Help with deadlift

[Kerber]

Hi coach,

a few training sessions ago I noticed that my back is rounding during deadlifts @ 145 kg (319 lbs). Last session I dropped the weight down to 135 kg (297 lbs) to work on my form, but it's still shit. I did the exercise described in the book for learning how to tighten my lower back and it looks like I can do it before my pulls, but I keep losing tension as soon as the pull starts. Is there anything I can do other than "lower the weight and squeeze your back more"?

[Tom Campitelli]

You are rushing your setup. You hang out for a long time with your hips too high and then try to combine dropping your butt, getting into extension, and breaking the bar off the ground into one step. Follow the deadlift setup to the letter. Pause a half second after you have set your back in hard extension and then squeeze the bar off the ground instead of trying to accelerate it off the ground. Make sure there is a little tension in your arms before you push the floor away. This will feel like a ton of work and it is. It also builds character and proper deadlifts. Continue to try and squeeze your back into extension as the bar comes up your legs.

[Kerber]

Are these better? Still can see a little movement before the pull, but is there an acceptable amount of that?



Thanks, coach!

[Tom Campitelli]

Video is private.

[Kerber]

Sorry, fixed it.

[Tom Campitelli]

I need a video from the front oblique as per the sticky because there is a lot I cannot see. People are killing me with this recently. Your back is staying in reasonable extension, however. Good improvement there.

[Kerber]

Sorry coach, I shall tattoo the content of the sticky onto my chest like the guy from Memento.

Here's a front oblique of 308 lbs from yesterday. It took me almost 2 Minutes to go through the set and I failed the fifth rep. My deadlift isn't moving on for like 2 weeks now and I also failed my squat again at 286 lbs. I've been fucking around with my novice progressions for over 1 1/2 year now, and I know the results are very poor. Is it time to move on (at least on deadlifts and squats)? Training sessions like the one from yesterday are getting mentally draining and frustrating and I feel like I'm running against the same wall over and over again.

[Tom Campitelli]

You didn't fail your deadlift. You gave up on it. The bar was practically flying off the ground and you decided to not finish the pull. You need to speed things up. Stop fucking around so long at the bottom. It does nothing but fatigue you. Narrow your stance a little. Stop rebending your knees near the top. That is dangerously close to hitching a deadlift, which will get you red lights. Your first rep or two were fine. Get tight, get determined, and get it done. There is no magic program that will make you not drop the bar in the middle of a fast pull. You need to approach the lift with a different attitude. Deadlifts suck, but completing them should be satisfying.

Watch my pulls below from a little while back. These are not particularly heavy, but they were heavy enough for me when I did the workout. Note the pacing. I have to reset my hook grip on every rep, or they would be done even faster. I don't want to spend very long at the bottom. I hang out just long enough to get set. Every one of my reps was slower on the ascent than your last rep. Just keep fucking pulling. Keep holding your back together. You don't deadlift because it is easy. You deadlift because it is hard. Everything you do to make yourself more comfortable, or to needlessly delay the rep makes shit worse. Embrace the suffering the deadlift has in store for you.

[Kerber]

Thanks coach, will do. I actually like deadlifts because afterwards my back feels really good, but the memory a past injury keeps creeping up to me in my mind. Maybe I need to start training my mindset, too.