3 Tips to Help You Set a Deadlift PR

Coaching the deadlift is one of my favorite things to do (behind coaching the clean and jerk). Deadlifting is about speed, power, and mental toughness. Plus, it's just COOL to deadlift. As I've said before, I really like that CrossFit introduces strength training to women (REAL strength training, not 5lb. dumbbell strength training) and deadlifting is really empowering for the chicas.

Last night I coached three classes where the WOD was to find a 1RM on the deadlift (sumo or conventional). Out of 37 people, 24 of them PR'd. I know you might be thinking that they were all new and therefore, any number would have been a PR. Out of those 24 people, 18 of them were experienced CrossFitters with previous numbers to beat and the 6 who were new drastically exceeded expectations. 

Some examples of PR's: 
-110lbs. female member: going from 118lbs to 165lbs deadlift
-new member in her 50's who never lifted weights before: pulled 213lbs
-female member with a goal of 200lbs (already a 10# PR) but then continuing to 225lbs
-a three-year CF veteran setting a 30lb+ PR...and then later his wife set a 35lb PR
-two experienced CrossFitters setting 70lb PR's (380lbs and 475lbs respectively)

Looking back through workouts, the last time a 1RM deadlift came up was three months ago on 5/23/12 in a CrossFit total workout. 

There are some tips that are common for deadlift technique: Flat back, weight in the heels, externally rotate the legs (knees out), take the slack out of the bar, etc. I won't go over those here, but I will talk about three tips that I gave members last night:

1. GET PSYCHED UP!
Some days you got it and some days you don't. But on deadlift day, you better have it. And if you don't, then fake it. No one PRs on their deadlift in a blah mood. You have to get pumped up and either get excited, angry, or both. Think of something that either made you really happy or something that made you really mad. Yeah, pull an Adam Sandler and go to that happy place. Now go lift the bar. 
For people that have their form down, I'll have them jump up and down like a boxer before a match. Either tuck jumps, little hops, or slapping their thighs, I think this primes their body to explode out of the bottom of the deadlift. Like I said, I only do this with people who have good form b/c I don't need them jumping up and down and then quickly getting on the bar in a hunchback.
Once they are on the bar and ready to go, I kneel down to the side and YELL at (sometimes with) them. Usually it's something like "Let's go!" or "Speed!" (see #2, or "Commit to it!" (see #3) but I generally find yelling helps get that athlete's adrenaline pumping. 99% of the time when I'm coaching, I don't yell, but on 1RM deadlift day, I do. 

2. SPEED OFF THE GROUND
Rudy Nielsen of Outlaw CrossFit once had his members do an experiment. Instead of conventional deadlift programming, he had his members do heavy cleans. Then he tested their deadlift. Almost every single person PR'd. Why? Because they were so used to coming off the floor with the speed necessary for the clean that when it came to deadlifts, they used that same speed to set PR's. 
Last night I told folks to go FAST off the ground, even in light sets. When you watch someone deadlift at or near a PR weight, they move slowly. But you better believe that their EFFORT is fast and furious; it's the tremendous weight that's slowing them down. So many members technically got a "PR" last night, but were moving so fast that I told them to slap on 10's, 15's, etc. They looked at me like I had two heads, but the fact is that they were not anywhere near their TRUE 1RM.
The oh-so-important caveat is that you need to still have proper form coming off the ground. Going fast off the ground only to have your back round or jerk the bar erratically is not going to help your cause. There's a difference between a professional drag racer and a teenage kid looking to impress his girlfriend at a stop sign. Newbies, stick with honing your form for now. 

3. COMMIT TO THE LIFT
If newbs should ignore #1, then they should pay attention to #2: Commit to the lift. This means STICK WITH IT and don't give up easily. This happens a lot with coming off the floor in a deadlift. Too many times I see people grab the bar for 0.2 seconds and then give up. They haven't even tried! If you tell yourself to commit to the lift and keep pulling for four or five seconds, you just might surprise yourself. I've had deadlifts that look like their going nowhere, and then just like a long train getting started, the barbell suddenly clears the ground and picks up steam on the way to a PR. 
This might also happen if you stall at thigh-level and are trying to lock out with open hips. As long as your back isn't compromised, stick with it and see where the lift goes. If the going gets tough...well, you better keep going!

