Progress Report: It was bound to happen.

What the workout numbers mean:

First off I only record my 1 rep max out set, so I list the weight I attempted in lbs. and then I list the rating I gave to the lift. On a scale of 1 to 5, 1 is barely lifting the weight off the ground or barely getting the bar away from my chest.  5 means I completed the lift with perfect form.  4 means I completed the lift but with terrible form and a lot of shakiness.  3 means I finished the lift about 3/4 of the way.  2 means I completed the lift about half way up.  0 means I couldn't even lift the weight so that there was no noticeable gap between the weight and whatever it was resting on.


Now look at my workout numbers.

Gym Sunday 5/18/14 10:30 a.m.
Hoist chest press 170-2
Stiff legged deadlift 505-1
Technogym one legged leg press
 Left 120-1
Right 120-1
Rope Tricep extension 115-1
Rack pull 525-1
Freemotion bicep curl machine  200-3
Freemotion chest press cable machine 190-1



Gym Wednesday 10 pm 5/14/14
Shoulder press seated 205-1
Conventional deadlift 1" deficit by standing on two 45 lb. weight plates 455-1
Lat row life fitness machine 240-2
One hand deadlifts using olympic barbell
Left 235-1
Right 235-1
Pec flyes pair of:
35's-2
Triceps pushdown straight bar 130-1
One legged life fitness machine leg press
Left 70-1
Right 70-1

Gym Sunday 5/11/14 1130 a.m.
Hoist chest press 160-2
Stiff legged deadlift 505-1
Icarian one legged leg press
Left 120-1, 140-1
Right 120-1, 140-1
Rack pull 525-0
Bicep curl free motion cable machine
140-1


On 5/14 I finally had to come up with a stiff legged deadlift variation because of nagging shoulder soreness. As you can see on 5/11 I attempted 505 lb. stiff legged deadlift.  After the workout and the days in between my next workout, my shoulders especially my left shoulder were sore, and the days between workouts I was constantly having to roll my shoulders around to get them to loosen up.  Since I didn't want that to happen again, on 5/14 I switched to a conventional deadlift because it alleviates stress on the shoulder by allowing more slack in the arms which gives the shoulders more room to swing back and down into your lats thus allowing a stable safe position to pull big weights.  The problem with that is the conventional deadlift really doesn't hit the lower back the way I want it to, so I came up with a one handed stiff leg deadlift variation. 

It was somewhat of a success.  I didn't hit any pr's in my stiff legged deadlift on 5/18 but I didn't lose any strength either compared to what I did on 5/11.  The reason it was a success was that after I did the one hand stiff leg deadlifts my shoulders weren't sore. The reason for that was because I was shifting my body to one side and allowing more slack in the arm I was lifting with and thus enabling the shoulder to be brought more backwards and packed down deeper into the lat.  Also I was pulling less weight with one hand and lifting from a different shoulder angle compared to a two handed stiff legged deadlift.  This helps with shoulder soreness alleviation as well.

I also like the intense side muscle recruitment from the one hand stiff legged deadlift.  This was my first time ever doing it and I could really feel my oblique and lumbar muscles respective to the side I was lifting from being contracted in almost severe tension.  I'm so used to deadlifting with two hands that the experience with deadlifting with one hand was foreign and almost counter intuitive because in a two handed deadlift you can feel the lumbar muscles on both sides of your back firing whereas with the one hand deadlift you get the right or left lumbar muscle fiber recruitment and a strong pull on the oblique muscle corresponding to the side you're lifting from.

There was a problem though.  The olympic bar is not the best bar to use when one hand deadlifting.  It's too long.  Some of my lifts were fine for the first couple inches off the ground, but then as I got further up the bar would tilt to one side and crash onto the ground. I think the next time I do one hand deadlifts, I'll be using a bicep curl bar.  Those are much shorter in length than the olympic bar, and they may prove to be more stable.  Also I had a tendency to line the bar up so that the middle of it was equidistant between my right and left shins.  The next time I'll try lining the bar so the middle of it is aligned offcenter from my stance so that my arm just has to reach straight down and pull straight up.  This will provide more stability by shortening the range of motion and thus not allowing the bar more to time waddle out of position and crash to the ground. 

But I just want to make it clear I didn't come up with this variation because I thought it would make me stronger.  I could've continued to doing stiff legged deadlifts and I would have continued to make gains just like in my squat. I could've continued doing squats and continued to make positive gains.  The only problem was that my hips and spine were taking a beating due to large amount of weight I was asking my spine and hips to support while I was back squatting, so I had to do variations of the squat that would allow my glutes and quads to get taxed while alleviating the stress on my spine and hips. That led to me doing one legged leg presses on sled type leg press machines and doing kickstand squats and doing hack squats.

So it's the same with the stiff legged deadlift.  It's great for lower back development but very hard on the shoulders because of the heavy weights you can pull with just your lumbar and hamstring muscles. I've heard of people doing weighted hyperextensions like the guy below.  I might try these at the gym just because it puts more focus on the lower back and doesn't rely so much on the legs to power the weight back up.  My thinking is that I should be able to pull less weight on the hyperextension than on the stiff legged deadlift thus allowing less taxation of the shoulder while still recruiting the lower back to make the lift.  It might work or not and the only way I'll be able to tell is if it leads to a gain in my stiff legged deadlift.