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I'm slowly incorporating one leg deadlifts in my workouts, but currently, I'm only at the stage of acquiring the balance and coordination to execute the exercise. So I'm currently using fairly low weight and not feeling much effect of the exercise (apart from getting closer to lifting my supporting leg). So I would like to hear from people with experience with one leg deadlifts. Do you find it beneficial to you general athleticism/fitness? Does it benefit your regular deadlift?

As the title indicates, I've been deadlifting with dumbbells (4lb threaded standard handles, around 14 inches long). The way the handles bump into each other is kind of awkward. So last night I tried loading up one dumbbell but there really wasn't enough room for me to grip it comfortably with both hands. A barbell is on my wish list, but until that becomes a reality, what's my best option here? Keep doing what I am and deal with the awkwardness? A little Googling came up with people deadlifting with the dumbbells at their sides instead of in front, but that looked more like a squat than a deadlift. Do single-leg Romanian deadlifts? (My thought here being that a lighter weight would make it easier to hold the dumbbells away from each other.) Find a pipe to fit over the dumbbell ends to keep them in line with each other? Something else that I'm overlooking? Thanks for any advice!

The skittish man looked over his shoulder before he made his way up the creaky steps of the tavern. He wasn't supposed to be here but he didn't have a choice. There was an evil coming...an evil so vile and so horrible that the fate of every man, woman and child in the surrounding kingdom would be in mortal danger if he didn't seek help. Two nights ago, he had been followed. The undead black bird was nearly silent when it stalked in the treetops among the gnarled branches. He looked again over his shoulder to see if he could spot the bird but to his surprise, the undead creature was no where to be seen. Each step towards the tavern doors entrance echoed audibly, and despite the boisterous noise coming from inside, the creaks and groans under his weight seemed to weigh heavily into the night. With a shaky, outstretched hand, the man opened the door and entered the tavern. He was immediately greeted with warm air, the smell of ale, and a symphony of music coming from the stage just left of the bar. The atmosphere of the tavern seemed to calm the man's nerves and he made his way through the crowd to settle at the bar. "Whadda having, sir." The short, burly barkeep asked as he wiped down a glass and threw the rag over his shoulder. The barkeep was bald with a dark brown beard that was trimmed neat and cut short to the neck. He had kind brown eyes that seemed trustworthy and to the skittish man, he felt comfortable around the barkeep, even though it had been mere seconds since he sat down. He wasn't really sure what he wanted though. The long journey had taken a toll on his body and he had actually grown sick to his stomach over the last day's ride to get here. "I, um...well," the man cleared his throat, "I'm actually looking for someone." He said to the barkeep. "Aye?" The barkeep asked. "So nottin to drink fer ya? Maybe some hot boar stew? It's the best in all the kingdom." As if his stomach ache was instantly cured, the sound of boar stew made the skittish man's mouth salivate. How long had it been since he last ate, he thought to himself. Two days? "Actually, the boar stew does sound quite nice. I'll have a bowl of that." "Comin' right up!" The barkeep announced cheerfully and scurried off to the kitchen. When he came back just a few seconds later, he had a faded blue bowl filled with the piping hot stew. The smell of the boar nearly cramped the man's stomach up as he realized just how hungry he was. He nearly snatched the bowl out of the barkeep's but restrained himself. "There ya go, sir. Gallup's world famous boar stew. Hell, we took down der beast not twelve hours ago so ya know its gonna be gurd!" "Thank you very much. And you must be Gallup?" the man replied with a thankful nod. "Nah, dat's me brother. I'm Garrick, the most handsome barkeep in all the land!" The barkeep chuckled so loud it nearly drowned out the music. After a moment, he caught himself and turned back to a more serious demeanor. "So...ya say yer lookin for someone, eh? Gotta name?" "I don't know the man's name, per say. I've heard him called numerous things if I'm being completely honest. The Red Wolf?" Garrick paused a minute, his eyes shifting to the back of the bar. "Well...I do know a man by dat name but he's not to be bothered at da moment." "Really?" the man sat up from his boar stew, almost excited. "I dare say, it's rather urgent that I speak to this man. It's a matter of life and death!" Garrick saw the terror in this man's eyes and almost felt sorry for him. The barkeep got down low to the bar to whisper something. The skittish man leaned down with him but couldn't hear the words over the music. Then, Garrick nudged his head towards the back of the bar where his eyes shifted earlier. The man turned his gaze in that direction and saw a leather clad man sitting by himself drinking a mug of ale. His features where like that of a warrior; well muscled and tight jawed. He appeared to be tall with his legs stretched out under the table, one foot crossing over the other. His skin was fair, which made his other features stand out like a sore thumb. Atop his head was a mess of wavy red hair. Even in the dimness of the bar you could tell. And with that look, the man sitting