I'm not sharing this because I think it's a recipe for bodybuilding greatness, I'm sharing it because I just feel like saying it. As a matter of fact, I'd probably tell you to not listen to me at all if you are trying to reach a competitive level of bodybuilding. I just want to be strong well into my older years and I want to look good naked until I'm too old to be in a pair of trunks.
I do my deadlifting on the same day I do my whole body, which happens to be, every workout. OK that sounded confusing. I do a whole body program, which involves doing a lot of different stuff with different parts of my body, all in one session.
I don't think about muscles (except on glamour muscle day, lol), I think about movements, but this detracts from the typical bodybuilding routine, and for good reason. People who hope to become professional bodybuilders need to engage in a training program vastly different than what I am doing. That's why I rarely talk about my training here, because it's vastly different than most guys.
That being said: I usually do a leg exercise, a push exercise and a pull, and then finish off with various bodyparts depending on what I have already done that week. Sometimes it's abs and calves, other times it's rear delts and chest, and sometimes it's rotators and bis and tris. I just keep rotating it through.
During this particular workout I usually do Deadlifts, Pullups and Shoulder press. I also don't lift heavier than what my back can handle, which is usually not much compared to some of the numbers that other guys throw out around here. The big difference being, I will still be doing this in my 50's while most of the other guys will have to stop doing them because they've blown out their backs. I will be able to ask my wife to dance when most of us will be just sitting in a chair hoping to go home. another big difference is I start the lift with absolute attention to detail and I end each rep with the same diligence. I then reset and pull again. I don't drop the weight and then pull it as it bounces. I've seen a few guys do this and it makes me cringe. I reset each and every single time, like it's the only pull I will do that day. But at the same time I don't walk away from it. I stay on top of it, and I control the weight going down, and I immediately reach back down and go through my check list:
But back, head up, shoulders back - tucked back, in and down - locked tight. I take a deep breath, and squeeze my "girdle" and then dig my heels into the floor, squeeze my ass on the way up and then gently shrug at the top. I then do a stiff legged deadlift on the return, shooting my butt back as far as i can for a deeeeep stretch, setting the weight down but remaining in control of it. Then I repeat the entire process like my life depends on every single safety check, like a NASA astronaut preparing for liftoff.
I also don't spend the whole day pulling one or two reps and then refilling my water bottle and then do another pull. In other words, I usually warm up a little, throw a few 45's on each side and then just start pulling. I usually get about 10 the first time, then I catch my breath, usually about 30 breaths (60 seconds), and then I pull as many as I can before I can feel that my back won't be fully participating, or I am completely winded. This one is usually about 6 or 7. Then I catch my breath again, but only about 20 breaths, then a few more. At this point I'm getting shakey, but I catch my breath, about 10 breaths, and pull a couple more. By the time I get to where pulling any more than one would mean compromising form, I rack the weights (that's half the workout, when youre back is fully fried and you still have to manage putting 45 lb plates back on the rack). I am slowly but surely continually becoming stronger (progressive resistance, increased reps), in spite of the fact that I have a pretty severe leg length discrepancy, which led to some really weird hip rotation for most of my life, which lead to debilitating back spasms in my early lifting years.
I can tell I could probably muster about 100 more pounds than I lift when I do deads, but I resist the urge. I set the weight down each time, not using any bounce at the bottom to help me pull. I reset each and every single time, but I also don't walk away from the bar. I keep it in my control, if that makes sense. I know that extra 100 will come in time, as my back gets stronger, so will my will. I'm not in a hurry.
I'm also not too worried about the numbers of sets or reps. If I get too caught up in a number, I start getting sloppy with the form, because I get so focused on making sure I reach that number that everything else becomes less important.
When it's your back, and listen to me now, hear me later, but when it's your back, every single fucking detail counts. Not the weight you pull, or the number of times you pull it. Believe me, when you wake up after surgery to have your spine fused together because you were too hard headed to head my warnings, you will see these words of this post again in your mind's eye and you'll wince in pain and regret. Go ahead and brag to your bros that you pulled 650 for reps, but in your head, it won't matter, what will matter is that you pulled each of those reps like a surgeon preparing for an operation on his own mother.
That's what I hope you take away from this, even though you didn't ask. Treat this exercise, and the squat as well, like it's the last thing you will do on this earth before you die. If you don't, you'll most likely find yourself in 10 years wishing you had.
So whatever numbers you end up pulling or no matter how big you get, just never lose sight of the fact that this is a DEADlift. Treat it with deadly seriousness or regret it later.
back to your regularly scheduled post about so and so's tren.
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