Today is the first day I dead-lifted 190 pounds.
I went to the gym in Charlotte and used their weights.
The bar at my home setup is about 2" higher off the ground and the bar is about 1/4" larger in diameter. This time of year, it is also colder outside than it is inside.
I ran into grip-strength issues.
I had sets of 6-6-6-5-5-3 when I finally bagged it. That was a total of 31 lifts which was short of my goal of 40. I wasn't "tearing it up" but I wasn't struggling all that much, either. Except for the grip strength.
Sweat is not my friend.
In a perfect world, I will be able to lift every third day until I can manage four sets-of-10. Then I will knock out a couple more visits at that level and then I will add ten more pounds to bring the total up to my goal of 200 pounds.
Then I will maintain.
Great work ERJ!
ReplyDeleteEven at the maintenance level you can still add variety by varying the sets and lengthening out the descent time to a count of 3.
Thank-you, sir
DeleteDo you use an under/ over hand grip doing deadlifts? Lifting chalk will help you with the sweat
ReplyDeleteBelladonna suggested that I use over/under grip and so I do.
DeleteI just have wimpy forearms. Lifting will help fix that.
Chalk? That would be a no-brainer if I were working up to 1.5 or 2X my body-weight but I am pretty close to my goals. I just need stronger hands.
Also depending on where you train, chalk is not always allowed in some gyms.
DeleteOver / under will improve your lifts by at least 50lbs. True chalk. Not baby powder helps immensely
Delete+1 to using chalk. Most big-ish commercial gyms won't allow chalk, partly because most people who go to those places don't know to clean it up. A good powerlifting or cross-training gym, like my current small local one, will allow it. It helps immensely.
DeleteSomething else to consider is using straps. I grip through 215 pretty well, but for heavier lifts, I pull out the straps in order to allow my back to get its full workout. Then again, my work set weights are 285 pounds.
I see benefits of respecting the "bottlenecks" because I am an older guy (64). I also see those bottlenecks as a safety-fuse that reduces my risks of pushing too hard, too fast.
DeleteAnother benefit is that I will have a more chaotic lifting environment when I am in the woods. Training myself to recognize the signals from my body will reduce my risk of getting hurt.
Referring back to my running days. Sometimes it was my lungs that limited my run. Sometimes the heat. Sometimes my legs. I was always making adjustments based on feedback from my body and the slope and wind. Something that is not as natural on a treadmill.
Thanks for all of the comments. You have all been incredibly helpful.