in the corner gazed back. The look paralyzed the skittish man as he noticed the piecing blue eyes burning through him. They were the eyes of a wolf. Gulping down hard, the skittish man grabbed his hot bowl and made his way over towards the red-haired man. As he stood before him, the red haired man held his gaze the entire time. "Go away." he muttered, his voice gruff and raspy. Almost as if he hadn't spoken in days. "But sir..." "I said. Go. Away." He cut off the skittish man and pointed back towards the bar. The skittish man, feeling more confident this time, sat his bowl down on the table, pulled out the chair on the other side, and sat down. "Sir, my name is Sibis Davizo and I have come looking for the Red Wolf." Sibis was fully expecting to be cut off again and was surprised when he wasn't, so, he continued on. "And I am in need of your service. It has come highly recommended that YOU are the best scout in all the kingdom and that when it comes to finding things, there are none better." There was a long instance of silence between the two men before the red-haired man spoke. "Go on..." "So, are you the one they call The Red Wolf?" "It's possible. Why don't you tell me what you need first and maybe I'll tell you who I am." "Very well... as I've said before, rumor has it that you can track things down better than anyone. Whether that be people, items or more exotic things. I'll cut to the chase because time is of the essence. I am in search of something called the Book of Life. This book has immense power." "Why search for a book that's only been rumored to exist?" The red-haired man asked as he leaned forward now, interested in what Sibis Davizo was saying. "I was told the only way to defeat Dedd Lyft the Necromancer was by obtaining the Book of Life. Somewhere in it's pages is a spell that could destroy him and his undead army." The red-haired man shook his head slowly. His face was expressionless but his eyes showed something. They showed fear. "Come with me. It's too dangerous to talk here..." ************************************************** Hello All!! Welcome to another challenge! I'm very excited about this one for a number of reasons. 1) My birthday is right in the middle of this challenge! 2) I'm doing some creative writing! and 3) I'm kicking ass in the gym AND the kitchen! This challenge is all about writing, eating, lifting and gearing up for the holidays. Won't you join me?? Goal 1: Tevior "The Red Wolf" Bindreft This goal is all about writing. I loooooove creative writing. I looooove creating fun and interesting characters. To do this goal justice means I need to write little excerpts like the one above and work to do that 2-3x a week. Nothing major, just write for 15-20 min and see what I come up with. I'm hoping to build a fun story for everyone (and myself) and maybe turn this into something I do on a more regular basis! Here's what Tevior looks like: but think wavy red hair and reddish stubble instead. My inspiration is this guy: Possible Points: +2 END, +1 CHA Goal 2: Dedd Lyft the Necromancer Dedd Lyft is the main villian in my story. This is a play on for Deadlift, obviously, but you already knew that, didn't you?? . @Jarric made a good point on my last challenge: "don't be afraid of deadlifts. Just take them serious and you'll be ok." And...that's exactly what I'm gonna do! I'm fine with trap bar deadlifts...but it's traditional deadlifts that have always scared me because I didn't want to hurt my back. I'm usually really solid in practicing good form with ALL my lifts, but I've stayed away from barbell deadlifts in favor of trap bar for a while now. The idea behind this goal is to practice barbell deadlifts at least 1x a week and work on getting better doing those. They don't have to be heavy but ideally I would like to find my 1rm sooner or later. Possible Points: +3 STR Goal 3: Up the Intensity Between lifting 3x a week, I also want to add in 1-2 KB workouts on my off days as well as add in a sprint day on Saturdays. This is about sweating and getting out of my comfort zone. I have a plethora of KB workouts I can do, AND, I have a 35# and 45# KB I can use at the house. I'll be posting my KB metcon's when I do them for anyone interested. Possible Points: +2 DEX, +1 END Goal 4: #SmoothPanther I'm on a 5-day streak right now and don't plan on breaking this. Stretching has been something I neglect. A lot. And I'm never going to perform well in the gym unless I limber up and take care of myself better. I work hard. Now, I need to stretch hard as well. I'll be following Nsima Inyang's Smooth Panther routines each and every day. I'll also be posting these for anyone interested or maybe you just want to follow along with me?? Possible Points: +2 CON, +1 DEX Goal 5: Carnivore-ish If you've been following me recently, you know that I've adapted a carnivor-ish eating style. Basically, this means TONS of protein. TONS of fat. And SOME carbs...like 100-150g a day total or less. I'll mainly be eating red meat loaded up with butter and bacon grease with some rice and potatoes thrown in there every now and again. The idea is NO sweets until my birthday, which I will indefinitely have a cake, and then it's back to the grind after my b-day weekend. Thanksgiving is also a small pass as I'll probably have some pumpkin pie or something. But, my diet consists of almost NO veggies and hardly any fruit. If I do have fruit, it'll be some blueberries or something. But otherwise, it's ALL meat ALL the time. Possible Points: +1 CON, +2 WIS And there you have it folks. Thanks for following along and I hope you enjoy my story thus far Wolf

