[WotD] Wednesday

[digitaldiscipline]

After Hours:

Squat: 45 @ 2x5 / 115 @ 2x5 / 155 @ 1x5 / 175 @ 1x5 / 205 @ 6x5 (PR)*
Bench Press: 45 @ 2x5 / 105 @ 2x5 / 145 @ 1x5 / 165 @ 5x5 (PR)
Deadlift: 135 @ 2x5 / 205 @ 1x5 / 275 @ 1x5 / 325 @ 1x4 / 315 @ 1x3

So, there's some "feh" with the "woot" today.

The pathetic showing in the deadlifts was due to my hands telling me exactly where, how hard, and with what I could go fuck myself. My grip still sucks, but at the end, it was just not happening. I probably could/should have backed off to 295 and done 2x5, but that's a battle for another day.

It was nice to go 5x5 at 165 in the bench. Gives me hope for hitting 200 for a couple of reps in a month.... assuming my friends can hold still and stiff long enough to get pictures taken.

* The long set of 205 squats was due to a 15 minute intermission when a guest came by the house, but I've never squatted 205 before, period, so that was nice to do, especially with the residual soreness from yesterday's shenanigans.

Comments

[normalcyispasse.livejournal.com]

Don't try to squeeze blood out of the bar on deadlift. Instead, treat your hands like hooks; let the bar rest in your fingers and hold tightly with your thumb and forefinger. Let your hand curl naturally and you'll pull more with less strain.

Take a look at my hands and arms in this photo. Note that I'm not squeezing super-hard, but rather that the bar is held firmly but not excessively so.

That's a great pic.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to maintain a double-overhand grip for these lifts, with the intent of improving my hand/grip strength by doing so; for 1RM attempts, I use the same mixed grip as in your picture (though a narrower, just-wider-than-shoulders stance, since I'm not moving/trying to move the same kind of weight...) Maybe, a couple years from now, I'll be in a position to consider pulling 3x bodyweight DLs, but that's quite a ways off. :-)

I'm finding that my trouble comes with keeping my hand closed even that much (oddly, my dominant (right) hand suffers from this more); by the fourth and fifth rep of any set over X lbs, my hand is opening so far that my thumb is off the bar, so it's just my three main fingers hooked to hold it. I'm reluctant to go to straps just to be able to lift more weight (as my back/legs don't seem to be the limiting factor here), since that defeats the whole "make the hands stronger" thing; by the same token, I don't want to hamstring my progress excessively on this particular stumbling block.

Weak hands/wrists have been a perennial bugaboo for me. Is there any good way to improve grip strength in addition to "keep lifting the heavy stuff"? I've been tempted to do static/isometric holds with slightly lighter weights (5-10 sec / ALAP @ 80-85% 1RM, or hanging one-handed from a pullup bar) as a supplemental exercise.

Okay, taking my [Noob Hat] off now....

Re: That's a great pic.

[saansaturday]

I think I recommended hook grip to you before; it takes a while to get used to but it's a very strong grip, give it a try.

If your grip is holding you back on deadlifts, I would suggest going double overhand for as many warmup sets as possible then switching to mixed grip or hook grip. Work on your grip with other exercises: heavy holds like you are considering are good, as are *heavy* farmer's walks and thick-bar work (again especially farmer's walks; you can wrap towels around your DBs or barbell to get the thick bar effect without a special device or bar). Heavy shrugs and RDLs in sets of 10-12 helped me a lot. Plate pinches, towel pullups and rice digs are good too. Soon enough you'll be deadlifting heavier with the double overhand and in the meantime you'll be getting beastly strong with mixed grip deads.