Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Deadlift ladder, of sorts and a met-con

Haven't done deadlifts in quite some time, and this time I was going to do it with keeping my waist as small as possible, as oppose to expanding it as much as possible.

Strength: Deadlift 70% of your max x 2 dead-stop reps, add 5% every 2 minutes until you tap out (no touch and go).

Back at the MAC Hopper I had two reps of 365, so I figured 255 would be a good place to start. It was very, very strange to inhale but to suck in my stomach. I mean, when I think take in a big gulp of air I think drop diaphram and expand the stomach muscles. Realizing I've been lifting without proper core tension is pretty damn huge. I mean, most of these lifts the failure doesn't occur with the legs, it occurs in the core. I've been crossfitting without really working my core muscles.

That is pretty significant.

Now that I'm contracting in as opposed to pushing out, I expect to see even more of a difference with my stomach as well as my lifts.

Speaking of lifts, I started out at 255 and did ok, then 275 and did alright, then did 295 and my back started to bend some. This bend was probably from the lack of core tension because I was really struggling breathing in while making my stomach smaller. I was also looking up when I started to lift, and appearently tilting your head back can cut off your brain from really controlling your legs. For my 315 attempt I tried to keep looking down, breathed in, contracted my stomach, and tried to stand up. There was a pause, but it was slow and smooth, the best way to do it.

I then tried 335, and all I felt was a bend in my back. My back tapped out for me. I then dropped it down to 225 and worked on my form. It was still really rough. I need to work on this all over again. For all of the lifts, I'm back at square one, relearning everything. I am excited though, because if I'm able to get this far without doing proper technique, I should see a whole lot of improvement as I get better.

There was a second workout, and this one seemed mandatory, not like the backsquat one.

Conditioning: AMRAP 10 min 10, pushup, 10 KB Highpull(70#), 10 jumping slamball

I got 8 rounds plus 2 push ups. To report in, I have been doing random sets of 12-15 pushups, and I think that greatly helped. My push ups feel like they've got a "pop" now that's never been there before, a sort of explosiveness that I've never had.

Kind of feel like I've taken two steps back, but I know this'll allow me to make giant leaps forward.

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