Day 19

Today is a back day and back days are my favorite because we get to deadlift and it's the one exercise that I am fascinated with and want to improve.  The one problem is form and I found out how bad my form was today.  On my third set, I heard multiple cracks in my spine and I was done with deadlifts for the day.  Now here's the good news.  My friend had told me of this guy who power lifts and said I should ask him about deadlifts if I ever had questions.  It just so happens the guy was standing next to me and dead lifting 455 to get rid of excess energy.  So I decided I would talk to him and try to learn.  This guy was awesome, first of all he's a power lifting instructor and second, when I asked him about dead lift form, he had so much passion for power lifting that he was excited to help me out.  So he explained to me that there's 3 parts to the dead lift.  The initial lift, the explosion upward, and the lockout on top.  Then he explained that he does a lot of secondary lifts to improve each section of the deadlift and that he actually does not deadlift that often.  Then he helped me with my set up.  He said your feet should be faced slightly outward, shins should be touching the bar, your arms should be tight, grip the bar tight, look up, shoulders back, and your ass should be pretty low and almost in a seated position.  Then when you are ready, you take in a deep breath, tighten your abs, drive your heels to the ground, pull the bar up and when you are in the middle of your lift, drive your hips forward.  Your back is supporting the whole lift, but you need your hips to take some of the load off.  He was a great instructor and even watched me do a few lifts.  He also said its best to practice your form on a medium weight because a light weight will allow you to get away with horrible form.  You need to be able to feel what you are lifting. We did do secondary lifts, but they weren't very good because I injured myself.  The next 2 days will probably be rest days...  Here's a little video of Michael's dead lift.