1 elevated deadlift
Last warm ups: 1 @ 180 kg and 1 @ 200 kg
3 @ 220 kg -
I mean… it was a PR but I don’t know how to feel about this, given the video. All comments welcome, don’t worry, I’m not easily offended
2 rdl (beltless; generally dead stop and slightly elevated)
2 x 6 @ 145 kg
3 car deadlift simulator
3 @ 205 kg
3 @ 245 kg
3 @ 285 kg
4 fat grip farmer’s hold
20 sec @ 65 kg
30 sec @ 65 kg
20 sec @ 65 kg
Very difficult
5 weighted plankes
3 x 30 sec @ 20 kg
Notes:
man I don’t know… My deadlifting is really down in the dumps once again. What bothers me the most is that for a while it seemed like I had it figured out in Munich. I made strength gains and my back looked straight. Now it’s back to no progress and looking like a bloody noob. I definitely need to figure out how to brace better for deadlifts! This has always been a lot more difficult than with other lifts. My buddy said that my deadlifts have looked worse before and that most people round a little on elevated deads but I am still angry.
on a more positive note, the RDLs felt a lot better than last week! Maybe I’ll get the hang of them at least, haha. Will go with 150 kg next week and stay beltless.
car deadlifts felt actually pretty good. Don’t know what my end goal is with them atm but good to practise the motion since it is so different from regular deadlifts. Btw. I did not plan on making that last set so heavy! The last jump kinda took me by surprise. I had 5 reps in mind but that shit was heavy.
I can only try and help from the perspective of being analytical, but look from 0:24 forward for that rep I’m already seeing some things. Here’s a frame at 0:26. Your knees are forward but you are already vertical with your back,
That seems strange. What would cause that do you think?
I know you’ve been in physical pain, and I don’t want to be obtuse, but if it’s possible that the pain is unrelated to your deadlifting I’d say as far as your back rounding goes the way I’ve understood it (may be wrong) is that the danger is in continuing to round more as the lift progresses. I don’t see you doing that.
Memory might betray me, but I believe I’ve read @T3hPwnisher weigh in on deadlifts by others that were far more rounded than yours saying that those deadlifts were acceptable/okay (paraphrasing).
The only thing that I can offer as my own contribution is that I recall my own deadlifts looking not too dissimilar from yours at one point (granted, I was deadlifting less weight) and the feedback I got then was that I did not have a bracing/core issue despite believing that myself. I was prescribed sweeping deadlifts because the problem was in how I didn’t utilize my lats fully. It helped. They suck to set-up though.
I am at the point that I can’t even see deadlift rounding, because people will scream about it in videos and I won’t be able to tell what the hell they’re talking about. Aside from obvious cat-backing, most of it seems fine.
Good catch, I never noticed that myself! I don’t know what would cause that but my best bet is weak glutes or wrong timing.
That’s definitely possible. I am not sure myself what is causing what or if I maybe have some underlying issue which expresses itself in that way. Because the thing is: It is not at all always the same pain or same spot! For example I was nearly convinced that overheads were the culprit of that lower back pinch. Then on Monday I did a very heavy OHP session with 6 singles close to my max… And my back was absolutely fine afterwards.
Today I had no pain or discomfort at all during training. Afterwards I thought I’d jump on the inversion table and after that my “tailbone region” like the very end of the lower back/ SI joint are is fucked up. Feels super weird and I’m moving like an old man. So I’m currently sitting on the lacrosse ball to losen my glutes, haha.
Sweeping deadlifts sound interesting. Did you just slap bands onto your regular deads or use it during your warm ups or as a completely different movement?
Did it on all sets leading up to my top set for a few weeks. Bring it back in rotation for short stints of time when I feel the problem is presenting itself again as a gentle cue.
Irregardless of today’s workout I was thinking of changing my training plan. Since competitions are postponed and no one knows when they will actually take place. The training plan I am following right now was supposed to prepare me for my next competition but even though that one isn’t cancelled as of right now, I don’t think it’s going to take place.
What I am thinking about changing:
Keep the log and axle rotation but make it less heavy. No need to go that hard when I don’t have a comp lined up. I could probably work with EMOMs or lots of low rep sets with light weights to nail the technique.
The deadlift. I don’t know what is up with my hips and back lately and even if it isn’t the deadlift that’s causing it, there is no point in running with my head against the wall over and over again. I’m not sure how to go about it exactly but I’m thinking I might continue to work on the RDLs as they are feeling good and help to build proper hinging technique. Other than that for regular deadlifts I don’t plan on going heavy again before I have a comp date set and confirmed and until my body feels ready for it. I’m thinking lots of work in the 60-85% range. Possibly after RDLs.
I’ll put those thoughts into a program and post that later.
Hey K, sorry to hear about your grandmother. It’s going to be hard times, I’m not sure she’ll be happy in a nursing home.
On the other hand she can’t be at home.
Keep in contact with her K, see if you can skype her, with the help of the staff.
Deadlifts looks a bit funny as is said, I think it’s called hitching.
I don’t have much to add, really. There isn’t anything I can see that screams out, that’s the problem!
I think you can either work exclusively on technique and do a lot of volume, but nothing over maybe 150 kilos. All off the floor, working on being fast. Pair that with assistance to build the deadlift.
