Heavy deadlift singles off 3.5" blocks to 605

Tonight was an exciting night for most of the team, taking heavy singles off a 3.5" block.. this would be a good test day for the last 12 weeks of dedicated deadlift training to see what kind of progress we've made.

Being only 13 weeks out of our next meet, RPS NE Power Challenge, we didn't want to max-out off the floor because of the added CNS stress and always-present chance of injury heading into a 10 week meet prep. Typically its about a 15-25lbs difference from a 3.5" block pull to a floor pull.. but its still a good measure of judgement because we all knew where we were before we began out 12 weeks of deadlift focal work.

Speaking for myself, I was working with 500lbs for 5 reps off the 3.5" blocks at the beginning of our cycle, probably coming out to around a 560-570lb 1 rep max off the 3.5" blocks. (About right, considering I pulled 550 from the floor at least meet in March).. That being I hit a nice PR pull tonight of 605lbs.. really excited about this, because thats about 35-40lbs of progress in 12 weeks. Based on this, I'll probably open my 1st deadlift attempt around 520, then 560-570 for 2nd attempt, then 580-600 for 3rd attempt depending how I feel on meet day.

Most everyone else hit real nice PRs as well..

Beginning of Cycle:

Brandon 405lbs off floor
Brian 500lbs off floor
Nick 550lbs off floor

End of 12 weeks:

Brandon 515lbs off 3.5" block
Brian 585lbs off 3.5" block
Nick 605lbs off 3.5" block

.. Thats some good progress!

We are going to wrap up our Bands/Chains this week.. take a short deload and head into meet prep from here!

Some updates, thoughts, and reflections lol ..meet prep coming up...

Just some updates and "reflections" lol.. July 15th puts most of our team about 14 weeks out of the RPS New England Power Challenge October 16th/17th.. two of our members are doing a local RPS push-pull (Squat/Deadlift) meet on August 23rd.. so they are about 6 weeks out.

For those who have been following along, I opened my own garage-based powerlifting gym back in November 2014, leaving the YMCA after 5 years.. honestly, I questioned myself occasionally before doing it.. there WERE some positives to training at the Y - such as having other people around for spotting, conversation, etc.. I mean lets face it.. I was unsure how motivating it would be training in a two car garage without anyone else to talk to or look at .. etc.. etc..

Here we are 9 months later, and I can honestly say it was the best thing I ever did for my training.
Most importantly, I consider myself EXTREMELY fortunate to have put together an AWESOME crew of training partners all with similar dedication and training goals. Looking back over the last 9 months, and forward to more growth - I can say without doubt that if it wasn't for the team I am lucky enough to train with, I wouldn't have made the strides I have the last 9 months... now its almost time to hopefully put it all together on the platform.

Looking back over the last 6 months of training, I spent the first 2 months of 2015 in meet prep for my March RPS Power Challenge meet where I was able to put together an 8-for-8 day and a PR total. After that meet I decided I was done "babying" my deadlift.. basically just pulling super small deadlift PRs in fear of my back injury in 2012... but I made up my mind to train smart.

Using George Leeman's information, I put together a 6 week deadlift cycle built around the best deadlift accessories to build my pull. The core lift was a Safety Squat Bar box squat using a narrow conventional deadlift stance to a slightly high box for 3 sets of 10 reps. Then we rotated in 3.5" and 7" block pulls in weekly rotations for 3 sets of 5...each time trying to best the prior same-lift PR from a few weeks back.
For accessory work, we rotated bent-knee Romanian deadlifts with no lockout, Yates Rows, and a shitload of rows.. t-bars close/wide.. kroc rows..

GHRs (600-700 reps per month) and Sled pulling became a staple of every deadlift day. We rarely if ever pulled from the floor.

I'm not one of the people who rave about bullshit that doesn't work or overly optimistic PRs or goals (Hey everyone look at me! I'm going to pull 700 next meet.. haven't cracked 600 yet.. but I'm gonna get 700! Yay!!).... BUT... I gotta say.. we did two 6-week cycles of this deadlift work over the last 3 months.. I actually felt the progress. I literally FELT the pulls getting stronger and faster.

Before I started the deadlift accessory work, I was pulling 500lbs for triples off the 3.5" blocks. After 12 weeks, I was pulling 515 for 5 reps off the 3.5" blocks, and 565 for 5 reps off the 7" blocks. When I started with the SSB box squats/Conv DL stance I was using 295lbs for 10 reps.. 12 weeks later, I finished up with 365lbs for 10 reps/3 sets off a lower box. It really was/is quite motivating to see the actual gains happen. Especially after "plateauing" for so many years. Regarding deadlift, what am I looking to do in October? probably open with 520 then go to 560 for a meet PR, then if all goes well chase that 600 number. But who the fuck knows lol. Its all good in theory. What did Mike Tyson say? Oh yea ... "Everyone's got a plan til they get punched in the mouth."

For our Squat and Bench cycles, we ran (3) 5-week cycles for a total of 15 weeks..
first cycle was high volume work - squatting and benching for 15 reps...
next cycle was low volume work in the 3-5 rep range..
then for the last cycle (wrapping up now) we added in Accomodating Resistance (Bands and Chains) for 8-10 sets of 2 reps each. It was a good variety of work, and I feel we all got stronger, which should translate to PR's on the platform.

Time will tell... In closing.. I'm not just excited about my own progress.. but also its been awesome watching all our team members progress around me.. not just in numbers.. but form and speed improving as well.. As a group we should have at least 6 of us competing in Aug/October.. and it will be great to get some meet PRs on the board!

