And the dead lift has an undeserved poor reputation.  In reality, anyone interested in getting stronger should perform the lift.

Last June, at the Delaware Kettlebell workshop, Doctor Mark Cheng, RKCTL, reintroduced it to me and for some reason I was smitten.

I started working with Marty Gallagher on this particular lift July 4th weekend, 2009 and I’ve made long strides in both my technique, as well as my ability to move weight off the floor.

So why dead lift? Number 1, now that I know how to I really enjoy the lift.

Most importantly, I can’t think of any reason most people shouldn’t dead lift in some shape or form.  Done well, the dead lift could be the most useful of all lifts.  Pay attention to your life and I am guessing you dead lift often in your daily activities. Using correct form, using your whole body, teaches you to safely lift things off the ground. So that is important.

Also, there is something truly invigorating to the movement. I always feel better after my weekly dead lifting session. Taxed sure, but great. And there is no way to cheat. Raw strength and technique are equally important. Either you win or the iron does. You can cheat the squat and surely you can cheat a dead lift.  There are ways to cheat almost any lift but it’s really hard to deceive yourself with the pull.

In closing, the dead lift should be an important part of everyone’s workout regimen; it is not just for powerlifters. It strengthens the core of the body; that to which all other parts are connected.  If properly performed the dead lift is a very safe and effective way to build work capacity and  strength. Depending on how you program it you’d likely build mass as well.

So why do you dead lift? or not?

Train with purpose,

Sandy Sommer RKC

Pull ups have always been a real challenge for me. From when I was a youngster trying to pass the Presidential Fitness test to now. Frankly, I really can’t remember ever doing a pull up from the 6th grade to the age of 47. I’m not exaggerating. This exercise is one I’ve avoided like the plague. I didn’t do them well so the solution was to not do them.

Avoiding working on your weak links isn’t the best idea when you goal is total fitness but that seemed to be my pull up strategy.

Last April, I first heard about the Tactical Strength Challenge and I was intrigued by the event what with Dead Lifts, RKC Snatch test and Pull Ups. I set a goal right there to avoid it since there were pull ups involved.

Around July, I started dead lifting with Marty Gallagher and I realized that I wanted to participate in the TSC. At the time, I had a dl of around 245 or so and a pull up one set max of THREE. Still, I planned on showing up in October and competing. Obviously, I had work to do.

The snatch test wasn’t going to be the problem. Raw strength and strength relative to my bodyweight were going to attempt to humble me. So I went to work.

Did a lot of deadlifting and lots of “grease the groove” style pull ups. Kept at it and deadlifted once a week after building a base. After a could do 5 pull ups I started in on ladders. I got 7 pull ups at the Fall TSC.

After the event, I backed down and started a new dead lift cycle and also began Will  Williams, Sr. RKC Pull Up program. Lots of pulls and never to failure. Finished it and started Pavel’s Fighter Pull Up workout, which I believe borrowers from the ReCon Ron Pull Up program.

So I tested my one set max today and got 10 reps. All the way to my collarbone. Real tactical pull ups in otherwords.

So here we are in December. In 6 months, I’ve gone from 3 reps to 10. My goal in April is to hit 14. I think it will be easier to add to a better base than add from nada, which is where I was before. That may be counterintuitive but I was terrible at the movement pattern and keep improving it.

Also, by April and the Spring TSC, I am pulling 415 on the dead lift. Count on it. MG and I just put together the programming and it rocks. Not bad for 180 pound 48 year old:)

So what are your main goals for 2010 in your workouts? Share them and let me know if you have any advice for me either! Can’t wait for your comments.

Train With Purpose,

Sandy Sommer RKC

• Sunday: Dead lift warm up with 1 x 135,185,225, 275. 1 x 325 work. Tactical Pull Ups, 7,6,5,4,3. I found that Pavel’s Fighter Workout to be a big change from prior programming and I am working on getting into a sweet spot.
• Monday: Weigh in, 182.6 lbs. 5 ladders with 3 rungs on 32 kg kettlebell.  5 Minutes of 40 kg swings, 30 on 30 off.
• Tuesday: Fighter Pull Up routine, 7,6,5,4,4.
• Wednesday: I practiced Turkish Get Ups and Kettlebell Pistols for 10 minutes. Then I did 5 x 5 32 kg snatch on the minute for 5 minutes.
• Thursday: Fighter Pull Up routine 7,6,5,5,4. O-Bar side press 1 set of 5 reps per side, 55 lbs and another set of 5 per side with 45 lbs.
• Friday: 20 minutes of practicing TGU and pistols. 47 worksets with VWC.
• Saturday: Went up to Marty Gallagher’s Shed of Strength with about 8 other RKC folks. Marty conducted a nice deadlift workshop for us and then fed us a primal feast with an interactive lecture by Dr. Chris Hardy. I’ll be blogging about this event in detail this week. I’ve been working under Marty for 5 months, looking to get a respectable pull. The was able to get a PR of 335 lbs. Next goal in line is 2 times bodyweight and that will equal 360.

All in all a solid training week. Please leave any thoughts or comments and I look forward to hearing from you.