Hello All, I'm an Army Reservist and the Army is switching to a new fitness test, the Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT), which can be read about here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_Combat_Fitness_Test One of the events is a trap-bar deadlift, 3 rep, max weight, and score is based on the weight. My question, what's best set / rep scheme to build for that type of event? Me: early 40's, have a basement and decent little home gym there, even bought myself a trap bar similar to what Army's going to use. How I work out: Short strength workouts where I pop to basement, do two lifts, alternating them, and that's it. Usually do 3 strength workouts, then a run day. I don't schedule rest days b/c married w/ two kids so inevitably at least 2x a week, "life happens" and those become rest days. Day 1: Bench & Deadlift. Day 2: NF Rings - Muscle-Up progression (so pullups and ring dips) Day 3: Front squat & weighted lunges Day 4: run 2-3 miles, sometimes sprints Repeat I progress slowly b/c I've... not injured per se, but strained my back in the past. Just started 200 lbs. on deadlift, do 3X5. Next workout, 3X6, then 3X7 then 3X8, then I add weight, go to 210 lbs. and go back down to 3X5 and work up from there again. That slows down progress, which is fine, but adhere's to NF "add a little of something, either weight or reps, every workout", which seems to work decently. I'm pretty happen with overall workout b/c I've gotten into good habits of getting into basement and doing at least a little something psychical every day. What I'm looking for: I don't think the set/rep scheme I'm doing on dead lifts is right to prepare for a 3-rep max for the ACFT. Is there a good program for that lift, or set rep scheme that's better? Another consideration: in a good unit, you'll know when you're taking an ACFT about 90-180 days out. But, they're not all good units... and lots of Soldiers have had experience of showing up to formation and hearing "Go change, you're taking a PT test today." So something that would allow a good base for "spontaneous ACFTs" but with a planned peak for a scheduled test would be good.

So this happened: I'm pumped and on the road to eventually qualifying for nationals again. I'm still about 50 pounds off my total for the 120kg weight class that I'm currently at the top of, but if I lose 30 lb would be able to make it in the 105kg weight class. My plan is to get that 50 pounds on the bar AND lose the weight, but I'm in spitting distance either way. I may never actually go and particiapte again, unless I somehow get strong enough to compete for a medal, (I'm 400 lb off between my 3 lifts for THAT), but just qualifying consistantly at a healthy bodyweight is a fitness goal I want to achieve and maintain.

