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

Guinness5.0

New member
Time for a new journal as this is not going to be a Bill Starr/madcow2 5x5, though the influence of that program/philosophy is rampant in the planning of this cycle.

Basically I want to address the sticking point in my DL- the bottom part. I am attempting to put together a mini-cycle to make this weakness a strength, then I'll work on the next pertinent weakness and so on....

Anywho, this is my tentative plan which I'd like to have finalized by monday, July 25 since that's when the cycle starts:

M
-Pause squats 5x5 (My thinking is that coming out of the hole on squat w/ no stretch reflex would more accurately simulate the start of a dead)
-Bench 1x5
-Good mornings 1x5
-abs and bb curls (maybe)
T
-Warm up w/ power cleans, working up to 5x5 heavy low clean pulls (I'm not as proficient at power cleans as I previously believed- had an expert critique me today)
-5x5 Push press
-5x5Pullups
-5x or 1x5 Speed dl's off plates
Th
-Squat 1x5 (just good 'ol ATF but I need to get used to putting more weight on my heels rather than the balls of my feet. These may be a tad lighter than my last run just to dial in form. Plus workload and frequency are taking a monster of a jump with this program versus the last one I did, so a little less weight shouldn't hurt me too bad).
-Bench 5x5
-GM's 5x5
-abs/arms (maybe)
F
-Low clean pulls (not sure what set/rep scheme to use)
-Push press 1x5 (should I do these twice a week?)
-Pullups 1x5 ( same q as above)
-Speed dl's on plates (could/should i use a different pull variant here and/or on the low clean pulls?)

I suppose it's fairly obvious who the q's are addressed to, but any input is appreciated.
 
Last edited:
Pre-cycle workout:

Pause squat 5x5: 275

"Speed" bench 5x5: 225

GM 5x5: 135

decline sit-ups: 4x8-10 w/ a 25 lb plate

Hodge-podge of power cleans w/ a trainer helping me nail down form

Comments:

-The idea for pause squats was last minute and I think I'll like them.

-I also paused at the bottom of each rep on bench today and did the rep fast from there. I tried to keep my PL style going, though I find it difficult to make form changes when I also change tempo.

-I was VERY surprised at how comfy GMs felt especially since my low back was tender this week. Of course this weight was quite light, but I could see going quite a bit heavier on these without too much trouble. Time will tell.

-I got some good coaching form one of the trainers at my gym regarding power cleans. Before you all get skeptical, this guy has his CSCS and was the assisant strength coach at a D-I school for a while and was very helpful. He gave me the EXACT same advice as madcow- don't do power cleans yet but do low clean pulls at first. I was lifting my heels off the ground right away instead of when the BB was further along in the movement. Hence the lack of heavy power cleans in my cycle. I'll just use them as warmups while dialing form in.
 
I love the low clean pulls, I'd never done them before. I think it really helped me with my dead and definitely put some meat on my traps.

Looking forward to following your progress. If it works I may try it :p
 
looks interesting.

keep us informed on how it goes


i personally couldnt push so many days in a row though
 
SublimeZM said:
i personally couldnt push so many days in a row though
Yeah I'm waiting for mc to chime in. I dunno, if I'm careful not to overshoot my starting weights, I may be fine. I could scale down from 5x5 to 3x5, or make other changes. Like I said- I've got til monday to dail it in and I can always adjust if I feel buried.
 
HumanTarget said:
so what do you mean by low power clean? you mean off the floor?
A low clean pull is the first 1/3 (approx) of a powerclean. Basically you pull it off the floor and proceed up to the point where you do a shrug, but you keep your arms straight and don't clean the bb. Imagine doing a deadlift rapidly, into ashrug. The bar will move out away form your body a bit from momentum. Also, at the top you raise your heels up to facilitate accelerating the bar. I'll post a link:
http://www.uwlax.edu/strengthcenter/videos/video_index.htm
Under the power column it's clean pull low
 
Guinness5.0 said:
A low clean pull is the first 1/3 (approx) of a powerclean. Basically you pull it off the floor and proceed up to the point where you do a shrug, but you keep your arms straight and don't clean the bb. Imagine doing a deadlift rapidly, into ashrug. The bar will move out away form your body a bit from momentum. Alos, st the top you raise your heels up to facilitate accelerating the bar. I'll post a link:
ahhh, sounds pretty nifty. i do high pulls once in a while, but i prefer hang cleans cuz i squat and deadlift and do gm's in the same week. but, i think i'll try and plug those in somehow.
 
Have you trained with this sort of volume before? You sure you'll be able to cope with it?

Also, just to clarify, a low clean pull is lift a fast deadlift to a shrug, and a powerclean is a fast deadlift to a push-press? Correct?
 
|D_J^B_J| said:
Have you trained with this sort of volume before? You sure you'll be able to cope with it?

Also, just to clarify, a low clean pull is lift a fast deadlift to a shrug, and a powerclean is a fast deadlift to a push-press? Correct?
Use the link above. There are excellent videos of both exercises (and LOTS of others).

In my days of typical bodybuilding splits, I probably did more total sets per week than this by a long shot, but it wasn't on lifts as taxing as the above. I think/hope (pray?) that I'll be OK as long as I start light and ramp gradually. In the 5x5 run I finished I was too aggressive w/ the weight selection at first (though not to an extreme degree) and I still got through it. BTW I don't think I made it clear that this is going to be run pretty much like the dual factor 5x5- ramping up and deloading at the end. I WANT the last week to bury me.

I'm sure MC will let me know if this is just plain insanity :)
 
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