Saturday, October 25

Oh, no.  Today was my delayed start to the next week of my deadlift routine, when I kept the power rack bars at the same setting but stood on a 100-pound plate to increase the range of motion.  Unfortunately, it did not go well, in fact it didn’t go, period.  What might have contributed to my woes was that I did other things before deadlifting.  After a few minutes’ warming up on the double-end bag, I did some bench presses: 6 x 135, 4 x 185, 2 x 205, 1 x 245, 4 x 6 x 225, 2 x 5 x 225, 2 x 4 x 225.  Last bench session I believe I set a record of sorts, with 33 reps at 225 in six sets (1 x 8, 5 x 5).  Today, like last week not counting the warmup single at 245, I got 34 reps in the first six sets.  Plus, I went on to do eight more reps for a total rep count of 42.  I’ve gotten more than 42 reps at 225 before, but that was with a much higher set count, doing triples and doubles.  So, I consider today’s benching a bit of progress.  Following the benching I ran one mile on the treadmill at 5.6 mph.

And then the “fun” began.  I got the power rack set up, loaded the barbell to make a total weight of 385, got the 100-pound plate in place to stand on, put on my wrist wraps, got into position …. and nothing.  The barbell wasn’t moving, not at all. I gave it a few more tries, bringing in a second 100-pound plate so I could take a wider stance with one foot on each plate, and tried different grip widths.  Nothing worked.  I have no idea why I failed so miserably.  I managed two sets of five last time, and the extra couple inches in my range of motion today shouldn’t have made such a big difference.  The bar was at about knee height today, which is a very awkward position, much more so than the mid-shin position you get when deadlifting off the floor.  The routine calls for this type of position, however, so that can’t be the answer.  Perhaps doing all the benching and running drained me just enough to make deadlifting a non-starter.  I really don’t know, and furthermore don’t know what to do with this routine.

Despite my deadlift flop I managed to salvage something from the session.  In addition to the highly satisfactory benching I also did very well on neutral grip pull-ups, 1 x 9, 1 x 7, 2 x 6.  Getting the nine reps is significant because if I can do just one more with good form, to make ten, I’ll be ready to start adding weight.  You don’t see too many people doing pull-ups of any variety with added weight.  Finally, I went back to the double-end bag and did a solid 15 minutes.  Partway through I began counting punches and reached a total of 300.