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Every Accessory I’m Using to Deadlift 900lbs (Conventional) — Transcript

by Shethar Brothers · 3,075 words · 449 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00What's going on, fellas? Welcome back to
0:02the channel. And if you're new here,
0:04what's up? My name is Sam. I'm a
0:05strength training enthusiast and I'm a
0:07full-time strength coach.
0:09Last year, I hit my current deadlift PR
0:12of 880 lb or 400 kilos
0:15in a bit of a road two series here on
0:17the YouTube if you want to check that
0:18out.
0:19And this year, I'm looking to exceed
0:21that and go north of 900 on the
0:23deadlift.
0:24And I wanted to go over what accessories
0:26I would be using to get that done.
0:28And I make a lot of use of heavy
0:30accessories, maybe more than you might
0:32see with other deadlifters in my kind of
0:35range looking around and seeing what
0:37people are doing. Both because my
0:39leverages for the deadlift are
0:40relatively poor. I've got a very long
0:42torso and relatively short arms, which
0:43has always made bench pressing very
0:45easy. It has made deadlifting a little
0:47bit more of a chore.
0:49But also because my goals are always a
0:51little bit more general strength in
0:52nature, whereas a lot of other lifters
0:54want to eke out every little bit of
0:56deadlift mastery they can.
0:58I'm using the deadlift as more of a
1:00proxy for general strength. Maybe down
1:02the line, my specificity will rise a
1:04little bit more to extract that last
1:06little bit of strength that could be
1:08displayed off of the same base.
1:10But I also want to mention that no
1:12amount of accessory work is going to
1:14make up for if your program is poor in
1:16terms of practicing the actual skill of
1:18deadlifting.
1:20With all that being said, let's get
1:21straight into the accessories. We're
1:22going to go kind of top-down. We're
1:23trying to build the body of a high-level
1:25deadlifter. Let's start up at the upper
1:26back and work our way downward with what
1:28accessories I'm using for what.
1:30So, the upper back is something that my
1:32appreciation for has grown more and
1:34more. Especially as a guy with a longer
1:36torso, anything we can do to help
1:38reinforce that torso is going to be
1:40really important. Early in my training
1:42history, I just attacked pulls with a
1:43lot of intensity and my mid erectors
1:45developed and developed and developed.
1:47But I realized I was kind of leaving
1:49them out to dry. When I really brought
1:51up my lats in particular, it felt like
1:52it was supplementing that back strength
1:54in a in a that massively changed my
1:56torso integrity in the pull.
1:58And I've also found that as my deadlift
2:00technique has improved, the importance
2:02of shrugs has gone down and down. When
2:05my torso used to collapse, the shrug was
2:07very helpful because I could just
2:09elevate my scaps a little bit, and that
2:10would give me the room to unround my
2:13spine at the top. I always noticed that
2:14the guys with the biggest traps for
2:16deadlifting were the guys with extremely
2:18round back deadlifts who had to make
2:19room for themselves at the end. But I
2:21noticed that a lot of guys didn't really
2:23emphasize the traps once they were very
2:25hinge heavy uh deadlifters, and they
2:27weren't having to do a lot of unfurling
2:29of their spine at the top. And so, my
2:31upper back work has really just come
2:33down to progressing two metrics.
2:36For now, that's going to be a vertical
2:38pull, which I'm using weighted neutral
2:40grip chin-ups, just trying to get my 5
2:42RM-ish heavier and heavier. I'll run
2:45through periods where I focus on
2:46building lots of total reps, and I'll
2:48take like a heavy top set back off for a
2:50few weeks. Build lots of total reps,
2:52heavy top set back off for a few weeks.
2:54Just looking for about every 8 weeks to
2:57hit a new all-time best in terms of a
2:59rep performance on the neutral grip
3:01chins. It could be any pull-up here, and
3:04it for me is roughly interchangeable.
3:07But even more important than the
3:09pull-ups is making sure that I am very
3:11intent with progressing a horizontal
3:14pull that is a little bit more lat
3:16biased in nature. So, the elbows stay
3:17tucked in a little bit more. We're
3:19pulling a little bit more down towards
3:20the hips.
