12.10.17
1 SSB Squats
6 x 5 @ 92 kg
2 Pause squats (regular barbell)
3 x 5 @ 90 kg
3 Unilateral leg press
2 x 15 each leg
4 Ab wheel roll outs
3 x 10
Notes:
14.10.
Tired. Also going into this I still had DOMS in my pecs and anterior delts. Aswell as my legs of course. It takes a while to get back into things obviously… I suppose the state of fatigue didn’t help today’s session.
1 log lift (clean once)
10 x 3 @ 70 kg
2a lat pull down
5 x 10
2b push press
90 kg x 3, 3, 2 (failed third rep)
3a seated cable rows
5 x 12
3b seated db press
15 kg x 20
15 kg x 18
10 kg x 20 (standing)
Notes:
15.10.
Forgot to log yesterday.
1 deadlift
9 x 3 @ 140 kg
1 x 5 @ 140 kg (needed to do this for confidence)
2 snatch grip deadlift (beltless)
1 x 3 @ 100 kg
3 x 3 @ 105 kg
3 45° Back raises
3 x 20
4a HS deadlift machine? shrugs
70 kg per side x 20
85 kg per side x 10
4b Standing single leg leg curls
2 x 15
Notes:
17.10.
Forgot to log again.
1 incline bench press
10 x 3 @ 80 kg
2a chest supported t-bar row
5 x 10 @ 40 kg
2b slingshot bench press
100 kg x 1
110 kg x 2 (failed third, misjudged the weight)
3 x 3 @ 100 kg
3 db floor press
3 x 20 @ 20 kg
4 reverse flys
5 x 15
Notes:
19.10.
This was the toughest workout in recent history. The SSB just makes you question your life choices. Still I would like to know when the hell I have become so weak. Also I wonder if I have grown soft… I mean why is a session like this so hard to get through?
1 SSB Squats
10 x 3 @ 102 kg
2 Pause squat (regular barbell)
3 x 3 @ 100 kg
3A unilateral leg press
2 x 15
3B ab wheel roll outs
2 x 10
3C half kneeling paloff press (5 sec hold)
2 x 6
Notes:
24.10.
Forgot to log again.
Training has not been going great lately, at least I feel not great about it. I am getting sick on and off which prevented me from training as often and as hard as I want. Also last week I tweaked my back.
Dialed back a little in weight for today and focused more on form.
1 Log lift (Clean once)
6 x 2 @ 75 kg
2 Push Press
2 x 5 @ 80 kg
1 x 8 @ 80 kg
3 Lat pull down
5 x 10
4 Seated (but without back support) db press
3 x 20 @ 12,5 kg
5 Reverse flys
5 x 15
Notes:
24.10.
Deadlift day…
I don’t mean that any less than it sounds: Deadlifts are messing with my head right now. I am beyond frustrated. Not only have I gotten weaker but I just can’t figure out a decent technique. I just don’t seem to be able to. Right now I have so many cues in my head (don’t look up, turn your elbow to engage your lats, brace, lead with the chest…). I don’t know what the hell I am supposed to do from here on out.
All I know is that I get very angry and in a bad mood when I deadlift.
Current accessories are beltless snatch grip deadlifts, back raises, leg curls and core work.
1 deadlift
6 x 2 @ 150 kg
2 beltless snatch grip deadlift
3 x 5 @ 100 kg
3 horizontal back raises
3 x 20 @ 10 kg
4a planke
3 x 1 min
4b sl standing leg curl
3 x 15
5 suitcase carry with db
2 x ? @ 40 kg
Notes:
Video:
@T3hPwnisher , @strongmanvinny2 , @TX_iron , @MarkKO ,
You are literally me when I was younger. I’d get so happy after a good but rare deadlift workout, and practically brought to tears the rest of the time (99% of the time) because I was weak and in pain and constantly trying a million different variants and cues and all failed.