I think an underlying theme here is also the mental aspect of deadlifting, especially committing to the lift and getting psyched up. Believing in yourself and going for that PR is no easy task, especially when you just did a heavy single (or set a PR already). But if you can get psyched up, focus on speed from the floor, and commit to the lift, you're on your way to a PR. 

What tips do you have for setting a Deadlift PR? 

CrossFitting with Friedreich's Ataxia - Kyle Bryant

Kyle Bryant joined CrossFit King of Prussia in early April this year and right away caught my attention. Not because he came in supported by a walker, nor subsequent times when he rolled in on his wheelchair, but because of his good-natured smile and incredible work ethic. As a coach, I always hope that people coming through our doors will be the positive, upbeat personalities that CrossFit typically attracts. Kyle fit this role to a T. Although I was not his coach for the intro workout he did, I remember Kyle introducing himself to me after he was done working out and I was finishing up coaching a class. A strong handshake and quick smile later, I knew Kyle would be a valuable asset to the KoP community. 

Mike Donofrio of CrossFit Generation documented Kyle's journey with Friedreich's Ataxia in the below video. As you'll learn in the video, FA is a fairly rare disease that breaks down muscle mass, including the heart. Kyle is a spokesperson for the Friedreich's Ataxia Research Alliance (FARA) and has biked across the country to raise awareness. The hope is that this video will also continue to raise awareness of FA and how it affects people. As an example of Kyle's positive nature, after he was finished with the CrossFit for Hope workout, he exclaimed, "That was definitely the gnarliest workout I've ever done!" 

Kyle, post CF for Hope workout - GNARLY!

The video is featured on the CrossFit Journal website, but it can also be found on CrossFit's Youtube channel. I love the fact that OG Miranda Oldroyd (who recently went through a severe car crash) left this comment on the CF Journal:

"I am just sitting here bawling! This is so inspirational! Kyle, thank you SO MUCH for being so fearless and refusing to give up in your own life. This needs to be shown A LOT...there are too many people out there making excuses!" - Miranda O.

Kindle Books in Amazon Store

I just got a really nice email from a reader (who had a paleo-related question which I will answer on the blog) and one of the things he mentioned was that I needed to update my Amazon Store and asked if I could include a Kindle version. When I first added books, I thought the Kindle version was automatically linked to the hard copy...not so. 

So now I have Kindle versions of most of the books in there. If you happen to buy something through my Amazon store, it's the same price to you as if you had searched for it on you're own, but I get a small percent of the sale for the referral. I'm not making a living off this by any means, but hey, I'm also not getting paid to write this blog either, ha!

Constantly Varied Amazon Store

For T-shirts, "BOOM TIME" or "I eat 100% Paleo, 80% of the Time" head to my Spreadshirt Shop

If you have any ideas for T-shirts or things to add to the Amazon store, post to comments

Shoulder Update

As some of you may know, I hurt my shoulder back in June at the CrossFit ACT Garage Games doing a weighted sit up. See my recap if you want to know more. 

Most people would think a weighted sit up would involve holding a plate across the chest and doing sit ups. Not there. There, we held 45# plates at an arm's length, touching in front of us and then laying back and touching above our head. However, on one of the reps, I felt something *crunch* in my right shoulder as I tried to bring the plate up from the ground. I ended up finishing the workout, but there was clearly something wrong. 

I spent the next month icing and not using the shoulder. I know, I know, recent important people in CrossFit land have now come public with their aversion to icing. But I digress. Even if I wanted to do pull ups or presses overhead, I couldn't. Range of motion was ok overhead (not so much reaching behind my back), but supporting any load, especially hanging from a pull up bar, was awful. 

I finally broke down and saw a doctor after a month of no progress. I wasn't in denial that I was hurt, but I had hurt my other shoulder two years ago and figured that rest would have been the first thing ordered. Anyway, the doc ordered an X-ray, but it showed nothing, so we went with an MRI. The voicemail he left me said, "when you had that injury, it looks like you tried to dislocate your shoulder, it tried to slide out of your socket. Looks like there is a cartilage defect in there and there's a tiny tear in your sub scapula. Best bet is to see a surgeon and get your shoulder scoped, get an arthroscopy so they can clean up whatever they can in there." 

