Written by Pete Rubish
1) Train Your Hamstrings Hard-Start incorporating glute-ham raises with a band around your neck into your training program. I simply set this up by hooking the band under the GHR machine and then putting the other end of the band around my neck. This movement produces tremendous tension as you approach the top and will overload your lockout strength. The key is to try to rebound as explosively as possible, you want to do this movement fast. After a few weeks of these, I guarantee you won’t have any lockout issues. I regret ever getting away from doing them and am going to start doing them again religiously. Five reps is ideal in my opinion.
2) Overload Your Lats-Train your lats with heavy lat pulldowns for high reps (as high as 25). Utilize both the regular, two-hand lat pulldown, but also incorporate in one-arm lat pulldowns. Both movements will hit the area a little different and will build your starting strength off the floor. I like to do these two days a week. Do traditional lat pulldowns one day, and then one-arm the other day. Three sets each day and you’ll start noticing a difference.
3) Get ANGRY!!-I generally feel getting angry and trying to bring as much intensity as possible will aid you in lifting up to your potential, but I feel this is especially true for deadlifts more so than the squat and bench press. Get into a state of insanity, pace back and forth right beforehand, get the smelling salts out, and go up to the bar with the intention of ripping it off the ground. Get your CNS primed, and your speed will be much better. I like to get amped up even on my warmups. You need to lift your warmups like they are your final attempt. 405 pounds should be pulled with as much intensity and speed as you would put in for 800.
4) Do Speed Pulls-Speed deadlifts performed against bands have always been one of my favorite exercises for bringing speed up throughout the entire lift. From increasing your strength off the ground to increasing your lockout strength, these will hit it all. Five to six sets of two or three reps is ideal and you want these to be your second exercise of the day performed after your heavy deadlift sets.
5) Pull For Reps-I think people have gotten away from high rep deadlifts and I think we need to reevaluate our methods and start incorporating them back in. Looking back on my seven years of training, the period when I made the most significant improvement in the least amount of time, I was pulling 10-15 reps for my final heavy deadlift set. Rather than working up to a triple, double, or single, try using this rep-range instead for a few weeks and I’ll bet you see a difference. I prefer these to be done dead-stop reps as well, since I feel it has a better carryover when going for a max.
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Transitioning from his early days of running marathons, Pete Rubish is an up and coming star in powerlifting at only 21 years old. He competes in the 242 lb. class where he has squatted 661 lbs. with no knee wraps and deadlifted 777 lbs. His best raw total is 1763 lbs. with no wraps. Pete is currently attending school in Madison, WI. Facebook, YouTube
