The Deadlift

The Deadlift is known to be the second king of all exercises besides the Squat. It utilizes many muscle groups and allows you to lift more weight than any other lift. The Spinal Erector muscles are hit hard, which includes the Lower Back. Recovery time can be 72 hours. Many programs avoid the Deadlift so that you can train more often. Another alternative would be to Deadlift at a lower weight for higher reps.

Just short of two years ago I started Deadlifting. I started by doing a set of 12 and got to 225lb. Then I switched to 8 reps, but my grip failed at around 245lb for higher reps, and so I started using straps. Without deloading, I got to 8 reps of 385lb, which granted took six months of adding 5lb each session. After that I deloaded to 8 reps of 200lb for 2 sets. So six months later, I pulled 8 reps of 375lb for 2 sets.

At that point, I pulled 405lb for a single, and about a week later 420lb, which injured the middle of my back to a minor degree. The lift was fine, but I held the weight too long. A couple weeks later, I pulled 425lb, then 435lb, and more recently 450lb, and will break that in 2 weeks time.

The Deadlift has corrected my posture to be more upright, made me stronger in all other exercises, developed my back muscles significantly, and have helped build my endurance. I have not yet used a weightbelt with them.

The technique I use is a very narrow stance with the heels touching each other. My grip is just between the rings. I start on the ground with the weight rolled forward, set my breathing, and roll the weight back into myself as I engage my Hamstrings and Traps and lift the bar until lockout, shoving my hips forward, and squeezing my Triceps, Biceps, Pecs, Quads, Glutes, and Abs.

DB Powered v2 Progress

My current style of lifting is only training two days a week, and having the rest to recover and recharge the needed power. I've noticed my body feeling more sore compared to training five to six days a week. The reason for this is debatable. Some say that soreness is not a good indicator of muscle growth or strength growth, but in all fairness it would seem that it can be. Muscles are typically known to recover within 48 hours, and some muscles within 72 hours. It's possible to train with muscles that are not fully recovered. I have heard of the style of lifting where you purposely do this to double the damage to the muscle and therefore to double the recovery and thus the muscle and strength growth. Another aspect I might be experiencing is from changing my method of training from a high frequency to a low frequency after some time. I think most people lean on that practice far too much. I think it's important to dutifully run the course of a routine to give it its merits, and to have a deeper pool of data for analysis.

I feel with lower frequency that there is greater body awareness, which leads to better mind-muscle connection, which I think is a key to muscular development. It's bizarre, but it would seem that just as under-training is possible, over-training is possible, regardless of how many deny it. I was recently looking at some people's routines, and I saw someone doing 10 sets of 10 on many exercises. Their poundage was not impressive, which in turn tells me their physique is not as well. Something I've been keen on is that for muscle growth, you need to lift heavy, and that if you do lift heavy, your muscles will haven choice but to grow. I thought about this a lot when my Squats were stuck and plateaued at 180lb max. I had been resetting often, and I think something slowed me down in progress is resetting to low, and having too great a range to climb through for every reset, leading me to lift heavy weight less often than I could have and should have perhaps.

I would like to welcome the concept of lifting heavy weights. Something that struck is that many beginners or people that don't lift very heavy mostly have poor technique. It's not feasible to lift heavy weight poor technique. How could they possible lift heavy weight with such poor leverage, range of motion, poor joint articulation, or lack of controlled breathing. There's much talk of avoiding chasing PRs, but it is possible to tailor your routine in a way where it does not harm you, and in fact charges you up, benefiting you. On the flip side, I think lifting too heavy with too high a close percentage to your max will burn you out quickly and will not take advantage of periodization as well as bruising your confidence and therefore mental game, which is huge in lifting.

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Highliting Recovery

After having a few months of 5-6 day workouts in a week, I'm experiencing the flip side - more rest days than training days. I had flu-like symptoms nine days ago, which kept me out of the gym, but gave me time to realize something which is that after any workout, your muscles are sore and take time to recover. You can workout before they fully recover, and even if you have lower back stiffness, you can find a way to still work it as well as having inflamed joints. But if you do take that time off, you can experience the body awareness of the recovery, and you'll know when the strength is back and the muscles are truly ready to be hit again. I think high frequency is great for hammering skill technique, elevating your strength, and using lots of time under tension, but I think low frequency also has its merits. I feel it's easy to become less active, less flexible, and less driven on a low frequency workout. The trade though is full recovery, body awareness, high intensity, and lots of free time. For my next workout, I plan to hammer chin-ups, bench press, military press, and dips. I've had a strange experience with Barbell Rows lately. They've been taking out my lower back, regardless of even pulling off the safeties. I want to try wearing a belt for them, but don't have one yet, so I'm switching to Kroc Rows, and will be adding Barbell Curls. I switch between two workouts: one with Squats, Deadlifts, and DB Bench Press, the other with Barbell Bench Press, Military Press, Shrugs, Kroc Rows, Chin-Ups, Dips, and Curls. I'll also sprinkle in Calf Raises, Rear Delt Rows, Lateral Raises, 1-Leg Leg Ball Curls, Bent Press, and Muscle-Ups.