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. ~Winston Churchill I just watched Darkest Hour so I'm channelling Winston for this challenge. The over-arching goal for the next 8 weeks is to lose 1kg per week to put me below 80kg before I go on holiday to Hong Kong in June. For this challenge I'm reviving the goals from the Feb-March challenge as it was a successful one. Goals: - No Alcohol - 1 hour walk or 1 hour gym every day - Track Calories (eating to meal plan counts) - "Never 2 in a row" Weigh-in: 86.8kg starting weight. I also got a DEXA yesterday which I will use for comparison at the end of the next challenge. Rewards: - F45 t-shirt if I lose 4kg this callenge

The last challenge was primarily about 2 things; getting my squat up to what I deemed an acceptable level and setting a foundation for upper body work by getting my Row form and technique correct. I managed both of those, so for this challenge I'll be building upon that foundation and easing off the intensity of the squats. Despite being overweight for much of my life, you wouldn't be able to tell if you just looked from the waist down. Above the waist, however, I look like a sack of potatoes. Mashed potatoes. And functionally I'm not as strong as I'd like to be. And SL has kinda reinforced this (or at least made the difference more obvious) with squats taking up the majority of time and effort. With this in mind, my challenges for this month are as follows: 1a. Prioritise Upper body. Do my upper body exercises first. Hopefully this will get around the problem of running out of energy in the latter part of a session. 1b. Add 10kg to all 'none squat' lifts. Assuming that the theory above is correct and I have more energy for these lifts, I should be able to add 10kg to my Bench Press, Overhead Press, Bent-over Rows and Deadlifts. 2. Concrete on bracing. Whilst I'm pleased with my squat, I need to work on my technique, especially where my core is concerned. I'll be lowering the weight and concentrating on bracing my substantial middle section. 3. Cardio day. Once a week, do a day of cardio. I hate cardio. But I need to get rid of my substantial middle section. Once a week do something cardio-ish. Half an hour on the exercise bike, go for a walk and so on and so forth. Something. Anything. Not much, but a start. Now, watcha gonna do, Brother and/or sister, when Kong-a-Mania runs wild on you?!

So I've had a weird bumpy thing just above my stomach since December, and I finally went to an internal medicine specialist to get it checked out. While I'm still waiting for final test results, the doctor is 90% sure it's a hernia from lifting (I deadlift and squat at least once a week at my community center, in addition to doing kung fu). Have any of you experienced anything like this? The doc said while it doesn't hurt and it's coming and going, I should just take it easy and wait to see if it goes away on its own, but if it does start to hurt (which it doesn't at all right now, it's just a weird pressure sometimes), then I'll have to have surgery

Is anyone planning to participate in the Tactical Strength Challenge? Its a world wide competition that you go to a gym around you and submit your numbers. The events are: Deadlift; 3 attempts at a one rep max Pull ups; 1 attempt at max reps, strict KB Snatch; 5 min max reps each arm I'm planning to go to Victory Fitness in Greenwood, IN to compete.

I've committed the past 5 months to dropping my bodyweight and losing fat. I've dropped 4% bodyfat (hopefully more at next measurement) and down about 15 lbs since I last maxed out in deadlifts. At my last max out competition I pulled 640 at a bodyweight of 238. I can really feel the weight loss on my heavy lifts. I just don't feel as strong without all that torso mass haha. Well I decided to go off plan, something I hate my clients doing btw, and try to pull 600. It went up! and not too bad. I guess all is not lost. Heres the video of it followed by 400 for what felt like a billion reps...

Well, color me surprised. This little rock we call home made it around the thermonuclear death star (cause of, and possible solution to, all our problems - eventually when it goes nova) yet another time. On the bright side, I get to carry on carrying on Tai Chi and getting cold. On the awesome opportunity side, I need to move to the other side of this rock in 3 months, drop body fat (family wager - good opportunity for entertainment), get serious about internalizing Pose Running, and start deadlifting again. Sigh. Paring this down for this challenge my goals are simple. Get an appointment with a bod pod and find out my starting point. I've finished reading the Pose Running books, time to get coaching - so that is an appointment to set and keep. Lastly, take some warmup lifting days then get to where I can take a safe run at my one rep max. From there, develop a plan to work forward. I've been thinking of the meme to capture this, and the best I can do is some Blacklist. That about captures it. Adventure time. - Murphy's Roommate

