Continuing to work on technique.

So I went back to setting up with the bar over the 3rd eyelet of my shoes (from 2nd). That was better. I tried 4th, but the bar just rolled away from me.

Well…

I woke up too early this morning and couldn’t get back to sleep. So I watched some YouTube videos. I haven’t watched any of Alan Thrall’s videos in a long time, but I always liked them – Alan knows how to convey information, teach, and produce effective videos. As I was flipping through the ones I hadn’t seen, I came across this one about “How to Deadlift: Starting Strength 5 Step Deadlift”

It’s all about the setup, according to Starting Strength (which I have a soft spot for).

Since I have been adjusting my setup, I thought to try this today — what would be the harm.

My setup? Not over the 3rd eyelet, nor the 4th – but the 5th! Man, that feels so close, too close! But I used the cues from the video – especially step 4 (squeezing the chest out) – and lifting.

It was… strange. Actually, it felt good, it felt “right”. But as well, every rep felt totally strange because it’s a different setup. Because of the length of my limbs, torso, legs, it FEELS like I have barely any bend in my knees and my back is parallel to the ground. That’s not the case, but it sure feels that way. When I lift, I don’t feel like there’s much knee extension at all – like barely any “push” with the legs. That it’s mostly hip hinging. BUT that was interesting. On the last set I found myself working to reset better between each rep, and when I did step 4 and really worked to get the bar loaded, I also really felt it loading up on my hamstrings. Boy! They got quite taught, and I reckon I was feeling it on the last set (and not sooner) since they were getting exhausted.

I don’t do touch-and-go with deadlifts, but I’m going to need a little more pause-and-reset between each rep, at least until I get this technique down. Because one key part is the descent and ensuring the bar winds up in the right place to pull again, and pull again “properly”.

So I feel good enough about the technique that will keep going with it. It feels strange, but that’s purely a n00b issue. It does feel like a better pull.

That said, top set intended to do 6 (last night’s goal) but I stopped at 5 because of this new technique. I could have gone forward, but I was flip-flopping between lifting, rhythm, the new technique, etc. and things were just going to shit so it was best to stop. But this is part of why I am feeling the technique is good (for me), because I know how prior technique would have had me feeling vs. how I was feeling (even tho I was way sloppy); and this was feeling better, this was not feeling as worn out.

So, I’ll take today. Not a paper-PR, but a good learning point. I’m going to continue to work on this new technique.

• Deadlift
  • 175 x 5
  • 220 x 5
  • 265 x 3
  • 310 x 3
  • 350 x 3
  • 395 x 5
  • 350 x 6
  • 310 x 8
• Hyperextensions
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 13
• Leg Curls
  • 55 x 12
  • 55 x 12
  • 55 x 8
• Crunches
  • 25 x 12
  • 25 x 12
  • 25 x 8