J