3:22Because while the vertical pull is this
3:24great developer of overall physicality,
3:26and it's a great builder of overall
3:28strength, uh the positional relevance of
3:31the horizontal pull is just that much
3:33more. And if I had to pick one, it would
3:35be that horizontal pull. I've made a lot
3:37of use of heavy dumbbell rows. I've made
3:39a lot of use of heavy Pendlay rows,
3:41which built my familiarity with my start
3:43position in the deadlift. Especially for
3:45a guy like me with shorter arms, the the
3:47start position feels relatively
3:48uncomfortable. So, building up more
3:50exposure and comfortability in that
3:52position made it so I was more patient
3:55with my start counter intuitively.
3:57But for this training cycle, I'm going
3:59to be buying a a heavy chest supported
4:01T-bar row, one that's really robust for
4:03me and my big ass brother to use
4:05uh because we are going to be pushing
4:06the squats and the deadlifts to a degree
4:08where we are going to use just about
4:10every bit of lower back recovery we have
4:13on those two lifts, but we still want to
4:15load up a really heavy horizontal pull.
4:18In the past, we've used like Meadows
4:19rows and dumbbell rows or even a single
4:22arm cable row going unilateral to kind
4:24of spare the low back a bit. Uh but this
4:26block we have decided to focus on just
4:28getting really, really strong on a heavy
4:30chest supported row. Not one where we
4:32arch up off of it at the back, not a
4:34flexion extension row, but one where we
4:36stay falling forward into that chest pad
4:39and we reach the elbow, dig the elbow,
4:41reach the elbow, dig the elbow to the
4:43rib cage.
4:44Um just try to get really strong at that
4:46and take each set a little bit past a
4:48full range of motion where maybe we're
4:50not getting quite as much of a squeeze.
4:52Right when we start losing some range of
4:53motion, maybe we do two more each set
4:56and both Max and I have found that to be
4:58massively helpful for our deadlifts.
5:00When we stopped ending the sets at
5:02failing to get the full squeeze and
5:04started just taking each set about two
5:06to three reps further
5:08uh on these chest supported rows, they
5:10became a phenomenal metric for that
5:13general upper back ability.
5:15And we also always used to do the
5:17flexion extension rows to try to
5:18practice arching for the bench press,
5:20but both of us found when we started
5:22falling forward into the pad the whole
5:24time, it was just a better developmental
5:26tool for the upper back. If you got a
5:28chest support, probably use it.
5:31And we're going to follow a very similar
5:33plan on the chest supported row
5:35progression as we did with the neutral
5:37grip chin-ups. Very similar alternating
5:39between periods of building more total
5:41work and then big heavy expression sets
5:44with back-offs.
5:45Now, moving down the chain a bit as a
5:47guy with a long torso, short arms,
5:49really have to bend over to get into my
5:51start position, one thing I picked up on
5:53early on was that just about every good
5:57deadlifter with similar leverages to me
6:00was pulling from a rounded thoracic
6:02position to artificially lengthen their
6:04arms, but still a position that they
6:06could have a strong lockout and
6:08unextended at the top. I noticed when
6:10guys gave their lumbar spine, it was a
6:12bit of a and a half to get that
6:14thing to unround at the top, but guys
6:15who were good at controlling a thoracic
6:18round were the guys that were able to
6:19put up good results despite not having
6:22favorable leverages. And in my effort to
6:24develop control and awareness of this
6:27rounded thoracic position, I noticed
6:28that a lot of the guys that leaned into
6:30this strategy the heaviest were
6:32advocates for direct abdominal training.
6:33Not just being good at bracing, although
6:35that's even more important,
6:37uh it seemed that that midline strength
6:40represented safety when we're in this
6:42slightly more buckled position. So,
6:44that's something I started investing in
6:45really early in my deadlifting and has
6:48been absolutely essential to my personal
6:50progression. I've got some clients for
6:52whom it's less important, uh but for
6:53myself, that direct midsection training
6:56was invaluable.
6:58And for this, my number one exercise is
6:59either weighted kneeling ab wheels or ab
7:02wheels out from on my toes.
7:05And I've even progressed those to the
7:06point where I'm very comfortable adding
7:07weight on my back while doing them from
7:09on my feet. And those have been
7:10absolutely essential for me. Uh but I
7:13also include uh hanging leg raises
7:15programmed by total volume. So, I'm not
7:17trying to get that much stronger on
7:19them. It's just a box I check where on
7:21one workout I do 80 total reps of
7:23hanging leg raises, simply because my
7:25back just feels better when that is
7:27present than when it's gone. It can be
7:28that simple.