So that's it. I basically tried to rip my shoulder out of it's socket. That's what's going to happen when you have 45# at the end of a 2ft. lever a.k.a. my arm. The former engineer in me remembers moment arms and torque and how this should not be tested on humans. Instead of that movement testing abdominal strength, it found the weak point of my shoulder socket and tried to rip it out like you would take the leg off a rotisserie chicken. 

If you've ever been injured before, you know that it can take you out of commission not only for that particular area, but even take you out mentally from wanting to work out. This is definitely the case for me, as even back squatting with a regular bar is impossible b/c of the shoulder ROM needed. (Yes, I've used the safety bar and it's worked, it's just not the same) It's amazing how many movements depend on the shoulder. 

So my appointment is middle of September. Unfortunately I don't have any cool X-rays or MRI images to share (at least not yet), but I will update you on how things are going. I've never been to the hospital for myself; no broken bones, no stitches, no major illnesses. (I did get a cortisone shot for my other shoulder for some bursitis) So I guess I'm making up for lost time by most likely needing a minimally invasive surgical procedure done. 

If anyone has any experience with this kind of thing, I'd love to hear from you. One of our members at KoP already sent me a blog that I need to take a closer look at. Either way, you can be pretty sure that I won't be icing the dang thing! 

Ask Chris: Why Power Cleans?

Chris - there is a video on the main site showing Orlando and Hogan going through the Games clean ladder - neither of them squat cleaned (some partial at the end). I would have expected full squat cleans over power cleans - any thoughts why they would pick one over the other? - Sam

There are three reasons why I will answer this old question from July 12th:
1. I like olympic lifting and talking about it
2. this is a short question with a somewhat short/simple answer
3. I know that Sam is not on social media like facebook, so he hasn't seen me post about this video in the past and can only see my communications via this blog.

When this mainsite demo video went up, I was excited to watch. Unfortunately as you can see, Rob and Katie both power clean towards the end of their respective attempts.

At first, this is a smart decision. Power cleans require more pulling with the hip and less squatting, thus saving the legs. For these two, the first set of bars are so light that not only do they not HAVE to squat clean, but it's smart to power clean to save the legs.

Towards the heavier weights, however, they still are power cleaning. I see this as two possible factors, with the latter being the more likely. First, their CNS (central nervous system) has already been wired to power clean and therefore, their bodies are just going through the same motions of what they have already performed. Perhaps they are even a little fatigued to the point of not wanting to squat. However, the second reason is that they are brute strength strong and are so used to power cleans their entire life. Squat cleaning is hard to do when you've power cleaned for 15+ years of your life as a power athlete (think football) or used it as accessory work (think powerlifter/strongman). When you are big and strong enough to power clean most things, that is going to be your tendency.

When this video went up, I commented on facebook that although it was awesome to watch, their form was awful. I didn't want people to look at their wide feet (3-4ft across) and think this was acceptable in any oly lifting gym. You should land in the same exact place in a power clean as you would a squat clean. Think about that for a minute. You should land in the same exact place in a power clean as you would a squat clean. After all, isn't a power clean just a tall squat clean without going below parallel. Well, it should be, anyway.

It took a long time to actually find a picture of a proper power clean on the interwebs. There are plenty of incorrect ones out there, but I had to go to a trusty source for all things oly lifting: Catalyst Athletics. These guys know their stuff (Greg and Aimee Everett). Here is Aimee in a proper power clean position. Notice how far apart her feet are: NOT VERY! She could very easily squat in this position. Amazing high elbows too.

Rob and Katie went wide because they weren't comfortable squatting, but they had to meet the bar low (the wider your legs, the lower your torso). They probably could have each moved to the next bar, if not two bars higher if they squatted. (Despite my criticism, they both would still kick my ass in power or squat cleans)

So when you're power cleaning, give yourself the squat test: catch it in a power position and see if you can squat down. If you can't, you haven't landed correctly.