I have mentioned a few times that i have been creating a tradition during the holidays at the end of the year. Last year i did a challenge on boxing day. The 50/50 squat challenge. Squat 50 reps with a barbell that weighs 50% of your bodyweight. This year i want to expand it a little and do the 50/50 squats on Xmas-day, and do a 50/50 deadlift challenge on Boxing day. For some this will be too much to handle, for some this would be pretty easy. For me it's pretty spot on (at least for the squats, for the deadlift i don't know yet). XMAS: 50 Squats 50% Bodyweight Boxing day: 50 Deadlifts 50% Bodyweight Last year i streamed it on FB. I will try do the same thing this year. On both days. So if anyone wants to join me feel free. You can adjust it any way you like, only got dumbbells use them for squatting and deadlifting, can only do 10% go for it. Just a few rules: I'm preferring reps over weight. I would rather see 50 airsquats than 40 reps with a loaded barbell. Try to pick something that's hard but doable. Leave a post here if you intent to join i'll add you to the list of people who have pledged to do this Try to make a video and upload it here after you're done. Safety comes first, don't injure yourself with this, it's all just for fun! The idea behind this is that these days usually are so incredibly passive. This (even though it is by no means a full workout) will make you at least do something and i am certain it will give you a great sense of accomplishment. I'll kick it off with my livestream of last years edition: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1440244066015561&id=100000899440167 (okay, now i that i've actually watched the livefeed it seems i just did a regular 3x10 on boxing day) Pledglings: @Mr_Willes @Morag @WhiteGhost @Raxie @Terra @Wild Wolf ... ... ...

Hello everyone! Starting as I mean to go on, slowly (very slowly), with a lifting log here to throw out my programme with anyone who wants to follow my lifting journey. I'm an Irish guy in my mid twenties, living and lifting in Ireland. I eat all sorts of potatoes, sup all kinds of pints and am passionate about strength training and in general getting better than I was yesterday If you want to follow my journey that'd be cool. I'm about 80 Kilos at 5'9 and prepping for my first powerlifting comp in March, where I'm hoping to hit the following numbers: Deadlift: 440 lbs Squat: 374 lbs Bench: 275 Today I worked up to a max top set of 1x215lbs on the bench and dropped back to 4x5 @ 176 lbs. No touch and go, no ego, just me trying to be less weak than I am. This was followed by one arm rows, incline pressing, front raising and bro curls. I was training in the first gym I ever stepped into, where I once struggled to deadlift 135 lbs, and it was pretty cool to come back a little bit stronger. Anyways, that's all for now, nice to meet you you all and I'll check in tomorrow for some post squat follow-ups. Peace, The Irish lad

For today, I lowered the safety pins one notch to encourage me to go lower. I am trying to focus on pushing more through my heels. I'm keeping my squat weight at 170 lbs while I work on form (at least through this week). Stronglifts wants me at 185 (if I were still following linear progression). Similarly, I'm keeping OHP at 90 for the same reasons. 170 lb squat apologies on the false start. Unracked the weight and it just didn't feel right. In review, it looks like I could go a little deeper. Push my ascot out a little bit more to try and stay over heels on the way down (am I looking at that right) 90 lb OHP Think I'm getting better at tightening up. I know I'm still arching back near the end. Also, saw that my toes came up (guessing its related to arched back) 220 lb deadlift I saw definite rounding of my back. Will work on that Friday. Also saw that it didn't look like I "locked out" on the 3rd rep (shoulders were still forward). Had to stop (~1 minute) after 3rd rep cause it felt like fingers were going to rip off my hands. I did go back and get the last two reps, but didn't get recorded. I think I had trouble locking out those last two. Am I looking at these right? Trying to learn how to critique myself in addition to letting the brothers in arms see. Thanks!

I'm looking for some ideas on programming for a Push-Pull on August 5th. RIght now I'm training using Danger's program, starting the 3 rep cycle next week. So far I've had 10-15% increases in the 10 rep cycle for all lifts and 7-8% increases for the 5 rep cycle in all but the bench, which was stagnant. If I continue the program that's 4 weeks for the the 3 rep cycle, then 3 weeks for the peak and test block which would leave 3 weeks to prep for the Push-Pull. Looking for suggestions for preparing and if that peak and testing block in the current program is worth completing or if I should start something over 6 weeks, after completing the 3 rep block, to lead into the competition? Thanks.