7:30We're going to want to be progressive
7:31with most accessories, but there are a
7:33couple of things where it's just a box
7:35to check, and as long as that box gets
7:37checked, it will kind of fill its role.
7:39It doesn't need to be aggressively
7:40logbooked to see the benefit.
7:43And then the last one that I have made a
7:45lot of use of in the past is like a
7:46heavy crunch or sit-up pattern movement.
7:49I've just gotten strong enough now that
7:50it's kind of difficult to add enough
7:52tension to those logistically, but those
7:54were a centerpiece of most of my
7:56training career.
7:58Now onto the most important part of the
7:59equation, the posterior chain, the hip
8:01hinge. The deadlift is a hip hinge more
8:03than it is any other singular thing. So
8:05this is the most important area.
8:07Anybody who's a regular on the channel
8:09knows exactly what's coming next. It's
8:11heavy RDLs from the rack. Set ends when
8:14the back begins to round. So a pure hip
8:16hinge RDL. I've gone on record saying
8:19many times these are the engine of my
8:21deadlift. Because I'm a little bit more
8:23of an erector dominant deadlifter,
8:25because I've embraced that rounded
8:26thoracic position, my erectors are what
8:29grow most from the deadlifts. So having
8:31somewhere else in the week, a different
8:34hinge variation that biases towards the
8:36hamstrings, fills in the gaps that are
8:38left by my primary deadlift technique.
8:41When my RDL is strong, my deadlift is
8:43strong. Simple as. I've also made use of
8:46a lot of dead stop stiff legs with a
8:48similar concept of holding a slightly
8:49more extended spinal position, which
8:52puts a little bit more length at the
8:53hamstrings. But I find the RDLs to be a
8:56little bit more simple because we set
8:58our spine in that top position. We just
9:01never have to give it away. Versus a
9:03stiff leg where we need to repeatedly
9:05find that [snorts] position, which can
9:06be a benefit in itself, but for myself,
9:08just trying to get really strong on five
9:10to eight rep RDLs from the rack has
9:12never failed me.
9:14Now in addition to the RDLs, I also am
9:17doing weighted glute ham raises because
9:19my hamstrings have gotten quite strong
9:21in my quest for a suboptimal leverage
9:24900 plus deadlift, loading up
9:27failure sets on knee flexion has gotten
9:29a little bit logistically difficult. And
9:31that's where glute ham raises have come
9:33to save the day as I just need to hold a
9:3425 lb plate on my chest and suddenly
9:37five or six reps is to fail. It's just a
9:39very quick way to check that box of two
9:41to three sets of knee flexion per week,
9:44uh close or two fail.
9:46Now, the other addition that I made a
9:48bit of use of in my prep for the 880
9:50that I wish I had used a little bit more
9:52in retrospect is heavy kettlebell
9:55swings.
9:56As I developed my deadlift, I started
9:57building out my upper back, and I saw
9:58the benefit of that, and I saw the
10:00benefit of just getting that pure hinge
10:02pattern stronger. I worked on my RDL, I
10:03worked on my RDL, and my total went up
10:05and up and up, but I felt like my glutes
10:07fell further and further behind, and
10:09they were contributing less and less to
10:11my hip hinge pattern, and there's no way
10:13that's a good thing. Those are a big
10:15muscle that I would like to use my
10:16glutes and my hamstrings in tandem.
10:19And I found after kind of experimenting
10:21with some stuff I had read from Andy
10:23Bolton, the first man to deadlift a
10:24thousand, I had to started messing
10:26around with kettlebell swings as just a
10:28secondary heavy hinging movement where
10:31the emphasis was placed on the squeeze
10:33and snapping the hips through, where the
10:35RDL really emphasized the stretch
10:37position and the reversal at the bottom
10:38being the most difficult. And I found
10:40that those really complemented each
10:42other to kind of make my hip hinge back
10:45to being well-rounded. For most of my
10:48lifters, we just use back extensions
10:49holding a barbell off of the GHD to
10:52complement the RDLs where one of them is
10:53hard in the squeeze, one of them is hard
10:55in the stretch.