Or, stop deadlifting completely for a while, focus instead on box squatting and build your lower body, back and abs. Then after a few months start deadlifting from absolute zero, treat is as a new lift you’re learning for the first time.
Sorry to hear about your grandma. It’s a shit situation that can’t be avoided right now. Stay strong
That’s what really grind my gears as well! I don’t think my technique or programming is remotely perfect but not as bad as my injury history since basically fall last year would have you believe.
The block pulls today actually did feel good. I felt my hamstrings, felt the glutes… I didn’t feel any particular strain in the lower back. I still don’t feel my erectors. Still as I type that my “tailbone”-SI-very end of the back-area feels like shit.
Thanks @MarkKO and @mortdk. It is a fucked up situation and my father and I felt pretty bad about it when we drove home from the place. There is nothing anyone can do about it and we all have to deal with the impact that this epidemic has on our life…
Sadly I am still kinda crippled today. I am fairly sure it’s no nerve pain or something like that and it’s not radiating. Getting in and out of certain positions is painful and my whole hip just feels out of whack.
Good news is, physios aren’t closed yet for some reason (I mean treating someone from a 2 meter distance is gonna be challenging) and most people cancel their appointments anyway. So I was able to take advantage of that and book an appointment with my favorite physio for tomorrow morning. I am somewhat confident, so far he was always able to put me back together.
At some point I may want to see an orthopedist again to have a check up on my hip. I don’t think anyone here remembers but a few years ago I hurt my hip and it took a few months to return to normal (incl. a few weeks of limping). For that I saw an orthopedist who diagnosed me with a hip defect (I forgot the name tbh). He said that this is something that I was born with and there is nothing you can do about it but there may be a shorter timer on my hip than usual.
Did the SI joint reset thing and some 90/90 breathing. Also some light “traction” (just laying on a gymnastik ball). Before that some lacrosse ball work on the glutes.
During the day everything wasn’t so bad up until I went grocery shopping, sat down for a while and then got up again.
Pain is still mainly in the sacrum (like spot on) and spreads to the left SI joint/ upper butt cheek.
This is probably the biggest scare I’ve had back-injury-wise in about 5 years (before strongman). Back then I had something locked up in my back and couldn’t even stand up remotely straight, A chiropractor or something like that cracked my back in place back then and I was absolutely fine. I hope I’ll have a similar experience tomorrow.
Now I’ll probably have an epsom salt bath and I may take some painkillers because I am moving around like an 80 year old guy with bad arthritis. Oh man… .
Depending on how I feel, I might do some light benching or smith machine stuff tomorrow.
Edit: Also followed this sweaty man’s advice which at least got me to stand up properly again. So that’s something.
Physio visit was good. He did some manual therpay and assisted stretching. His opinion is that there is nothing wrong with the spine segment but with the SI joint, especially on the left side. The pain is likely coming from the middle because some nerves might be irritated.
He took care of the joint and said it should be free now. I feel better after the treatment but the pain isn’t completely gone, especially in certain positions or if I move too fast. The physio said that the area is still irritated but if I keep stretching I should be back to normal in 2-3 days.
Training recommendation was to do everything I usually do just stop if it gets painful.
I’m gonna take it very easy today and for squats I’ll just go with what he said and see if it is there or not. There is no time pressure, so all good.
Have you considered something like sciatic nerve that could somehow be impinged causing the pain? You could search some stretches on youtube, try them see if it helps.
Glad to hear he doesn’t believe it’s spinal
Definitely possible. He didn’t specify which nerves he recons are impinged but that’s something to consider. I am noticing that I move MUCH more naturally after the treatment so that is a relief and given how relaxed he was, I think I am looking at a quick recovery.
1 smith machine shoulder press (probably the wobbliest of it’s kind lol)
Only plate weight listed
6 @ 40 kg
3 @ 50 kg
3 @ 60 kg
3 @ 70 kg
I don’t have anything against smith machines but this particular one is shit. So I switched to something else for my strength work
2 feet up hicks press (placed my feet on a bench placed horizontally in front of the bench press)
10 x 3 @ 100 kg + chains
I’m usually pretty fixated on total numbers but I’ll say that was some solid work here, given the circumstances. Removing the leg drive makes a huge difference for the weight I can move. That setup forced my to stay extra tight. Only thing I’ll critique is the fact that it is a lot harder to keep the shoulder blades retracted. All reps very controlled and with legit pauses
3 feet up JM press
15 @ 20 kg + chains
3 x 15 @ 40 kg + chains
No idea what I was doing. In case anyone has experience, please tell me if I was in the ballpark, haha. Triceps was done for in set 3 so I suppose I can’t be far off.
4 chest supported t-bar row
5 x 10 light weight
5a seated lateral raises
3 x 10-12 @ 10 kg
5b barbell curls
3 x 10 @ 20 kg + chains. Heavy.
Notes:
quick little pump session. Felt good to get moving. All in all a low stress training day but was kinda fun and everything was pain free. Besides picking up the bench.
I will use tomorrow to heal and stretch a bunch and if everything works out I’ll try to squat on Sunday. If not I’ll come up with a work around.
Randomly filmed set 6+7 to show you guys what I was doing. Plus the JM press.
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