Whats the difference for you from your rack deadlift to your actual deadlift? With the bar being slightly above your knee?
I have not deadlifted in a while-focus has been squats, primarily front squat- but decided to mess around with rack pulls after my workout of intense meso for front squat. The goal was to work on my grip strength. Started just doing some overhand grip-no hook- went up to 500lb got it once, but hands were little sore and missed 2 after that. Decided to see what could do with mixed grip so loaded 600, got that easy then went for 685 and that was tough but got it.
These were done slightly above knee, never did them before today though. Just curious what the difference would be from my regular deadlift, I’m guessing over 100lb difference easily.
Also did I do these wrong? Are they supposed to be done below knee, at the knee or above? I’m guessing they are like box squats and you work sticking points though.
You can vary the height you pull from sure. Most DL’s you can pull off the floor you will lockout. If you have problems at the top third its more of a upper back issue.
If you cannot get off the floor its abs, low back, maybe quads or hips depending on how you pull. Rack Pulls are way easier and not comparable to deadlifts. Because the starting point is different the pulling is different too.
[quote]saps wrote:
You can vary the height you pull from sure. Most DL’s you can pull off the floor you will lockout. If you have problems at the top third its more of a upper back issue. If you cannot get off the floor its abs, low back, maybe quads or hips depending on how you pull.
Rack Pulls are way easier and not comparable to deadlifts. Because the starting point is different the pulling is different too.[/quote]
Yeah I noticed my form was off in the rack pull-as in different then my natural deadlift-, I would just test my 1rm dead but I’m on a tough squat program and I don’t want to tire myself out too much in my legs and lower back.
Your right though they felt very easy-in comparison-, just curious what others were pulling on the rack and how much of a difference it was for them. I might still do them later when I go back to normal program, as they are great way to load a lot of weight and hit the grip hard-as well as the upper back-.
I pulled 260 EASY 3 or 4 weeeks before I pulled a max of 210kg off the ground some time ago. I probably coulda gone up to 300kg on the pulls from above my knee.
So I guess there’s around 90kg in the diff. for me, 200ish lb?
[quote]Hanley wrote:
I pulled 260 EASY 3 or 4 weeeks before I pulled a max of 210kg off the ground some time ago. I probably coulda gone up to 300kg on the pulls from above my knee.
So I guess there’s around 90kg in the diff. for me, 200ish lb?[/quote]
Generally where do you do rack pulls at? Slightly below, at knee, or slightly above? Or are they pretty much worthless, I just thought of doing them for grip really but might implement them for regular training in a few weeks-depending on what other people think of them-.
My lockout blows so rack pulls from just below knee are usually about the same as my full range DL. I don’t do rack pulls anymore because of the form difference (plus I don’t want to trash my bars); instead I do box pulls where the plates are elevated on boxes at either 2", 4" or 6".
The flex of the bar is more comparable to that of a full range pull and the carryover for me is measurable.
I swap around between below the knees and just above. There’s 110 lbs between my sumo pull and above knees rack pull, and 175 lbs between my conventional and rack pull. I haven’t maxed out above the knees yet though, or conventional of the floor for a while.
I have used a number of different heights on the rack deadlift. I use the rack deadlift to build my upper back (above the knee). Or I can use it to better a sticking point (below the knee).
Above the knee I can do more weight than the bar can hold - or at least my bar with the weights I am using aobut 800lbs. Below the knee, I am actually below my best deadlift. I have always thought that higher reps of a partial work better for me than heavy weight low reps.
Quick question about rack pulls. I think I’ve done them once in my life, just seeing how they felt. Are they very useful in terms of overall strength, and not just a specific lock-out point? Should I just stick with regular DL variations?
[quote]shizen wrote:
Hanley wrote:
I pulled 260 EASY 3 or 4 weeeks before I pulled a max of 210kg off the ground some time ago. I probably coulda gone up to 300kg on the pulls from above my knee.
So I guess there’s around 90kg in the diff. for me, 200ish lb?
Generally where do you do rack pulls at? Slightly below, at knee, or slightly above? Or are they pretty much worthless, I just thought of doing them for grip really but might implement them for regular training in a few weeks-depending on what other people think of them-. [/quote]
I’ve given up on rack pulls now. I haven’t really seen them do anything for my sumo DL. They did do great stuff for my conventional tho.
My two favourite positions (that is, the ones I believe wrked best) were from 3 inches below my knee, and 5 inches below my knee. Both of these were a lot closer to my DL off the floor number (around 30-50lb greater depending on height)
[quote]Pinto wrote:
Pulling from mid shin- it is about the same as full range- maybe even a little less.[/quote]
I have the same situation. It feels like rack pulls from mid shin are harder than deadlifts off the ground.
I think it’s because for me this is a sticking point that is not a problem when pulling from the ground due to speed.
It feels really hard because my shins have to be almost perpendicular to the ground. They cannot lean forward at all, as they can when you are starting a deadlift off the floor.
[quote]Gael wrote:
Pinto wrote:
Pulling from mid shin- it is about the same as full range- maybe even a little less.
I have the same situation. It feels like rack pulls from mid shin are harder than deadlifts off the ground.
I think it’s because for me this is a sticking point that is not a problem when pulling from the ground due to speed.
It feels really hard because my shins have to be almost perpendicular to the ground. They cannot lean forward at all, as they can when you are starting a deadlift off the floor.[/quote]
Yeah- that sounds like me. I am relatively fast off the floor. But everything past 500 from mid-shin breaks soooooo slow. I have zero ability to rip from that height.