UB: Strong Week 6. Deadlift

Defranco Mobility

Calf Raises - 245X15, 285X15, 325X15

Deadlift -
135X5
185X5
225X5
255X5
285X5

GHR - BWX10, 12, 10

Pulldowns (slow eccentric) - 70X15, 10, 8, 6

Standing Cable Crunches - 50X20, 70X15, 80X15

Walk home - 20 minutes.

Last day of Deadlifts on this cycle and I pulled another PR!  That's about 30lbs. added to my deadlift on this cycle.  That's awesome.  I didn't even have to gut out any reps, though I did have to take a couple of deep breathes between sets 3 and 4.

My mid-back strain was really acting up today though.  My new guess is that the pulling has been generating this strain.  If that's true, I believe that points to the lack of rowing I've been doing.  There was no rowing at all in this cycle, so while I was working my pull and bringing up my lats and traps, my rhomboids fell back and have had trouble doing their part at the end of the line.  This is good.  I've been feeling for awhile that I was neglecting the row in favor of building my chinning strength.  This is the final confirmation I need to push chins to the back-burner and bring rows forward.

Wanted to do some light posterior chain work just to get blood moving back there after the heavy pulls.  It was between GHR and Reverse-Hyper, and sense I did hypers the other day, I went with the Glute-Ham.  I put it on a relatively easy setting where I new I could get some reps in.  Still won't be surprised if my hamstrings are achy in a couple of days.

I know I just said I need to focus on rowing, but that's going to come after the off-week I'm taking next week.  I want to give that strain (and rest of my body, for that matter) time to pull itself back together before working it directly.  But rather than do more chins, I decided to go with some BB style pull-downs.  Again, like the GHR this was just to get a lot of fluid into that area, work it through a full-range of motion, and maybe get a last little bit of hypertophy before the upcoming conditioning block.  These were very controlled, pulling with my elbows, feeling the contraction in my back, and controlling the eccentric.

Finally tried the standing crunches at a lat pull-down station and it is clearly superior.  Luckily my gym has a "least favorite" pull-down machine, so I should always be able to feel comfortable using that, and not feel like I'm tying up the pull-down when somebody else wants to actually do pull-downs.

Weather was damp, but mild.  Nice, brisk walk-home for a little cardio.