Rack pulls

[JohnDelia]

Is it possible to do rack pulls on the smith machine? My gym sucks and does not have a rack or any other way to do them. Thanks John

[Mark Rippetoe]

It's possible. It's not optimal. Nothing on a smith machine is optimal.

[Les Hahn]

It's possible. It's not optimal. Nothing on a smith machine is optimal.

It is a pretty optimal coat rack at my gym. :-)

[Michael Loucas]

While on this topic, what if one doesn't have a bent bar? What would you suggest as a bar to purchase? I assume a cheap hex bolt CAP or whatever bar would probably bend after the first workout with 450+ on the bar, however I feel like it'd be a waste to buy a brand new bar for this purpose. I've got a Texas Power Bar, an old 80s York bar, a pendlay bearing and bushing bar. They're all perfectly straight.


Thanks,

[Mark Rippetoe]

If you are the only one using the bar, just don't drop it on the pins. It will be okay.

[Peter Campbell]

Mark, like many others on the forum, I'm an older guy who discovered you late in life, but not so late that making use of what you know and teach has not improved my life. I cannot thank you enough. I'll be doing the program 'til I drop!

Now to rack pulls: As I understand what you say about deadlifts and its partials---halting DL, rack pull, shrug---in SS (3rd ed.), and more specifically in the videos, you recommend training the partials instead of the deadlifts for those lifting heavy---450+---, since sets of 5 deadlifts at 450+ are difficult to recover from, and so can lead to overtraining.

My question: Do older guys reach the point where partials could/should be substituted for deadlifts sooner, at lower weights, than do the youngsters?

For example, I'm 65, 185 lb, deadlifting 355 for 5, with the sneaking suspicion that, because my rate of increase has slowed, I am slowly approaching my limit. To be sure, I do seem to fully recover from the DL on my current program: Starr 5 x 5 for squats; back-off sets for press, deadlift, bench press, and various pulls, with 2-days' rest between workouts, as per "The Novice and Post Novice Program: Adaptations For Older Populations in their 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s", in PP 3rd ed.. Might the slowing rate of increase be due to the fact that I have not fully recovered, even with 5 days between sets of deadlift? Thanks in advance for any advice.

PS: Congrats for the compliment from Taleb.

[Mark Rippetoe]

For older beat-up guys, like me, if the floor position is too hard to squeeze into, rack pulls will get done what you need to do. I use a lower rack pull position that described in the book, about 3 inches off the floor, for must of my heavy pulling.