Empathy aside, and practically speaking, I think that roll before the deadlift is pointless and is nothing but an acquired nuance that seems to be trending thanks to a lot of top deadlifters in strongman. You also share similar leverages to Brian Shaw so there’s hope!
Have you tried overloading block pulls? Perhaps around mid-shin. Not too high, though, as that’d be pointless, but low enough to overload the posterior chain. If not that, you can simply accept the fact that your deadlift is just shit, as is mine. I do recall being stuck at 500 for almost 3 years. I stopped pulling conventional at one point for a few years and took a break from strongman to work on sumo pulling, as it didn’t aggravate my back and I was about as strong as my conventional. I got that up to 675 and my conventional rocketed up to 635 without even training it.
Now I can’t say this is something you should do because you’re still greasing the groove so to speak, so maybe try just training your sumo more? IF it feels better, provided. If not, you gotta just stick with it and never give up on trying to learn more about what works for you. I’m still learning every day, and if it makes you feel any better, I still fucking hate conventional deads and I quite frankly haven’t a damn clue how to do them. It just feels as awkward as it ever did, even when I started with my max being only like 80kg :(.
I honestly appreciate your empathy, if it helps my deadlift or not.
I know that I sound like a cry baby but I guess you (and most people on here) can understand what this means to me. That is why I am not ashamed at all.
Funnily enough I copied that roll more from my girlfriend than from most strongman. It works great for her and her deadlift form is about text book. She obviously has way different leverages than I. Haha Shaw really made the absolute most of his leverages.
I have used slightly elevated deadlifts when I trained for my self organised strongman competition. They felt a lot better. I did them exclusively at that time and when I went back to pulling from the floor, it was a great shock and I couldn’t pull shit.
I used to pull sumo before I decided that I want to become a full on strongman. I did it because it seemed to serve my leverages better and it didn’t hurt my back.
If I want to incorporate block pulls and/ or sumo deadlifts into my training, do you have any tips on how to do so programming wise? I am not sure how to fit all three in.
Thanks a lot for checking in Vinny, it means a lot to me.
I’m afraid I can’t see much wrong. Your hips might be a tad low and your shoulders a little too far forward but that’s it.
My go to cues are
Extra, if you want
Pulling and sitting back are cues that were given to me before (by T3hPwnisher actually) and I could never make it work. I don’t know why… it doesn’t matter how little the weight, I just have no idea how to do that.
I also never felt my body weight or leverages working for me in any way in the deadlift.
For me it feels like just lifting the bar up, while trying to maintain position, until the time comes to push my hips through.
Sitting back is a false cue imo. The deadlift isn’t a squat and doesn’t primarily require leg drive to break weight from the floor. Sitting back also potentially forces the bar into your shins, which are usually made of bone and thus the bar being metal means this is increasing the friction and/or completely encumbering your pull. Try to push off with the entire foot and the only thing that should be pulling back is your lats, and even then, try to push the earth away in a straight line upward and avoid sitting back and being the guy that squats a deadlift. It doesn’t work that way! Strengthen your hamstrings and glutes.
Try pulling sumo for a bit. Really teaches you to pull back and sit into the pull in the right way. If you sit back like you do to squat, you’ll have your hips too low. Scraping up the shins shouldn’t create friction. I certainly never had that issue, be it in socks, using sleeves, etc
Hey man, I apologize, but I don’t see anything particularly wrong with these. What leads you to believe you have an issue?
Further to that, a pull feeling like shit doesn’t necessarily mean you have a problem. DLs feel unpleasant.
Well the pull feels pretty wrong. This feels like a very unnatural thing to do.
Techniqually speaking I get pulled forward on a lot of reps which leads to my back rounding.
Also I think my back is getting more sore than it should be after pulling.
Is the rolling thing a recent thing you’ve added?
No I have done that for quite some time. Maybe a year.
This is what I mean. These are pictures of the 6th set. This doesn’t look like a strong or healthy position, or does it?
Maybe I am missing something, but that just looks like a deadlift to me.
