Help me join the 600 pound deadlift club!

[Guinness5.0]

Re: bands

OK I'm sold. Which should I get? The ones from EliteFTS are sold in a package of four pair:
http://www.flexcart.com/members/elitefts/default.asp?m=PD&cid=138&pid=566
But the Iron Woody bands have five pair at the same price (scroll to 'Master's Package'):
http://www.ironwoodyfitness.com/Fitness_Bands/fitness_bands.html

 

[Quadsweeps Sister]

Re: bands

OK I'm sold. Which should I get? The ones from EliteFTS are sold in a package of four pair:
http://www.flexcart.com/members/elitefts/default.asp?m=PD&cid=138&pid=566
But the Iron Woody bands have five pair at the same price (scroll to 'Master's Package'):
http://www.ironwoodyfitness.com/Fitness_Bands/fitness_bands.html

I would buy from EliteFTS, establish yourself as a customer if you aren't already. Great people there.

Deadlift as the true measure of stength, it goes without saying that they can't make a suit to help you with it (at least not yet). Great advice here throughout. I definately agree with the band work - pulling against the bands when you perform the DL is a huge difference. Just remember to cycle on and off the bands as they can give your CNS a beating. Something else I learned while talking with a (Westsider) while I worked the Arnold Classic this year was the 'Spongebob Squats'... Many of them have begun box squatting off a piece of dense foam on top of the box. You squat to sit on the box, hit the foam and then compress slowly down. They started doing these with the intention of increasing the squat, but lo and behold their DL's shot through the roof. Something to try. The box squat itself generally does more for the DL than the squat. I read a bit about the biomechanics of the DL and by box squatting with a pause, you can get carryover from your starting strength to your sumo pull. The biomechanical position is almost identical, and the pause on the box mimics the isometric you perform right before the bar leaves the ground when pulling.

Also, try to think about both your body type and you DL weaknesses (poor starting strength, hips too high, weight drift, poor lockout) and perform exercises specific to those areas.

Poor start - box squats (high or low), concentric GM's (spinal erectors)
Hips high - glute hams
Lockout - pull thrus, romanian DL's

Good luck to you.

 

[Guinness5.0]

OK, I just ordered the 4-pair set from EliteFTS. I plan to order my power rack from them, so hopefully that'll give me a bit of leverage if I feel like haggling over the price.

Now the problem becomes - how do I add band work in to a program I haven't even finalized yet?

I may end up using the typical WSB protocol of:

M: ME squat/DL
W: ME Bench
F: DE squat/DL
Sun: DE bench

as that would leave less fidgeting for me. I could just throw in band work here and there as warranted.

 

[Guinness5.0]

Poor start - box squats (high or low), concentric GM's (spinal erectors)
Hips high - glute hams
Lockout - pull thrus, romanian DL's

Good luck to you.

Funny, because box squats are a fairly recent addition to my repertoire, and my deadlift 1rm took a 35 pound jump right around the time I started getting decent at 'em. I think I need to get a box that's a bit lower than what I am using now - my current one puts me right at parallel, but I'd like to be a bit lower.

Interesting tip about the foam. I'll give that a shot next time I go to the hardware store.

Also, my sticking point has moved up a bit - I used to get stuck just inches off the floor but now I get stuck closer to my knees...

 

[Illuminati]

you got the 4 pack that had the 2mini's, 2 light's, 2 averages, and 2 strongs?

there are so many ways that you can use them. set up for most of the exercises are pretty easy. I can, and will post pics for you. Just let me know what exercises, and I'll get a pic for you, just give me some time.

i'll post pics later next week for setting up the bands for doing box squats in a power rack that doesn't have the band attachment. its pretty simple set up, but hard to explain w/o pictures. also, I'll get some pics of the band set up with the Jumpstretch conventional style platform. maybe a video. this way you can get an idea of how it all works.
I'm going out of town until monday, so look for them sometime on tuesday.



i would go with the WSB protocol. If you dont want to work out on those days, just shift them around, and keep the same pattern. here's an alternative:

Mon DE Bench
Tue DE Squat/Dead
Wed off
Thur ME Bench
Fri ME Squat/Dead
Sat. off
Sun off

with the set up above, you can have the weekends off. this is what I use


I know, this post is all over the place. that's cause I got a million things to do.

 

[Creepusmaximus]

No one said this but I throw in heavy barbell rows. It's not a direct thing but you need to develop your whole back to DL big.

 

[Quadsweeps Sister]

I know, this post is all over the place. that's cause I got a million things to do.

lol - I know! But I will try to help out here too.

Glad to hear you got the bands. A book will come with them that you will find helpful. Also, EliteFTS articles section has much on band usage. I will post up more info here later tonight that I think you will find helpful.

Give me until then - I have some thoughts!

 

[Guinness5.0]

First off, you guys are awesome. I appreciate the help.

Second, don't go to too much trouble with this - I've got a pretty good idea of what I need to do (I read TONS at EliteFTS ). But it is great to know that I have some resources to bounce questions off of, and to be able to get 'real world' feedback from folks who are putting these methods into practice.

I guess my first question would be:

Do you think I should only use the bands for one thing at a time? Would it be too much to do, say, two weeks of reverse band DLs as ME work and also use the bands for DE box squats? I realize the answer to this would vary by individual but maybe ya'll know whather that that would be highly likely bury someone or not....

 

[LiftingDukkha]

In a way, Reverse-Bands and "regular" bands DL's are similar. If I use monster bands stretched from the top of the rack, I can pull about 200-250 lbs over my actual max from the floor to lockout. So it's really a true max of a very Partial lockout, but the consistent deloading throughout the lift seems to be the magical part that adds strength.

Whereas a "regular" bands DL, I use submaximal weight (I use <70%), with the bands adding resistance/"weight" as the bar moves up. So at the top I'm approaching a max (but not nearly as close a max as on the Reverse Bands).

I think the force exerted is considerably different in each, so I don't really think there's too much conflict. I've been alternating DE bands Squat one week, DE bands DL the other week. But I do ME Squat & ME DL once per week each, which is not the WSB norm.

BTW, I try to use several bands set at several different pin heights each week. Week 1 might be #6 bands hooked on the pins at the highest setting in the rack, Week 2 might be #6 bands hooked on the pins at the 2nd-highest settin, Week 3 might be #5 bands at the highest, Week 4 #5 at 2nd highest, Week 5 #4 bands at highest, Week 6 #4 bands at 2nd highest, etc.



Someone stated that doing DE DL might not be too necessary, because DL isn't that technical a lift. IMO squat & BP aren't that technical either, but DE's are used in them too, so why not also in DL?

 

[Illuminati]

First off, you guys are awesome. I appreciate the help.

Second, don't go to too much trouble with this - I've got a pretty good idea of what I need to do (I read TONS at EliteFTS ). But it is great to know that I have some resources to bounce questions off of, and to be able to get 'real world' feedback from folks who are putting these methods into practice.

I guess my first question would be:

Do you think I should only use the bands for one thing at a time? Would it be too much to do, say, two weeks of reverse band DLs as ME work and also use the bands for DE box squats? I realize the answer to this would vary by individual but maybe ya'll know whather that that would be highly likely bury someone or not....

i am more than willing to help you out. you can read as much as you can, but it always helps to have pics of what a set up looks like. I would always use the bands on your DE work, esp. the box squats. every once in a while, dont use them on DE bench work, b/c they will wreak havoc on your shoulders.