Deadlift Accessory work.. progress!

We are wrapping up our 2nd 6-week cycle of Deadlift accessory work, and I can really feel progress happening. Last session I was able to work up to 585lbs + 115lbs of Band tension (700lb total weight) for a 40lb PR over 6 weeks ago.

6 weeks ago, I worked up to 545lbs + bands, pulling from the Knee and I was definitely at a near-max.. This is solid progress.

The deadlift accessory work is based around rotating several accessory lifts around the the primary lift of Box Squats, using a very narrow - conventional deadlift stance, using a Safety Squat bar. The safety squat bar is the game changer.. its throws the weight forward and really makes it feel heavy.

I started out about 9-10 weeks ago working up to 265lbs for the narrow SSB box squat, and I'm up to 365lbs now... 100lbs of gain.. solid progress.

This week we added in some Romanian deadlifts with no lockout, GHRs, and Sled pulls.. video below!

(Yes thats some Jimmy buffet playing in the background haha .. it was over 90 degrees in the gym so I guess we were pretending we were on a beach somewhere.......)

Safety Squat Bar squats to box using Conv DL Stance
175 x 5
265 x 5
315 x 5
365 x 8
365 x 8
365 x 8

Romanian Deadlifts no lockout
135 x 10
225 x 10
315 x 10
405 x 10

Dumbbell Rows
110 x 10 x 3 Sets

GHRs
60 Reps

Sled Pulls
3 Trips at 145lbs

How we cycle our training

We basically train in 5 week rotational blocks as follows:

Week 1-  higher rep range (either 5 or 15 reps depending on cycle)

Week 2- lower rep range (either 3 or 12 reps)

Week 3- Deload everything around 60% for a few singles, light accessory work

Week 4- Beat week 1

Week 5- Beat week 2

When in the Accomodating Resistance block, we use 50% and 55% for weeks 1/2 AND weeks 3/4 but rather than increasing the bar weight, the band or chain weight is increased for the second half of the block. During this block we will usually use variety in our presses/squats such as floor presses w/chain for bench, and camber squat bar w/bands off a box for squat.

Block 1:   Volume work (12-15 Reps)

Block 2:   Low Rep (3-5 Reps)

Block 3:   Low Rep / Accommodating Resistance (2-5 Reps + Bands/Chains)

Each block consists of 5 weeks as described above.. So to complete all 3 blocks of Volume/Low Rep/Acccomodating resistance will take approximately 15 weeks.. Then we will usually move into a 10 week meet prep cycle.

Deadlift work is done in a separate, 6 week cycles as follows:

Deadlift Accessory - Rack pulls against bands

Thurs 6/4/15 - Deadlift Accessory

Real happy with tonights session. 6 weeks ago, I hit a PR of 545 + 115 band tension, and barely completed 5 reps. This cycle I was able to go to 585+115, 700lbs total tension for 5 reps. The last couple reps were tough.. but its great to see progress.

After this deadlift training block is completed, that will finish up 12 weeks of intensive deadlift accessory work.. the training block details can be found further back in my logs, but it basically cycles Safety Squat bar squats using a deadlift stance, block pulls 4", block pulls 8", and Rack pulls against bands.. combined with 5 or 6 solid deadlift accessories such as: Romanian deadlifts, Yates Rows, GHRs, Sled pulls.

Rack pulls at Knee (20) against doubled Bands (115lbs tension)

135+115 x 5
225+115 x 5
315+115 x 5
405+115 x 5
455+115 x 5
495+115 x 5
545+115 x 5
585+115 x 5 (pr)



Yates Rows
225 x 10
275 x 10
315 x 10

Shrugs
315 x 10
365 x 10
405 x 10

GHRs
4 sets / 20 Reps

Sled Drags - Forward, wide
195
240
285

Deadlift Accessory Night

We're wrapping up week 5 of our focused deadlift accessory work.. for the last 5 weeks we've been following an intense deadlift building cycle based around champion deadlifter George Leeman's recommended training. If you go back a few posts, you can see the details of the cycle.

One of the core training lifts is squatting with the Safety Squat bar using a conventional DL stance off a slightly high box for high reps. (10 reps)

The two key parts to this lift are:

a- using the safety squat bar which really wants to pitch you forward, forcing you to tighten your core and stay back/upright

b- using the conventional DL stance

We've found this to really work the lockout hard.. make sure you sit back on the box, and don't "Squat down" to it.. makes the lift much harder.

Here's a quick video of our training session where we work up to 375lbs x 10 reps on this lift:




Safety Squat bar squats w/Conv DL stance off high box-
175x10
265x10
315x10
335x10

Romanian deadlifts no lockout-
135x10
225x10
335x10
405x10

Shrugs-
225x10
315x10
405x10
405x10
405x10

GHRs-
120 reps

Sled pulls-
145
190
235

Friday night Deadlift Accessories 5/1/15

We had a great turnout tonight of lifters! Actually ran two deadlift platforms, one for the guys, one for the gals... everyone put up some nice PRs.

Tonight's main lift was Week 4 of our deadlift accessory work, pulling off a 3.5" block. We will go back to Safety Squat bar squats w/deadlift stance next week off a box, then come back for Week 6 with heavier pulls off of 7" blocks.

Accessory work was Yates rows, T-bar rows, and GHRs.

Fri 5/1/15 - Week 4 Deadlift Accessory work
Block pulls off 3.5" block-
135x3
225x3
315x3
405x5
455x5
500x5

Yates Rows-
135x15
225x15
315x15

T-bar Rows-
100x15
145x15
200x15

GHRs-
100 Reps