Sunday was a deadlift day at Apollon

The lift for the day was a mat deadlift, with the bar sitting on 5 mats (not sure of the actual height, maybe 3-4 inches off the ground). Last training cycle I completely abandoned any sort of conventional pulling, and my sumo actually got much stronger. Although I lost my grip at the top, I pulled a pr pretty easily.

This cycle, I'm going to carefully test the waters with conventional by only doing it on partial range movements like this, which should minimize spinal flexion and protect me from further damage.

Predictably, I sucked horribly, only making it to 465, the least of all the guys in the group, even the novice. But on a more optimistic note, my back didn't hurt at all, not even a little. I know I could have done it sumo and kept up with the pack, but now that I'm healthy, It's time to start addressing weaknesses, and this is the most glaring one I have.

In addition to using my worse stance, I also incorporated an over-under grip, which I have not used with any regularity in almost 15 years. My hook grip has become so unreliably lately, I I think it may be time to put it out to pasture. As I've gotten bigger, I've had much more trouble keeping the hook grip locked in, and I've missed multiple contest and training lifts in the last year. I didn't have any problem with over under (not that I was using enough weight to challenge it) but my hands were raw at the end because I don't yet have calluses where I need them.

After the pulls, we did a belt squat to a box, with a band hooked up to the weight sleeves. Interestingly, Although got left in the dust in the pulls, I wound up working higher than everyone except Anthony on this. This shows just how much my hips have been compensating for my lack of back strength. I worked up to a set of 10 reps with 4 plates per side.

We also did a modified high rack pull with the belt squat, but I tapped out early because my back was starting to bother me. Fortunately, it let up and I haven't had any issue since.

Finished with some pulldown abs and planks.

So a great training session despite my mat pull being so embarrassing. Looking forward to incorporating more stuff like this to build my back up.