10:57But for myself personally, I responded
10:59massively to these kettlebell swings,
11:01far more than most of my clients who I
11:03had tried them. And so those have been a
11:05staple for me, and that's kind of one of
11:06those differences between what I have
11:07the majority of my clients do and what I
11:09do myself. That was something that just
11:11was instrumental and massively changed
11:13my physicality
11:15fairly quickly, which I you know, I see
11:16like kettlebell culture guys who really
11:19are into that are like, "That's the most
11:20transformative lift." It hasn't been the
11:23case for several of my clients, but for
11:25me, they were a huge addition to my kind
11:28of deadlifting game.
11:30I had seen Andy Bolton and um
11:33Mike Bartos both advocating for them.
11:35And And when I started experimenting
11:36with them, they worked very well for me.
11:39Now, the last category is general leg
11:41power.
11:42I've kind of gone on record saying that
11:44if you're making a real genuine
11:46wholehearted effort to improve a squat,
11:49you're probably going to have enough
11:50general leg power. Uh and that's going
11:52to develop your general leg power enough
11:54to facilitate good conventional
11:56deadlifts. I particularly like when I'm
11:58working on either a handles-down SSB to
12:01build leg power with that rounded
12:03thoracic position or working on a front
12:06squat where I'm mirroring that weight
12:08being out in front of me, the challenge
12:10it places on my kind of thoracic spine.
12:12But any squat that tends to be the case.
12:16But since then, I've kind of built out
12:18my thoughts on that a little bit further
12:19where I've noticed that guys who are
12:21very externally rotated, they're very
12:23knees-out in their squatting,
12:25can get to this position where their
12:27strength is very specific to that
12:29knees-out position. And so, they won't
12:31deadlift like someone with strong legs
12:34despite having a disproportionately high
12:36squat.
12:38And I've found that all you need to do
12:39to fix this is to include something
12:41where the knee is more in towards the
12:43center, in the same position it would be
12:44for a deadlift, or a little bit more of
12:46an internally rotated position, so to
12:48speak. And practically, all that usually
12:51means is just getting really strong on a
12:52single-leg variation. Could be a lunge,
12:54could be a split squat. Getting really
12:56strong on one leg in that slightly more
12:58internally rotated position is usually
13:01all it takes to start having that leg
13:03strength you built in your squats start
13:05displaying a little bit better in the
13:07deadlift. It's also good for your hips,
13:09and that internally rotated position
13:11actually places a little bit more length
13:12at the glute. When I was a younger
13:14lifter, I used to think that knees-out
13:17meant more glutes because I could feel
13:18my glutes flexing really hard to keep
13:20the knees out. Um but over time, I
13:22started to kind of notice that the
13:24opposite was true. When the knees were
13:26pulled out, I was placing more stretch
13:29and I was getting more development of
13:30the adductors. And it was actually when
13:32I would leave the knee in towards the
13:34midline that the adductor would actually
13:36stay short and I would get more length
13:38and more development at the glute.
13:40So, not only is it more positionally
13:42specific strength, but it's also
13:44potentially a little bit more
13:45developmentally potent for the glutes,
13:47which is
13:47shockingly, is a very important muscle
13:49for having a big deadlift.
13:51Now, that's just about all I got for
13:52you. But, I'm also going to be making
13:54use of just below the knee block pulls.
13:57And those are a bit more of an
13:58experiment than something that I'm using
14:00to get to the 900. Everything else here
14:03is kind of a battle-tested exercise that
14:05I know exactly the return on investment.
14:07I know where they positionally aid me in
14:09the deadlift. Uh versus the block pulls
14:11really emphasizing them is something
14:13that I have not done before. So, that's
14:15a bit of an experiment. I have felt like
14:16the upper half of my pull felt generally
14:19a bit lifeless
14:21and as though I had been coasting off of
14:23momentum built in the bottom half for
14:25the vast majority of my reps. I had
14:27played [clears throat] around with
14:27bands, but I did not like how they
14:29changed my positions. So, I felt like
14:31they were a net negative. So, that's
14:32where the inclusion of some partial
14:34range work, especially for someone like
14:35me who's not particularly good at it, on
14:38paper makes sense. So, that's kind of
14:39the experiment of the block.
14:42That's all I got for you. If you made it
14:44this far in the video, I would
14:45appreciate if you would leave a like and
14:46potentially subscribe. Appreciate you,
14:48boys.

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