Wednesday, July 3, 2013 - Deadlifts - Explosive

Deadlifts (straight bar and no belt)
8 sets of 365 x 3 with 60 seconds rest between sets

Barbell Rows
225 x 10
225 x 10

Pullups
3 sets to failure

Hammer Strength Machine - Low Rows
3 sets of 15 focusing on really squeezing at the top

Thick Bar Pulldowns
3 sets x 15 reps

KB Swings
40 kg x 20
48 kg x 20

Core Work


Apparently I didn't get the memo that everyone is suppose to take the day before the fourth of July off from training. Doesn't matter if I had gotten it anyways, because my ass would have been there anyway.

I was running about 30 minutes late today due to work and fully expected to see the rest of our team well into their warmup sets when I arrived at the gym. Instead I walked into a wasteland. Even my wife couldn't make the trip today because she was bed ridden from a debilitating migraine.

Sometimes it's nice to train alone though. I plugged my iPhone into the sound system there at the gym and went to work. Today was explosive deadlifts and since I was training alone I was really able to focus on maintaining shorter rest periods. Every consecutive set started 60 seconds after the previous set ended. Sometimes training with five to eight other people can make it difficult to pop off one set after the other, but that certainly wasn't an issue today.

First time in a good while that I used a regular straight bar and not a deadlift bar for my pulls. I love pulling with a regular bar because it forces you to really become conscious about getting everything tight before you even start the pull. Training with a straight bar is a great way to build explosiveness off the floor.

I also did a couple sets of conventional barbell rows and was quickly reminded why I had decided to drop them from my training in leau of pendlay rows. I simply cannot get the same type of targeted muscle activation in my back from a conventional barbell row that I get with pendlays.