Mike's quest for Abs and 1100

[Hunterace]

Great workout Mike! Congrats on the huge PR and a great dead challenge! Hope your not hurtin too much tomorrow

[BendtheBar]

I like you're only a pound or two away from standing up with that weight.

Right before you pull the 385 you bend your arms, then start to pull. Keep an eye on that. You look like you initiate the pull with bent arms and they straighten as you yank. That's not only bad for them there biceps, but it also forces you down close to the bar, reducing leverage and power by a hair.

Lock your arms, raise your hips, sink them until that sweet spot, and pull. That's the mental check list I use.

The only other thing I noticed is that your shoulders moved forward during the pull. This is common on very hard deadlifts. To fight this, I recommend concentrating on pulling the bar back towards your body from the get go.

Once those shoulders lurch forward by an inch or two, the hips come up, it becomes hard to maintain lower back tightness, and from there it became a still leg deadlift.

Just minor things but I hope they help.

[MikeM]

Thanks fellas! Not hurting too bad today. I mean wicked sore from shoulder blades to ankles, but nothing really bad. I actually think form wise, those were some of my best deadlifts ever. Normally, my lower back is effed after deadlifting, but nothing else really is. This time everything else is sore, but my low back is fairly good. I have learned the hard way to just let go of the bar rather than keep pulling from a bad low back position. So that's showing some smarts at least. I'm on the right track. I just need to keep working on some little things.

So, watching them again I see exactly what mike is talking about and I can fix that. Moving my hands out will help with the arm flexing too. I was concentrating on hips being low enough at the start, but with my hands in tight, my knees force my arms to bend. So an inch out, I solve both problems.

As for my hips back, I think it was more my chest not up enough. I need to get my butt down, chest up, get much tighter, and then pull back slow off the floor then boom hips as it passes my knees.

Also, I think I lose it when it gets really heavy because I'm not tight enough. My legs can push it, but my shoulders don't keep up, so I get forward and that's that.

But, enough thinking and micromanaging angles etc. Obviously, you have to keep getting better form, and I'm glad for the tips, so keep 'em coming. But, bottom line is I have to get stronger all over. I'm hitting bigger and bigger numbers in every lift, but a lot of it is due to form getting better and better, and the tweaks and tricks I'm picking up. Technique is only half the battle. I need to really work on the other half more in my opinion.

This program has made me realize there are some key areas for each lift that have to get stronger if you actually want to get stronger.

Live and learn. There you go. Thanks fellas.

[BendtheBar]

Merry Christmas Mike!

[MikeM]

Thank you BtB! Christmas was awesome. Had the good side of the family descend upon us this time! HaHa.

My original plan was to train during Christmas week, but honestly I was a little frustrated with that deadlift, my hands were ripped up, all the family were together for the first time in a while doing stuff, etc. I just had no motivation to lift at all. I've been going at it pretty hard, so maybe just a little burned out, and I made the executive decision to take the week off and re-start after the holidays.

I feel much better overall physically and especially mentally, and am itching to get back at it which is how I want to feel rather than forcing myself which would have been the case if I'd plowed through.

However, I'll have had about 10 days of doing very little beyond my daily morning BW exercises by the time I hit it again on Jan 1st, so I think it prudent to get a little revved up before moving on to week 5. Week 5 starts with 4 rep max sets, so I don't see myself hitting them well without some run up.

I'm thinking I should re-do week 4 to get going again. So, that's my plan uness someone else thinks different or has a better idea?

I wish everyone a happy New Year!

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by MikeM

I'm thinking I should re-do week 4 to get going again. So, that's my plan uness someone else thinks different or has a better idea?

I wish everyone a happy New Year!

Sounds like a good plan. get a good grounding week in and then smash.

[Squatter]

Ya, weeks 5 & 6 don't get any easier, so it's likely a good idea to get primed up. Are you going to redo the accessory work as well? I'm kinda thinking maybe just do the core lifts.

[ravimolasaria]

Sounds good ... keep smashing the wts Mike ...

[big_swede]

Happy new year Mike!

[BendtheBar]

Destroy 2013! Smash your goals.