Light day pulling variant

[Daniel Cavallari]

Hey Andy,

I have been doing HLM with the following setup:

Heavy Day:
Heavy Squats
Medium Press
Light Pulls

Light Day:
Light Squat
Light Press
Heavy Pulls

Medium Day:
Medium Squat
Heavy Press
Medium Pulls

For light pulls, I've been doing Power Cleans, but my explosiveness is shit (~12 inches SVJ) which means the weight I can Power Clean is soooo far away from my DL that I feel it's not even contributing anything to the main pull. What other variant can I put in as light pull? I've been doing SLDL as a medium pull variant, and the Romanian Deadlift comes to mind, but it seems I can move more weight on the Romanian than the SLDL, which would mean moving the SLDL to the light pull spot and adding the Romanian to the medium pull spot. Am I correct in this analysis?

Thanks in advance.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Mostly yes, but it's also about "stress" not just weight. I feel that SLDLs, even if done lighter than RDLs are more stressful because (a) the ROM tends to be longer and (b) the lack of a stretch reflex is more fatiguing when every rep is broken from the floor.

I tend to put DLs on Friday and SLDLs on Monday and then put a "non-lowback" pulling variation on Wednesday. Barbell Rows (even though they use some low back) or Chins.

[Daniel Cavallari]

Excellent. Thanks Andy!