I recently managed my first 650 pound deadlift, which was a huge achievement for me. One of my long term goals is to deadlift 800 lbs at whatever body weight it takes and getting to 650 is one hell of a step closer. It has taken me 2 years to go from 500 lbs to 650, which I suppose is not bad, but a lot of it came in the last 5 months, after I started using this deadlift variation I invented.
Basically I found I had 2 problems in my deadlift-
1. The bar was drifting away from me around the knees.
2. My upper back would round at the same point. While I maintain a somewhat rounded upper back, this much rounding just does not feel natural to me and I cant pull well this way.
I tried all the rows in the world, right from dumbell rows to T bar rows. Finally I decided maybe the best way to solve this issue would be to use the deadlift itself. So I started doing partial deadlifts from below the knee. While I found this made the weights seem lighter it did not do much for my full deadlift.
That is when I started experimenting with the snatch grip deadlift from below the knees and I started making gains again. Just 1 set of as many reps as possible, going as high as 30, once a week. Deadlifts from below the knee with a collar to collar grip. My record was 175kgs for 18 reps. But soon my gains slowed down here as well. But for anyone having a general tendency to shoot the hips up or have a weak upper back this variation will do wonders.
This is when I invented the corrective deadlift. I reasoned that the reason why the normal deadlift from below the knee did not originally work for me was that my position when deadlifting from here did not resemble what my position would have been if I had lifted it off the ground.
Thus the corrective deadlift was created. Actually I need a better name so if anyone has any ideas please tell me. It is performed as follows-
1. Set up with the bar on the floor just like a conventional deadlift. No belts or gear of any kind. Chalk is a must.
2. Deadlift the bar to just below the kneecaps and pause for 1 full second. Lower it back to the ground.
3. Immediately deadlift the bar again and pause exactly at the kneecaps for 1 full second. Resume pulling and lockout the hips.
4. Push the hips back and lower the bar 1 full inch below your kneecaps. Pause for 1 second. Lockout the hips again.
5. Lower the bar to the ground and immediately deadlift the bar again doing 1 full normal deadlift.
This whole sequence constitutes 1 repetition. There is no point doing more than 3 reps a set with this method. I can guarantee that this variation will do wonders for your conventional deadlift though I cannot say the same for the sumo deadlift.
The reason it works is because you hold the hardest part of the deadlift (leverage wise) both while coming up and down, and you overcome inertia at that point and continue moving up. The partial at the bottom with the pause teaches you to get the bar to the correct position, the partial at the top overcoming inertia while in the correct position teaches you to push your hips through. The deadlift at the end recaps it all.
This variation builds the groove and strength required to deadlift well. It is specially awesome for upper spine and lat strength. You will really feel your wings expanding with this one.
I deadlifted once a week. I simply worked to the heaviest weight I could handle for 3 reps in week 1 of my cycle, then the best double I could do in week 2 and a max single in week 3. Week 4 I take as a deload week. Next cycle I tried to break my records. I also did a lot of ham glute raises, bridges and heavy kettlebell swings to develop the musculature of the posterior chain. I squatted heavy once a week and did plenty of pistol squats and leg raises as well. I worked weighted chin ups 2 times a week and did a lot of grip work. I also did 1 arm deadlifts for a best set of 5 twice a month. My best in this lift so far has been 151kgs for 5 reps per hand.
I did zercher squats as well, once a month. My best was 161kgs for 4 reps. I performed them as if I was deadlifting.
Perhaps this exercise can be valuable for you. In any case I am making all my guys do it to clean up their technique.
This deadlift was done in a strongman contest not in a powerlifting meet for those who are curious about it.
And just for novelty sake (and the fact that I want to write this down somewhere where I can keep looking at it) here are my record- old, current and targets.
1. Deadlift- Old (2 years ago) 500lbs, current 650, target 800.
2. Bench Press- Old 275, current 315, target 400.
3. Military press- Old- 195, current 240, target 315.
4. Weighted Chin up- Old- 65kgs, current 71kgs, target 86kgs. Also get my first triple in the one arm chin.
5. Squat- Old- 315, Current 475, target 600. Also a set of 50 pistols per leg.
6. 100m dash- Old- 11.3, Current 11.06, target 10.6
Basically I found I had 2 problems in my deadlift-
1. The bar was drifting away from me around the knees.
2. My upper back would round at the same point. While I maintain a somewhat rounded upper back, this much rounding just does not feel natural to me and I cant pull well this way.