Still reeling from my Feelings on this game. So, that's the theme music. Deal with it. So, basically, I've been struggling with balance. Sleep and food and weights and martial arts. It's a lot of fun, but the truth is, I want to skew more toward martial arts. And, looking down the line, one other thing that I'm going to want to do is to get into flexibility training. Right now, there's no way that the current schedule is going to let that happen. Also, I'm about as heavy as I was back in high school, and it's not muscle that's making the difference. I want to fix that. I looked into all the various things I'm doing, and I've realized that there is a way to do it, but it's going to involve a pretty radical shift. It's going to involve stepping off of Leangains, setting my own calories and macros, adjusting 5/3/1 to 2x/week, and adjusting GB to fit that, as well as making sure that I get enough sleep. Fortunately, this isn't even remotely impossible. I remember the past experiments and what they've taught me. And I think I can do it. To be clear, it's gonna be tough. But I spent most of last night hyped up on the idea and brushing up on the things that I think I know. I think I can make this work. But it's going to involve a lot of discipline and some effort on the front end as I adjust the things. But I genuinely think there are rewards to be gained from trying this. I think I'll be able to do Judo on Wednesdays again, and the habit of going back there will make further training possible. I also think I'll be able to avoid the wait at the... weight... racks, and just be able to focus on going out and kicking butt and taking names. And hey, who knows? I might just be able to finally find my way to the not-Kali that we offer at the dojo. And maybe even getting this writing ish figured out too. So. Here are the goals. They're training goals... except they're life goals too. Hooo boy. GOAL 1: HOMEBREWED INTERMITTENT FASTING Caloric average set at 1950. Macros adjusted to suit, based on past experimentation that has shown me what my body responds to. GOAL 2: PRACTICE Monday: Rest Tuesday: KB snatches/GB(SLS) and Karate Wednesday: GB(Core) and Judo Thursday: S&S/GB(Upper Body) and Karate Friday: 5/3/1 BP and DL Saturday: S&S/GB(Handstand) Sunday: 5/3/1 Squat and OHP Now, this looks like a lot. And that's because it is, in fact, a lot. But it's not as much as it looks like. Most of this is actually over and done with pretty fast - anywhere from 5-20 minutes. The stuff that takes longer is slated to take place on days when the time should exist for those things to be done with their due diligence. These adjustments have been made based on my observations of the gym's peak times as well - Wednesday is a stupid-busy time to do barbell training, for instance, so compensate by doing something quick that doesn't require any equipment at all. By contrast, Friday and Sunday are relatively dead times, and I've never had trouble getting a rack on those days. I also think that doing 5/3/1 twice per week feels more Soviet anyway. Wendler says that there's no need to do deloads unless "you need to" and that frees me to wave my training up or down based on the input that my body is giving me. Honestly, the trickiest part about this is the nutritional aspect. I've stacked it so that I have a lot of lower calorie days, with Friday and Sunday being the days for lots of calories. It's not as crazy as it sounds, though - work loves to feed me, coworkers love to feed me, fam loves to feed me, and there is food everywhere. Honestly, it's pretty rare for me to have a week go by the way I plan it, so I've basically planned for it to go sideways. BRING IT. GOAL 3: CLEANLINESS Get the room cleaned up. Get the gi taken care of. Get the extra clothes gone. Get some frickin' sleep. (what. sleep hygiene is a thing). With the sleep in particular, I want to make a point of getting down to bed before midnight on the weekends. I just don't gain anything by being up that late, but I do lose a lot of time and momentum. GOAL 4: WRITE So, hey guys, writing characters is actually forcing me to think and dig into my story and it's making me better. But, I'm still struggling with consistency. Like always. So, we're going to make this stupid-easy - just work on one character every day. It can be the same character if it has to be, but Always Be Character...ing? Welcome to English, where everything's made up and the grammar don't matter. And with that, we enter into what might be the strangest adventure yet.

