Max deadlift day. Took some time in the morning to try and get warm, stretched a bit, took a warm shower, had some coffee, etc. When I got to the gym, I was feeling pretty good. Took my time warming up - began sipping on my pre-workout while I did my normal, general warmup, a minute or so of rowing to get some blood in my legs and back, a "ground warmup" to stretch my back, legs, hips, etc, a few box jumps to get my nerves firing, and finally some back extensions to really make sure my back was feeling good.
Then, I got right to work. No bullshit, barely any reps - the goal was to be completely warm, so I could do as few deads as possible. Loaded up 135 and ripped it for 3. Next was 225, ripped that for 2. Then, 315 x 1 was cake. Loaded up 405, belted up, and smashed it. Then, jumped straight to a PR - 465. Got psyched up, and ripped that too, it was fucking cake. I almost loaded 495, but then decided to just put on 500 and give it my all. My first attempt was terrible. I got really amped up, sniffed some ammonia, but didn't focus enough on my setup and started with my hips way too high. Barely broke it off the floor before giving up. But, I rested up, re-psyched, re-sniffed ammonia, but took the time to set up right. The weight moved pretty well, to right above the knee, and then I simply couldn't lock it out. I fought, it was so close, but I couldn't squeeze my hips through. Maybe it was just a little too heavy, maybe I burned energy on the first fail, maybe my back was a bit too round, maybe my butt wasn't strong enough. But I will have 500 next time, no question.
Finally, hit some leg press - 12 with 1 plate, 2, 3, and then 14 with 4 to make a total of 50 reps.
SO lets talk about the deadlift. I am not very disappointed, because I smashed a 10 lb PR and almost got a 45 lb PR. So that is a good day. And, I definitely learned some things. To start, things I need to improve in the future:
More stimulants. The pre workout wasn't enough, I felt crazy on my warmups and kind of burned through that crazy by the time I got to the heaviest lifts. Crazier = better, and I could have been crazier today.
More glute training: I think the focus on getting my back stronger was a great idea, and that it helped my deadlift for sure - lower back feels perfectly fine after pulling today. However, I think I need to focus more on romanian deadlifts and deficit deadlifts, and do less back extensions. I need to be training my back, in conjunction with my glutes and hips because lockout has gotten tough for me.
Keeping my head more neutral: I think better position in of my head/neck will help me with lockout in the future
HOWEVER, here are some things that I did right, and need to remember for the future:
Warmup/minimal actual deads was GREAT, felt awesome. Keep that the same next time
Clearly, I improved my grip strength a lot. Keeping doing the monkey bar/bar starz stuff, along with deadlift holds to make sure grip isn;t a problem
More focus on form/slower approach: although I was going crazy, I also took a little more time with my setup on nearly every set, whcih ensured technique was good. The one exception was the first attempt at 500, which was by far the worst thing of the day haha. So bottom line, go NUTS and use more stimulants, but still take time to set up properly.
SO, I need to keep getting my squat/front squat stronger, keep training my grip and my back, and add in some more glute/hip hinge stuff. I am on the right track, and with these small changes I think I am going to be DESTROYING some deadlift PR's in the near future. But first, I gotta get my squat to 435! Lets keep at it.
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