I tried all the rows in the world, right from dumbell rows to T bar rows. Finally I decided maybe the best way to solve this issue would be to use the deadlift itself. So I started doing partial deadlifts from below the knee. While I found this made the weights seem lighter it did not do much for my full deadlift.
That is when I started experimenting with the snatch grip deadlift from below the knees and I started making gains again. Just 1 set of as many reps as possible, going as high as 30, once a week. Deadlifts from below the knee with a collar to collar grip. My record was 175kgs for 18 reps. But soon my gains slowed down here as well. But for anyone having a general tendency to shoot the hips up or have a weak upper back this variation will do wonders.
This is when I invented the corrective deadlift. I reasoned that the reason why the normal deadlift from below the knee did not originally work for me was that my position when deadlifting from here did not resemble what my position would have been if I had lifted it off the ground.
Thus the corrective deadlift was created. Actually I need a better name so if anyone has any ideas please tell me. It is performed as follows-
1. Set up with the bar on the floor just like a conventional deadlift. No belts or gear of any kind. Chalk is a must.
2. Deadlift the bar to just below the kneecaps and pause for 1 full second. Lower it back to the ground.
3. Immediately deadlift the bar again and pause exactly at the kneecaps for 1 full second. Resume pulling and lockout the hips.
4. Push the hips back and lower the bar 1 full inch below your kneecaps. Pause for 1 second. Lockout the hips again.
5. Lower the bar to the ground and immediately deadlift the bar again doing 1 full normal deadlift.
This whole sequence constitutes 1 repetition. There is no point doing more than 3 reps a set with this method. I can guarantee that this variation will do wonders for your conventional deadlift though I cannot say the same for the sumo deadlift.
The reason it works is because you hold the hardest part of the deadlift (leverage wise) both while coming up and down, and you overcome inertia at that point and continue moving up. The partial at the bottom with the pause teaches you to get the bar to the correct position, the partial at the top overcoming inertia while in the correct position teaches you to push your hips through. The deadlift at the end recaps it all.
This variation builds the groove and strength required to deadlift well. It is specially awesome for upper spine and lat strength. You will really feel your wings expanding with this one.
I deadlifted once a week. I simply worked to the heaviest weight I could handle for 3 reps in week 1 of my cycle, then the best double I could do in week 2 and a max single in week 3. Week 4 I take as a deload week. Next cycle I tried to break my records. I also did a lot of ham glute raises, bridges and heavy kettlebell swings to develop the musculature of the posterior chain. I squatted heavy once a week and did plenty of pistol squats and leg raises as well. I worked weighted chin ups 2 times a week and did a lot of grip work. I also did 1 arm deadlifts for a best set of 5 twice a month. My best in this lift so far has been 151kgs for 5 reps per hand.
I did zercher squats as well, once a month. My best was 161kgs for 4 reps. I performed them as if I was deadlifting.
Perhaps this exercise can be valuable for you. In any case I am making all my guys do it to clean up their technique.
This deadlift was done in a strongman contest not in a powerlifting meet for those who are curious about it.
And just for novelty sake (and the fact that I want to write this down somewhere where I can keep looking at it) here are my record- old, current and targets.
1. Deadlift- Old (2 years ago) 500lbs, current 650, target 800.
2. Bench Press- Old 275, current 315, target 400.
3. Military press- Old- 195, current 240, target 315.
4. Weighted Chin up- Old- 65kgs, current 71kgs, target 86kgs. Also get my first triple in the one arm chin.
5. Squat- Old- 315, Current 475, target 600. Also a set of 50 pistols per leg.
6. 100m dash- Old- 11.3, Current 11.06, target 10.6
Awesome Teja, you are already in Arthur Saxon's league in one hand snatch, now you are approaching the Hermann Gorner's legendary deadlift standards. I would call your deadlift as Teja's Stutter deadlift.
ReplyDeleteThanks! And we have a name now. :-)
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