Greetings. Had a frustrating morning deadlifting and could use some eyes on my form. Currently doing the 2suns 531, which starts with a 5 rep, 3 rep, then a 1+, followed by alot of 3's Here is my 1+ at 290x3 https://youtu.be/Y4QD2pPZ5OI This was admittedly brash, after trying to sink into a deeper more careful pull and failing, getting lightheaded, then resting for a minute. I was frustrated. Here is the next set at 270x2: https://youtu.be/XIScUcb459o I was tired and a bit irked from the previous set, hence the careful yet unsure setup. Hips are rising, shoulders starting too far forward.... 260x3: https://youtu.be/-bmSCs7TNXs 245x3: https://youtu.be/9ZS41YoP-ag And finally 225x3: https://youtu.be/hYNTEJZ1XQ0 Best form of the bunch, I focused on pulling my shoulders back and down and really forcing my chest up. So yeah, I'm putting undue strain on my back, I cannot seem to get my arms over the bar and keep my hips from rising. Do I need to rotate my pelvis forward and push through the ball of my feet? I feel like when I try to bring my butt back to get my shoulders over the bar, I lose power and I'm trying to activate my glutes and push through my heels. I am inefficient. Fix the setup and focus on 5-reps of that 225 range, or what? I'm spinning my wheels here and appreciate impartial observers. Thanks!

Last autumn, our rowing society finally aquired a squat rack. So I got back into barbell training after a 5 or 6 year pause, during which I only trained with kettlebells and bodyweight. (I tend to avoid machines.) I set up a 5x5 program around squats, deadlifts, chin-ups, overhead presses and dips (which were later replaced by bench press, when I ran into shoulder probles doing weighted dips). I started most exercises literally with the empty barbell, deadlift being the only exception - there it was 40kg. In the middle of october, I did a max test on deadlifts and stopped at 115kg. I might have pulled more, but I noticed my form deteriorating a bit so I decided to play it safe and stopped. Today I ended my 5x5 cycle with a deadlift of 145kg - for 5 or 6 reps with a similar borderline degree of sloppyness in my back like in that first max test. (I lost count and did one more rep, just in case... Will have to rewatch the video when my phone is charged again.) Why is 145kg called traffic light? Well, we have some small plates, several sets each ranging from 1.25 to 10kg. And then we have a selected few olympic-sized plates - 1 pair of 25kg (red), 1 pair of 20kg (blueish, but for all practical purposes to be considered green), and 2 pairs of 15kg (yellow). And in december, one of the guys jokingly asked "You DO want to build that traffic light, do you?" Well, today, I finally did. Red-yellow-bluegreen. Plus 2.5kg each side for the ancient collars. I am so relieved.. .the last two or three weeks were insane. I was constantly sore and tired, despite dropping back to 3x5 on the two main lifts and to only two workouts a week and eating and sleaping whenever the opportunity arose. Progress in the squat stalled, and in the OHP I even regressed a tiny bit in the last week... so I was definitely hard on the edge of overtraining . But deadlift weights still crept up... so I decided to just power through until I reached the traffic light. 1RM 115kg to 5RM 145kg... even though a flue took me down in November and had me pause for four weeks. So yes, I'll call that cycle successful. 5x5 works. Also, the "rebound-effect" is real. You older guys getting back into weights... take your time. No need to rush it. Do not go "hmm, what did I squat the last time... I'll just take a bit weight off to account for the detraining..." Don't do this. You'll stall fast or even injure yourself. Been there, done that. Take your time and ease into it... you will get back. Now I can't decide what to do next. Hypertrophy or strength endurance? The latter would benefit my sport more, the first ist more fun. (And more muscle is always better.) Decisions...

I added 50 pounds to my Deadlift today and still knocked out my 5 sets of 5. I have now surpassed one of my lifting goals(lift at least my bodyweight) on one of my four lifts! Now I just need to get there on Bench Press, Squat, and Overhead Press.

I've been stuck at a plateu on my deadlifts for a few weeks and the weak point is not my body: it's my grip. So, I went and I got myself some basic lifting straps and googled how to use them. I tried them out this morning and my question is: how do I use them? I couldn't get the straps to either get tight or grip the bar so I was pretty much just lifting with a nylon bundle in my fist. I did get it to finally get a grip but only on the hand where I was wrapping the straps around the bar with one free hand so... one handed lifts only?

