Lesson Learned
For a while I was going absolutely now where with deadlifting. It was beyond frustrating. Researching, reading, experimenting, and asking questions payed off. Something that has stuck in my head from Westside Barbell concerning the deadlift is to do the opposite of what you normally do. Prior to the last 3 months I NEVER utilized sumo deadlift. When I started I struggled to get 315 while my conventional record was 615. I was shocked. So I began making changes that I believe lead me to the fast success of hitting 485 max on 10/1/18 and 625 on 11/26/18 (A new lifetime PR). I found something I was terrible at and addressed the issues.
I believe the following contributed to a new PR:
-Creating stronger hips along with glute and hamstring activation
-Achieved by implementing dumbbell swings weekly, box squatting 2” below parallel, and a wide
variety of stances and elevations of safety bar good mornings
-Changing my max effort chest day to Friday instead of Tuesday
-This allowed me to come in more recovered physically but also from a central nervous system
standpoint
-Making a major overhaul to dynamic days
-For the main lifts (good mornings, squats, deadlifts, and bench) I needed to reduce the weight
drastically and increase band tension while focusing on bar speed. I was so focused on heavy, heavy,
heavy that I missed the principle of dynamic day is 50% of your max while moving the bar
explosively.
-Implementing speed conventional deadlifts directly after max effort box squat
-These are only executed when box squat is done prior. They are 50% of 1RM deadlift and dropped
at the top, no eccentric motion is completed. They are structured 8 x 1 with 30s intervals.
These are the principles which I believe lead to fast success. I hope you learn from my mistakes, be better than me!
My week structure is the following:
Day 1 – ME Lower
Day 2 – DE Upper
Day 3 – Back/Shoulders/Arms
Day 4 – DE Lower
Day 5 – ME Upper
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Until next time Iron Made Community.
“If you play 30min go all out. If you play 15min go all out. If you play 5min go all out. If you play 1min go all out. If you don’t get in, go all out being the most vocal person cheering you teammates on. Coaches will notice. Make a difference.” – Coach Mitch
Many Blessings,
Kevin Byers