Train with purpose,

Sandy Sommer, RKC

• Sunday: Fighter Pull Up Workout, 7, 6, 5, 4,4 Felt good. Not really more volume than before but it’s strung together differently that a ladder style workout.
• Monday: Weigh in was 180.8 lbs. Was supposed to do with ladders with 3 rungs with hte 32 kg kettlebell. Felt just OK at best so opted to do 3 ladders with 3 rungs. Also did 90 one handed swings with 28 kg. Pull Ups, 7,6,5,5,4
• Tuesday: Deadlift warm up, 1 x 135,185,225, 275. 1 rep of 315. Nice and grooved. Tactical Pull Ups, 7,6,6,5,4.
• Wednesday: Dropped 10 seconds from the rest between 32 kg kettlebell snatch session. Did 7 reps per side, rest for 50 seconds and go again. 5 sets. 70 reps total. Tactical Pull Ups. 7,7,6,5,4. Tough on the pull ups today. Did them after snatches and that made a difference.
• Thursday: Turkish Get Up Practice and 16 kg Pistols. Easy stuff to get read for turkey!
• Friday: 28 kg kettlebell clean and presses 5 x5 on both sides. Back down day of Viking Warrior Conditioning, 15 work sets. Tactical Pull Ups, 8,7,6,5,4
• Saturday: off

Sandy Sommer, RKC

• Sunday: 56 minute Primal Walk, average heart rate, 63%. Beautiful weather and it was nice to get out and get some low heart rate cardio in. Later on, while watching football I did 10 sets of 1 8 kg kettlebell pistols on each side for 20 total reps.
• Monday: AM weight 184.6 lbs.,  4 ladders with 3 rungs, 32 kg kettlebell clean and press, 48 total reps. 120 one handed 32 kg swing
• Tuesday: 5 sets of 5 back squats, 135 lbs. Just got Pavel’s new book, Power To The People Professional and am going to add the squat to my repertoire. Haven’t done back squats in years. 4 ladders with 3 rungs on Tactical Pull Ups.
• Wednesday: Wasn’t feeling it so I took a day off. Hadn’t done that in some time so I didn’t feel terrible about it.
• Thursday: Dead Lift session 1x 135, 185, 225 warm up. 1 x 5 reps, 275 work. Felt pretty excellent today. Really focused on the grind today. Picked up some great tips in Power To The People Professional
• Friday: 4 ladders with 3 rungs Tactical Pull Up. 5 x 5 28 kg kettlebell clean and press, r and l. 100 28 kg kettlebell swings. 5 x 5 deep ass to ankle squats with 145 lbs.
• Saturday: Viking Warrior Conditioning, 37 work sets.

Solid week of training. Interestingly, I didn’t get any muscle soreness from doing back squats this week after not doing them for eons. I didn’t use heavy weight at all as I want to groove the proper movement pattern and worry about the load later. As I’ve said before, first movement then strength.

Working my way to a year end 1 RM of 365 in the dead lift. Goal is 415 by the April Tactical Strength Challenge.

Please leave any thoughts or comments and I’ll be glad to get back to you!

Train with Purpose,

Sandy Sommer, RKC

Go forward to May of this year and I got to spend the day training with Will Williams, Sr. RKC and Dr. Donald  Blake Berry, RKC.  Now, Will is pretty much the King of Pull Ups and so he was able to teach me enough about the Tactical Pull Up that I actually started  included them in my training.

A month later, at the end of June, I helped put together the Delaware Kettlebell Workshop for Dr. Mark Cheng, RKC TL and one of the things we did there was barbell dead-lifting. Hmm…I thought, these feel pretty darn good.

By this time, I was already doing some work with Marty Gallagher and so the next time I saw him we worked on dead-lifting and I was hooked. I remembered that the Tactical Strength Challenge took place every six months so I decided to train  for the September 2009 event in earnest, no matter how embarrassing the results relative to other competitors.

Marty put me on a dead-lifting training cycle that allowed me to begin dead lift training back in July at 185 pounds of load. I have enjoyed my dead-lift training day and was able to dead-lift 325 pounds yesterday. That was a bit disappointing as my PR is 330 but I did my warm up lifts and started the competition at 300 and did that with ease. Followed that up with 325 and again, the bar moved quickly. And then I made my mistake. I let the other guys talk me into attempting 365. The problem was that I didn’t buy into it and lacked confidence. I got in about half way and had to dump it. I had more in me than the 325 but not 365 but I learned a valuable lesson. Stick to the plan. My plan was to feel the bar speed and make a decision about where to go from 325. Key word is decision and I ended up not invested in the number. I can promise that won’t happen again.

After 15 minutes of rest we went to the Pull Up bar. I had a goal of 10 Tactical Pull Ups. A TPU is overhand grip, thumbless, dead hand after each rep and you MUST hot either your neck or lower on each rep. I started out ablaze and was tapping my collarbone. I ran out of steam though and only got 7 reps. The judge said that based on how I started that he thought I may hit 20. I will get 15 at the April event, I can promise that.

Next up, kettlebell snatches. 5 minutes of snatching. Bell can go to the floor and you can have multiple hand switches. My goal here was 110 total. I only got to 100 as I was having coughing issues and had to put the bell down to cough…twice and that was disappointing but I just got over a cold so it wasn’t a total surprise.

I can’t wait to do it again in April. They have it each Fall and Spring and I loved it. I had fun and wasn’t competitive (results haven’t been posted yet) compared to others but I now have a bench mark for the dead-lift and the TPU and know I will be able to post better numbers in the Spring 2010.

Please comment if you are considering doing a TSC in the future(here are the TSC rules, have done one in the past. Or if you want to congratulate me or make fun of me:)

Train Hard,

Sandy Sommer, RKC