Here is my new secret weapon(s) to increase my deadlift:
Ok not that much of a secret, because I found out about it here: ROM Progression Method.
The idea with ROM progression method is to increase the range of motion over time.
I kinda-sorta played around with the ROM Progression Method before, doing rack pulls in my power rack, but that was a pain in the ass to adjust the safety bars every time.
I had to set the safety bars on my rack to the right level, which involves pulling it out of the holes from front-to-back, and sliding it back in at the right level, all while listening to the screeching sound and feeling the vibrations from metal sliding on metal contact.
At the same time, I didn't use my B&R bar for rack pulls. I used an old, no-name crappy Olympic bar that I got from Kijiji. I've read that rack pulls done in the power rack runs the risk of bending whatever bar you're using, and I did not want to bend my best bar. The crappy Olympic bar is a bit thicker than the B&R bar, and the chrome is peeling off. Also, it barely fits inside of the safety pins of my power rack.
Well, getting my deadlift up has been a bit of a mystery to me, but partial deadlifts seemed to have helped before.
So, I figured I might as well do this right and pull from rubber mats rather than doing rack pulls in the power rack.
I had some left over rubber stall mats, so I cut them up resulting in 8 pieces of roughly 18"x24" rectangles. I also purchased 8 x 18"x18" rubber paver tiles from Home Depot ($7.99 before taxes and free shipping!).
With a total of 8 mats on each side, this raises the bar so that it's about 2" below the bottom of my kneecaps.
So right now I have 8 mats about 3/4" high. One week, I'll do my mat pulls with 8 mats, and then the next, I'll remove 1 mat so that there will be 7. This will be repeated until I am pulling from the floor.
It'll probably take a few "cycles" of this to reach my goal of a 600 lb deadlift.
I was going to start this yesterday, but ended up grocery shopping and then eating a hamburger instead.
Rep PR's and Other Training Updates
Hit some PR's this past week:
5RM: Low Bar & High Bar Squat: 430 lb x 5
2RM: Bench Press: 340 lb x 2
Overhead presses has been crappy lately, so I'm going to replace them with some good old fashion clean and presses. This should provide a "deload" from heavy OHP (because the weight I can use for C&P is limited by what I can clean, which is lower than my press), give me an opportunity to work on power (or muscle) clean technique, and get a little more yoked.
Also, looking at my Youtube channel I saw that the last time I tested a bench press PR was over a month ago. I might try 365 lb soon.
Stuff You Should Read
A few good articles I came across this past week:
- Self Assessments- Retarded In The Workplace, But CROOSH In The Gym (NSFW) by Jamie Lewis
- Random Things I've Learned Through Weightlifting And Writing- Part 1 by Kirksman
- 12 Fitness Lessons by Greg Robins
- 120 Tips on Strength Training for Women by Bret Contreras
- Increasing Work Capacity by Greg Nuckols
- A-List Exercises: Upper Body Pulling by Nick Tumminello
