What the hell happened to my Deadlift!?!??!

[Irishdazza]

Ok... So I'm back lifting properly after rehabbing my back - (rack pull mishap last Feb).

My Squat? Easily as good as a year ago, after a week or two.

Bench? Back to normal.

Deadlift? 25kg less!!!! My form seems to have completely gone to shit and it's frustrating as bejesus!!! I'm just not getting my ass down and putting my legs under the weight enough! And the more I think about fixing it, the worse it seems to get! And my grip strength seems to have fallen away considerably too!

Sorry....needed to vent.

[Mahler]

Irish,
It may be purely psychological, since you injured your back on a rack dead. Mentally you are holding back out of fear of another injury. Just a thought.

[jvernacchio]

You don't use it you lose it.

Take your time work on your flexibility the strength will come back in time. The worst thing you can do is try to rush it and re-injure your back. As John said it may be a bit of a mental block but take your prior injury into account. Sometimes it takes a little while to be back to your regular lifts when it comes down to injuries.

[Alcoholiday]

i took your deadlift power.

[Phaedrus49er]

or in your case:

IM N UR GYMZ STEALIN UR KILOS.

[RedLefty]

My question would be, "What the hell happened to your squat and bench!?!?!?!" You can't seriously expect to recover from 14 months of deconditioning in two weeks. The bench and squat are anomalies, not the norm.

Even if you've somehow kept all your muscle tissue, you'll have neuromuscular laziness that will take a while to fire back up again if you're looking for max strength.

[Irishdazza]

All good points - I've been lifting since Oct...but stuck to the FL3 and H1 routines. It's just the heavy lifting in S1 that I've just got back to.

But I find it disconcerting that while bench and squat are fine and dandy the deadlift has fallen apart - particularly that my form sucks! Ho hum - just need to stick at it I guess.

It's bloody good to be lifting properly again!

Oh and Alco....I'll be listening to Rage Against the Machine in the gym for the next few weeks!!!http://http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=mmdkh1iMT_M

[Mon]

Use a lighter weight then add weight as you get stronger (with good form). Videotape yourself or ask someone to watch you to make sure you are using good form. Don't rush yourself because you just came back from an injury and some of the muscles that were affected probably is affecting your deadlift form and got weaker. Take your time and listen to your body. You do not want to re-injure yourself

By the way, are you doing any glute activation for your glutes during your warm up?

[Irishdazza]

Yup...I do 3 sets of complexes first consisting of deads, bent over rows, hang cleans, front squats and military presses.

I've decided it's definitely all form related...the doms this week are all lower back not glutes or hams at all. So will be taking your advice - maybe even alter that part of S1 - to increase the reps for practice.

[PowerManDL]

Could be a lot of things.

How's your grip strength in relation to everything else?

It might also be broken motor pathways. You'll have to consult the OMEGAWAVE if that's happened.

[Irishdazza]

Grip strength seems weaker but only really notice that after 3 or 4 reps. Broken motor pathways? OMEGAWAVE? Are you by any chance extracting the Michael?

[PowerManDL]

What I'm getting at is more the effect a weak grip can have on heavier pulls. If you've got a weak grip, it can act like a kill switch when breaking from the floor.

You won't feel it as your grip, either. It just won't budge.

That same effect translates to fewer reps and otherwise weaker performance

[Irishdazza]

Hmmm....Could well be a point there. Did actually find myself switching from dumbbells to bar for step ups in FL3. Might experiment with some straps this week out of curiosity. Thanks mate.

But I guess the prognosis is still the same...lighten the weight for a bit and batter the form for a while? Let the grip get back to normal gradually?