Deadlift 495x1x2 from The Singles Scene M25

Mesocycle 25 Week 2 The Singles Scene

Deadlifts:
455 x 2
495 x 1
495 x 1
475 x 1
475 x 1
455 x 1
Total Singles = 7
Average Weight = 472
Average Intensity = 94.4%


I was very anxious about my form because I felt it was all over the place. So I wrote to Eric asking for advice....this is his response prior to seeing the video (which I will link below):


Probably from now on out, with maximal work you'll have to expect some rounding. This is what you have been preparing for, in a way, and it is why I insisted on so much work under fatigue and so much buffering. As long as everything is "within" tolerance" as they say, I doubt I'll have a problem. You're talking 7 reps, after all. It's a very low percentage of your total volume. A tiny fraction. It's all the other stuff that prepares you for this…except for these singles of course are a tool themselves. So while others do not view maximal work as "training" but rather as just "maxing" we do and recognize that performance counts ALWAYS during training and all…


So just weigh all that with the reality of some back rounding and you'll be fine. The upper back is where you can take a lot of rounding. As long as your lower back doesn't go too far beyond "flat" you can take it. It's what you've been "training" for, after all. One thing you do need to always be aware of is the position of the lower back. If you sense it ever going beyond "safe" then dump the attempt. Otherwise you can handle a lot of flexion in the mid to upper back.


So, I uploaded the video and sent it to Eric:





Eric's Response:



These HD videos take me 20 minutes to watch. It looks ok. I think that you got lazy on your setup for many of the reps in that you didn't really have your shoulders well squared from the beginning. But nothing was grossly out of place and you were definitely in the safety zone. For the lighter sets in the future just concentrate more than ever on keeping the quality up. I think you may be losing a bit of mobility in the mid and upper back. You should work on thoracic extension a lot. Do thoracic extensions on the foam roller and also do the other oec minor stretch "stretch" with the foam roller down the center of your back. I had talked about that recently on a post…I'll dig it up.


Do a lot of tissue work on your chest and do pec and pec minor stretches in general after your workouts. I seem to be seeing a posture change. Some of it is just muscle growth but I don't think all of it is. I want to see those shoulder back more in general.