Thursday, July 24, 2014

The fundamental nature of lifts: How to beat the plateau


So here I am with 415 lbs. on a bar deadlifting it.  As you can see it's almost effortless and it was.  The reason for that is this:

Here I am with 545 lbs. on a bar stiff legged deadlifting it or at least attempting it.  That's the key.  The attempt.  Even though I didn't lift the weight even an inch off the ground, the attempt that action of me straining to pull it was enough to stimulate muscle growth in the involved body parts and enabled to hit that 415 lb. pull in the above video. 

I'm always getting slammed for posting videos of my misses and fails.  But the people talking bad about me are the same people who are afraid to post videos of their own lifts because they know they can't match up to my lifts.  But the miss or the fail is the only way you're going to beat plateaus. 

For any lift the most important part of it is the bottom.  Whether you squat or bench press or deadlift, most of your training should focus on the bottom of the lift or in the hole or the at rest or dead position. Any lift to be completed successfully has to generate a certain amount of force to break inertia and move the bar upwards to lockout. Most of the lockout depends on how much force you generated at the bottom and the resulting momentum from that force.  When you explode the bar from the dead positon the first two or three inches from the bottom is pure strength, and as the bar moves away from the bottom the amount of force you need to move the bar upwards decreases and momentum takes over and carries the bar upwards to lockout. 

So how do you apply this knowledge to your training? Miss.  There you go simple enough.  Start all your lifts from the dead position on the floor or on the crossbars of the power rack.  You have to concentrate on the bottom before you get to the top.  If you don't have a power rack when bench pressing, unrack the weight and let the bar rest on your chest for five seconds and breathe and then explode upwards with your arms.  The squat is impossible to start from a dead position because it's impossible to get in position underneath a bar even if it's supported by the crossbars in the power rack.  If you're at a gym, find a leg press machine that let's you bottom out with your butt almost touching touching the back of your heels and use that to develop your bottom position explosiveness.  If you don't have a leg press, do pause squats but remember you still have to hold your breath to support the weight on the back of your neck.  The deadlift plateau is only beaten by stiff legged deadlifts fails or one legged stiff legged deadlifts misses.  You have to constantly be trying to lift heavy weight off the ground for a couple inches if you're going to beat a deadlift  plateau.

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