The Official Gym & Fitness Thread

I struggle off the ground too. Also 6’1 about 175-180. Most of my strength is in my legs and I was (before the shoulder injury) mainly focusing on strengthening that ROM where I would be pulling off of the floor. Deficits, leg press, box jumps, RDLs, pause dead’s, etc.. some people are just weaker off the floor and stronger up top, others are the opposite.

 

This right here ^^^. Sometimes in the pursuit of "fitness"-whatever your fitness goals may be-you have to make a decision on what it is you want to accomplish. If you want muscle, size and strength, it's not going to pair well with lots of cardio. You will never see a muscular long distance runner. You will see muscular sprinters but not marathoners. And honestly it will be better on your knees NOT to put on weight as it's only going to increase aches and pains/wear and tear.

 

If you've never watched him, check out Alan Thrall on youtube for deadlift videos. He's got some pretty good tips that helped me. My deadlifts have pretty much always Sucked overall and I competed in powerlifting. Wish I had some of his tips when I was competing! Don't know if it would have made a huge difference but it definitely would have made a difference.

 

I do watch Alan Thrall. Great stuff. I'll have to check my form and then go home and rewatch the deadlift videos to compare and see what I get out of it.

 

I agree. Not that it's entirely impossible but nearly so, and implausible given natural limits.

Ultimately a regular guy just won't or can't achieve a lot in two fairly opposing requirements like lots of running and lots of hypertrophy/strength gains. One will win out over the other or both will be mediocre. We just don't train hard enough, long enough, and have the right natural hormones (or added roids), rest enough, eat right and enough, etc., to be great at "competing requirements". So the reasonable thing to do is be ok with whatever mediocre achievements you can make in both or focus on one and put the other on the back burner.

 

My deads are hardest off the floor as well. Something else I personally noticed long ago was how much grip strength can play in deadlifts, even with the over/under grip. If you can't get a real iron grip stranglehold on the bar it's much harder to get the pull going. I used to overload a bar with about 200 lbs over my max DL and just pull off the rack set about mid to upper thigh. I'd pull and hold it as long as I could and usually was lucky to get 2 or 3 reps per set for 3 or 4 sets. Hurts your hands like crazy but will increase your grip fo sho.

 

Even those who are highly trained are limited. NFL players are a great example. Outside of linemen, most are trying to strike a balance-within their natural build limits-between max muscle and speed/endurance to run and hit play after play. But with the exception of maybe Wide receivers, if any of them break out and get an open field to run more than 50 yards they are sucking wind big time or are spending several minutes afterward on the sidelines with an oxygen mask. And they have the benefit of coaches, trainers, nutritionists, and doctors at their disposal. Muscle just requires too much oxygen and energy to also allow for long distance running. Strongman competitions require Huge amounts of cardio ability to be pulling planes, running with sandbags, repeatedly lifting logs etc...but none of them are likely going to be doing even a 5k run! lol

 

This is why I can't run.... cause I have too much muscle

 

Hook grip.

Feels like hell, works great.

 

Are you guys using "deadlift" bars for deads? They tend to have more knurling and are smaller diameter bars for grip. Once I used a proper bar most of my grip issues went away.

 

Not me. Any ol damn bar 'cause the gym has what it has. I mean, the bar has knurling and is spinning, but pretty sure it's not deadlift specific. Just a bar.

 

lookin good lately @tacopaulo !

 

We used one at the push/pull comp. I liked the aggressive knurling, couldn’t really feel more whip until you started putting 500+ on the bar.

A few guys want to chip in $50 a piece and buy one for the gym, but Im not buying equipment for golds when I already pay for a membership.

 

I’d buy my own bar and haul it in each day, but I say Nay to buying a bar for a gym wherr its likely to be abused, stolen, or you’ll be looking for it and some old dude is using it to do 80lb bech presses

 

What DL bar did you use? I just got a Texas DL bar and that fucker has some noticeable whip in it.

 

There’s a huge difference in whip when using bumper plates vs. pound plates vs. kilo plates. And speed of the pull. You can get bar whip with 225 if you pull it fast enough.

 

Not sure, it was the guy putting on the meets bar.

 

We’ve got a rogue Ohio bar. You can tell the difference in whip with 225.

As far as some douche using it for stupid stuff; had a guy doing OHP with it in the squat rack the other day. I told him that wasn’t what it was used for and I needed it to deadlift. He refused to change bars. So I took the 25 off each side and took the bar.

 

Did your arm issues resolve with just the addition of sodium?