PR bitches!! So excited. Competed in my First StrongFirst Tactical Strngth Challenge. EVERY ONE OF MY DEADLIFTS WERE PRS! First, 150 - 5 more than I had ever lifted. Jumped to 160 - still kind of easy, but getting there. Jumped to 175 - because someone suggested it. I pulled it, but my grip was the problem. It started to fail, but I held on with my hook fingers. SO WOOOOOOT!!

From my 4 Week Challenge thread: Squat (second form check, toes turned out more) Deadlift (standard) Deadlift (sumo stance) Benchpress (powerlifting stance)

I dead lifted by body weight - 165# (plus bar) for the first time in months this morning. And it felt so good I'm upping it by at least 10 lb next week. I tweaked my back way on back in March or so and I have been building my DL back for the past month. I'm just about where I was so I'm headed into PR territory.

Welcome to the Nerd Fitness Deadlift Leaderboard. Below you will find the top Deadlift lifts (that have been reported) on the Nerd Fitness forum organized by Wilkes Points. For more information about the Wilkes Coefficient, go here. The following are the rules for using the Nerd Fitness Leaderboards. You must have at least 50 posts - We don't want random people just showing up and posting just to be on the Leaderboards. If you don't have 50 posts yet, be an active member and come back when you do. You must have been active in the last 6 months - This is meant to be for active members. If you are not active for 6 months, you will be removed. If you once again become active, you are more than welcome to post your new PRs and join back up! Your lifts must be current - No posting 'This was my lift 2 years ago'. All lifts must have been completed since joining NF. You must update your lift at least once every 2 years to stay on the Leaderboards. - Similar to the previous point, we want the Leaderboards to be current. Therefore, entries that are older then 2 years old will be pruned. Weights should be reported in KG, not pounds. - This is the weight system power lifting competitions use. If pounds are your mass measurement of choice, just multiply your total by 0.454 to find the equivalent mass in kilograms. Yes, I know pounds are a unit of force, but you know we use it like mass when it comes to body weight. You can report a weight in a set that you've done. - You will only be given credit for the weight you lifted in terms of the leaderboard (i.e. if you did 100kg for 5 reps, you'd only be given credit for 100kg on the leadreboard). That said, if you provide a set with reps, I will calculate the an estimated 1RM for you. Just check out that column after I get the entry updated. If you'd like to be put on the Leaderboards, please reply this this thread with the following information: Gender Bodyweight Weight Lifted and number of reps (typically your 1RM) Also, if you enter any of the NF Virtual Lifting Competitions, entries for those will be migrated to the Leaderboards (only if it improves your Wilkes score). I will try to update the Leaderboard after each challenge and/or virtual lifting competition. If things haven't updated in awhile, harass me via PM (profile can be found here). NOTE: if you are viewing this on tapatalk, it may not work. Please view from your browser.

So I started my lifting career with Stronglifts 5x5, and it seemed great, except my deadlift was always either equal with, or even slightly below my squat. And I never could seem to get it to progress any faster than that, despite the fact that everyone else (not just here, but pretty much everywhere, with only a few world class athlete's, or half squatters as exceptions) had a bigger deadlift than their squat. I've since moved onto the Texas Method for powerlifters, and do RDL's on Monday for pulling volume. And sure enough, my deadlift keep creeping up, but once again, only at the same rate as my squat. In fact, I struggle more to finish my deadlift reps at the end of Intensity Day than I do to finish my squat reps at the start of intensity day (and I know, I'm tired by the end of the workout, it shouldn't be that much of a surprise). And before anyone asks, yes, I did check my depth on my squat to make sure I wasn't cheating my way up on squats. Anyway, this week I've taken 10% off of my squat training max, and managed all my reps on squat in a single set (hasn't happened since I last broke 180kg as my Intensity day squat weight), hit my bench (which I was expecting to fail because its now put my training max equal with my last virtual comp max), and then proceeded to hit my 5 singles on deadlift easier than last weeks weight. So the point of all of this is (and I'm sorry for going on quite so long about it): should my squat training really be impacting my deadlift training so much that a 10% deload in the squat resulted in immediate improvement in my deadlift? tl;dr = my deadlift suddenly seems easier despite being heavier simply by reducing the intensity of my squat training. Is this normal or am I just broken?