Shogun’s Log – How To Drop Heavy Iron On Your Toes

Double Deadlift Nemesis – Day 1

Seriously, I just dropped 265 pounds on my bare toes… ouch!

Today is day one of my 6-week Deadlift Nemesis program in preparation for a deadlift meet we’re running at Asheville Strength. I actually plan to double that length and go for a full 90 days, but the meet is something fun to shoot for.

The contest is not sanctioned or anything, it’s just-for-funzies. And I fully intend to pull at least 450. Though, I’m aiming for 500+

My plan is as follows:

• Sumo deadlift Nemesis every day – no days off. Usually Montazuma (ramp) + Chinese Dragon (Intensifier) or something similarly high volume⁽¹⁾


• RDL Nemesis daily – Chinese Dragon – skipping ramp


• Bulgarian Split Squats – high volume, little weight (sets of 10 to 20 per leg for many many sets)


• Chins constantly (a pull up bar at my house is coming in handy)


• Dips many

That’s it. I don’t want to over complicate the program to cut down on variables. As always, technicalities count! If I can’t do a full wod, it matters to just grab an empty bar and go through the motions. Better that than nothing, and it keeps your brain in the groove. Real life happens, just don’t let it get you down.

I will usually split the two deadlift variations so that I’m lifting twice daily if I can help it. But, if not, what the hell.

Why do TWO kinds of pulls? Because I feel these are nice complements to one another. The way I sumo is VERY wide – I’m short, so I have more room to widen my legs between the plates, so having the direct posterior chain work of the RDL is important. My sumo is all about glutes and inner thighs.

I am doing the Bulgarian split squats as a way to keep my adductors happy. I fucked with them a bit on my first run of this, because I didn’t take seriously the assistance work required to pull it off.

This second round of Deadlift Nemesis will be better informed. And exciting!

I will be logging daily here, and then weekly, I will post up a data collection on the Betta Blog.

So… About my foot

Our garage is pimped out. It’s got a 3 barbells, squat stands, an incline bench, dip station, pull up bar, lots of bumpers and iron, dumbbells, K-bells, you name it…

The floor is SEMI-covered in stall mats. But that’s the problem. They shift around a bit.

I was slowly working up in sets of 10 on the sumo – one foot on one mat, another foot on another mat. A common cue for the sumo-style deadlift is to “spread the floor”. Well… I did!

The mat under my right foot slipped, and it caused me to drop the iron on the right side of the bar directly onto my toes. Ouch! It was only 265 pounds, thank god. But it is amazing how such a small part of your body can hurt that much.

I’ve been sitting here with ice on my toes ever since.⁽²⁾

I did get up to do a few more sets of RDL’s though! Like I said, better something than nothing.

The Workout

BULGARIAN SPLIT SQUATS

4 x 10 each leg

SUMO DEADLIFT

10 x 125 pounds (the odd numbers are because I’m using our Women’s bar at home, way nicer than the shitty “men’s” bar that came with our incline bench!)

10 x 125

10 x 195

10 x 195

10 x 265

3 x 265 … then dropped the fucker on my toe

RDL’S

10 x 265

10 x 265

Done. Not the greatest session in the history of the world, but considering the fact that I narrowly avoided a bad injury – I’m happy with it.

Tomorrow I can lift at the gym, so I’ll be able to go heavier. Fun!

DATA

Sumo Volume = 53

Sumo Load = 9,845 pounds

My most recent max was 480 which I did about 6 weeks ago when we were in Miami. So I’ll use that as my 1rm to calculate with.

That means my daily load was 20.5 times my 1rm, which is right inline with where I want to be.⁽³⁾

I will call this my Nemesis Number := Total Load/1RM

Nemesis Number = 20.5

RDL Volume = 20

RDL Load = 5,300 pounds

I have no idea what my 1RM RDL is, and I ain’t about to test it! That seems horribly dangerous. So I am not going to bother calculating a Nemesis number for that.

I know that muddles things. But it is at least less muddled than my first go at Deadlift Nemesis where I was COMBINING my loads and then finding my Nemesis Number. Doing that put it up in the 40 range constantly.

OK… who’s with me?

---

footnotes

1. If you don’t know what Nemesis is, READ HERE, and if you have questions, see our FAQ PAGE HERE, we’re always open to questions!


2. Don’t worry. I can wiggle my toes, they aren’t broken. But damn…


3. We have found that lifters who are making the most progress on SQUAT nemesis are getting an average of between 20 and 40 times their 1rm in daily loads. HOwever, this is NOT meant to be PROSCRIPTIVE, nor is it PREDICTIVE… it is simply something interesting we’ve noticed. Beware in any statistical analysis of confusing correlations with causation’s. I don’t have irrefutable proof that one NEEDS these crazy high loads to see results, nor do I have proof that they work better. I DO have a strong hunch, though. So I’m using it as a Hypothesis = That daily loads of 20 – 40 times your 1rm are predictive of rapid progress. I’m now doing a mini-test on myself. We did one on Tamara. And we have others doing so as well. WE’ll let you know.

The post Shogun’s Log – How To Drop Heavy Iron On Your Toes appeared first on THE IRON SAMURAI.

via Get Fit Bookmark http://bit.ly/1bZVEAT

via Tumblr http://stacylen213.tumblr.com/post/62802451984