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Journal- Improving my deadlift without deadlifting: A four-week experiment

Chambewy20 said:
I would keep the good mornings and possibly start with those instead of squats.

Also, try some variations with them, arched back, straight back, narrow and wide stances. SLDL's can help, also Zercher squats, concentric squats, romanian deadlifts, 45 degree raises, band leg curls and good mornings.

Just my opinion, I'm doing sorta the same due to a bad knee, will see how it goes.
I'm gonna stick it out with the GM's for now, but RDL's and some of the other exercises you mentioned will be in the works in the future. My new number-one focus is the posterior chain :mommakin: .
 
Guinness5.0 said:
I looked like a retarded kid squatting when I was doing gm's :p .

:FRlol: I just know there are some people at my gym watching me GM thinking 'That guy has the worst squats I've ever seen'

Guinness5.0 said:
As a side note, I bought a camera phone but it didn't come with a connector for a computer, so I'm gonna try to find one right now. I got some fun, non-lifting related vids you guys might like, such as a 15-second clip of the hottest girl I've ever seen in real life, me trying on a sports bra, and others. Good times all around :).

Gee I'm not sure which one I'm looking forward to seeing most :p
 
Week 1

FRIDAY

Low clean pulls 1x5 (after warm-up w/ power cleans): 275
Push press 1x5: 165
Speed dl's off two plates (stacked) 1x5: 275
Chinups (palms in, narrow grip) 3x5: bw

Comments:
-Overall today was awesome. Form is coming together on these new lifts and I didn't go too heavy. It was tempting, but I resisted.

-Clean pull form is better but not great (as far as I can tell- I need to get a vid to critique). My power cleans seem to be improving. I only worked up to triples w/ 185 but I was very careful to be PERFECT with them, since the things I was doing wrong were diagnosed as "minor". There's just something about leaving my arms just hanging for the low pulls that feels foreign. Weight progression for low clean pulls was 2x5 at 225, 2x5 at 255, then 1x5 at 275.

-Push press was night-and-day different. Thanks madcow!! The proper orientation of my head through the different phases of the movement really smoothed things out. I'm poised for some hefty increases on these. Weight progression went: 2x5 at 135, 2x5 at 155, 1x5 at 165. I thought it would be silly to start with like 95 lbs. and jump up at equal increments so I just kept the spread a bit narrower. I doubt there was much (if any) additional systematic fatigue of consequence at these weight levels.

-I used a similar weight progression for speed dl's. It went: 2x5 @ 225, 2x5 @ 255, and 1x5 @ 275. Even though these aren't "complicated" per se, they seemed to feel better today. I had no intentin of going up to 275, but 255 felt virtually no heavier than 225. I damn near came off the plates I was standing on on my first rep w/ 225 :twirl:. BTW this is the only time I've actually been glad we have the damn rubber coated hexagonal plates- two stacked is quite stable. These seem to work the grip quite a bit more than regular old dl's.

-I would have done 5x5 for chins but 2 more sets would have made me late for work. You really can't make an excuse for being late when you start at 5 and get there at 3 to lift :)
 
Week 2

MONDAY

Pause squat 5x5: 295
Bench 1x5: 285
GM 1x5; Went 135,165,175,185,185
decline situps: 2x15

Comments:
-Still loving the pause squats. I thought I'd only get up to 315 on these by week four but I think I'll try it next week. These are really tough but don't wear me out (does that make any sense?).

-Bench was good. Hopefully 295 next week, but that might be asking too much

-Good progress on GM's. I did something kind of weird to help with form- I did a bunch of sets with just the bar and looked to the mirror at my side to see how deep I was going. I tweaked my form a bit and I think I found my groove on these (and this time i mean it :)). I stuck my hips back further and didn't go crazy low. Also didn't need to bend my knees nearly as much as before. I should be able to get heavier without too much trouble this way in the coming weeks. i guess I should have become more proficient in these before starting a dedicated training cycle involving them. As long as there''s some noteworthy dl improvement when I test 1rm after deloading I'll be happy.

-People are going to start using my ass as a place to set their drinks if it grows in proportion to the stress it's getting. Between the gm's and speed dl's off plates, I'ma have a J-Lo by the time this is through :mommakin:
 
Nice work on the GM's. I hope to work up to 225 or so in a couple weeks.

How's the posterior chain feeling? Seems like you're hitting it hard 4 days a week.

I'm doing similar movements twice a week, it's only been a week but I was pretty sore, probably from all the new moves. Hopefully that goes away soon.
 
Jim Ouini said:
Nice work on the GM's. I hope to work up to 225 or so in a couple weeks.

How's the posterior chain feeling? Seems like you're hitting it hard 4 days a week.

I'm doing similar movements twice a week, it's only been a week but I was pretty sore, probably from all the new moves. Hopefully that goes away soon.
It's weird- my back felt like it was going to act up before i got to the gym but once I got going it felt good. Even now it feels pretty good. Still have some DOMS in my low back and I wonder if/when it'll go away before I deload.
 
Ya know, maybe I'll deload a week after all this practice /Allen Iverson and go try a 1RM dead before I start another dedicated program.

I won't have pulled my regular style in a month, with lots of conventional deads off a block (maybe up to 70-80% 1RM), GM's and pullthrough's in between.
 
Week 2

TUESDAY

-Low clean pulls 5x5: 295
-Push-press 5x5: 175
-Speed dl's off 2 plates 5x5: 265
-Pullups 5x5: bw

Comments:

-Magic Johnson was at my gym today playing basketball for 2 hours. I have no idea why. I came like 15 minutes after he left according to one of the trainers.

-I named this program today- it's the Total Body Beatdown

-I think my low clean pull is FUBAR. It just don't feel right.

-I'm diggin' push-press.

-Speed dl's are fun. I really think these are helping my sticking point as I can feel improvement in my speed even with the weight increase.

-Today was the sweatiest I've ever been from a lifting session. I was soaked from head to toe. Honestly people have GOT to think I'm crazy between the bloody shin, the wrestling shoes, the pacing, and the "bizarre" exercises. I love it :)
 
I was kinda wondering about the speed deads and clean pull in the same workout.

Maybe do your speed deads first so that the clean pulls are easier? When I finish up I take the step away and dead the weight back up to the rack to take the plates off. Man does it seem easier, bar seems like it's already at your knees ;)

Maybe you want to be fresh for the cleans, though. Just thinking out loud.

Guinness5.0 said:
Honestly people have GOT to think I'm crazy between the bloody shin, the wrestling shoes, the pacing, and the "bizarre" exercises. I love it

Man I absolutely tore up my shin today (well the same scab keeps getting opened up). This time blood was dripping down my shin, onto the bar (I wiped it down), and then onto my shirt as I pulled the bar up.

I looked like Bruce Willis in Die Hard 1. Yippie ki ay muthafucka!
 
I'm a pacer too. Back and forth into any empty space between sets.

I did push press last week. It's very different to MP but I did it late into my workout so it's hard to compare the difference in what I can lift in the two. I might start today's workout with PP to get an idea of what I can do fresh.

I'm the only one I've seen at the gym doing GMs, pullthoughs, cleans and power shrugs. A few do normal slow shrugs. I once had someone ask me what I'd done to my legs. I looked down and had a scratch above my knee and told him one of the chickens had done it. I didn't give a moment's thought to the ongoing carnage below the knee from the cleans and deads.

;) @ Brucey
 
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