Second DL workout in a suit

[Skizac]

Thanks to everyone who helped me out with advice after my last DL workout!

I got some wrestling shoes ($15 on clearance at The Sport's Authority) and I learned how to pull myself down to the bar for this workout.

I pulled 595 very solidly today, and narrowly missed 625 at the lockout due to grip failure and a torn callous. My raw best 2 weeks ago was 550! I'm not going to say that I got 75 pounds out of my suit, but it sure helped.

So, I guess I need to work on rack pulls, shrugs, and grip work in order to bring up my lockout stregth. 900, here I come!

[Screwball]

Hell of a pull, Skizac! It looks like you're on a roll.

I pulled rack-pulls (@ mid-shin) yesterday for ME day. In order to get the bar at mid-shin I used a plastic aerobic step (4"). Of course when I pulled, the the aerobics step would give a little so it made it that much, more difficult to get the bar moving off of the pins. I pulled triples up to 405 raw. Then I pulled 495 for a double and 585 for a single with just a belt. I went for 635 but could only break it off the pins about 2". Surprisingly my grip held up nicely with just a slight slippage at 635.

An exercise that has worked for me lately at increasing my grip strength is 1-handed deadlifts. Some pull all the way from the floor with the barbell at the side of the body (like lifting a suitcase) but I set the bar on pins and pull the barbell only 5"-6". I usually do reps of 3-5 with 95 - 135 - 185 - 225. I can only pull the 225 for one, very difficult rep. After the reps I do timed holds with either 135 or 185. Hold the thing until it falls out of your hand. Your mid-section, especially the obliques, is hit really hard too. I always do these after I pull heavy for the pre-exhaustion effect. The balancing of the barbell in one hand really stresses the grip so I feel they're better than dumbbells. If you give these a try or if you do them now let me know what you think of them. Thanks.

[Deciever]

nice lift man! very impressive. Good luck getting your grip strength up to where you want it to be.

[FREAK19]

skizac,
hell of a pull man that is awesome. what a great pull. definitley do your rack pulls heavy and shrugs heavy, and do all sorts of grip exercises, i can tell you some if you want, but im sure you might now some too. so how much of a difference was it to stand stiff legged and pull yourself down?

trust me i know what it feels like to have a torn callous and it sucks. did u bleed alot? cause mine did.

congrats and good luck next time!

FREAK19

[Skizac]

Originally posted by ball Hell of a pull, Skizac! It looks like you're on a roll. I pulled rack-pulls (@ mid-shin) yesterday for ME day. In order to get the bar at mid-shin I used a plastic aerobic step (4"). Of course when I pulled, the the aerobics step would give a little so it made it that much, more difficult to get the bar moving off of the pins. I pulled triples up to 405 raw. Then I pulled 495 for a double and 585 for a single with just a belt. I went for 635 but could only break it off the pins about 2". Surprisingly my grip held up nicely with just a slight slippage at 635. An exercise that has worked for me lately at increasing my grip strength is 1-handed deadlifts. Some pull all the way from the floor with the barbell at the side of the body (like lifting a suitcase) but I set the bar on pins and pull the barbell only 5"-6". I usually do reps of 3-5 with 95 - 135 - 185 - 225. I can only pull the 225 for one, very difficult rep. After the reps I do timed holds with either 135 or 185. Hold the thing until it falls out of your hand. Your mid-section, especially the obliques, is hit really hard too. I always do these after I pull heavy for the pre-exhaustion effect. The balancing of the barbell in one hand really stresses the grip so I feel they're better than dumbbells. If you give these a try or if you do them now let me know what you think of them. Thanks.

I'm not sure I understand your rack pulls. Is mid shin only like 2 inchies higher than where th bar would normally be? I always thought that rack pulls were done with the bar starting in a higher position. I guess they can be done many different ways.

I will defintely do the one handed pulls next Thrusday. Sounds like a killer exercise. I used to do one handed side bends with a dumbell, but dumbells don't really go high enough in weight for that.

[Screwball]

I'm not sure I understand your rack pulls. Is mid shin only like 2 inchies higher than where th bar would normally be? I always thought that rack pulls were done with the bar starting in a higher position. I guess they can be done many different ways.

Yes, Skizac. The power rack that I train on doesn't have pin holes all of the way to the floor. I put the pins in the bottom position and then stand on a 4" aerobic step. The end result is the bar is moved up about anothe 4"-5" in my stroke. The bar sits about 4" below my kneecap. I am 6'2" and have long lower legs so that may explain your misunderstanding. Keep training hard!

[Screwball]

I'm not sure I understand your rack pulls. Is mid shin only like 2 inchies higher than where th bar would normally be? I always thought that rack pulls were done with the bar starting in a higher position. I guess they can be done many different ways.

Yes, Skizac. The power rack that I train on doesn't have pin holes all of the way to the floor. I put the pins in the lowest position and then stand on a 4" aerobic step. The end result is the bar is moved up about another 4"-5" in my stroke. The bar sits about 4" below my kneecap. I am 6'2" and have long lower legs so that may explain your misunderstanding. Keep training hard!

[Skizac]

Originally posted by FREAK19 skizac, hell of a pull man that is awesome. what a great pull. definitley do your rack pulls heavy and shrugs heavy, and do all sorts of grip exercises, i can tell you some if you want, but im sure you might now some too. so how much of a difference was it to stand stiff legged and pull yourself down? trust me i know what it feels like to have a torn callous and it sucks. did u bleed alot? cause mine did. congrats and good luck next time! FREAK19

Thanks man! For grip, I plan on doing one handed deads alpha lipoic acid ball, farmer's walks, and the no. 2 captain of crush gripper. You got any other good ideas?

Pulling myself down from a stiff legged postion made it much easier to get down to the bar. Previously, I was wasting about 10% of my energy just fighting against the freakin suit!

The torn callous didn't bleed too much, but it took a large amount of skin off. Hopefully I can get it to heal in a week's time if I keep Neosporin on it and change the dressing regularly.

[Dickvanveiner]

I didn't notice, but what kinda suit do you use? and have you tried others in the past, which do you like best. Nice lift by the way.

[Skizac]

Originally posted by vanveiner I didn't notice, but what kinda suit do you use? and have you tried others in the past, which do you like best. Nice lift by the way.

Titan NXG. It's my first suit. I inherited it from Kirk Karwoski, so it's a little loose.