DL & Rack Pull Carry Over?

2 Questions.

  1. Rack Pulls: I’m fairly proficient at pulling from the floor and comfortable with it. My question is; would I benefit from switching to rack pulls for a while? Will I see much of a carryover when I switch back to deads from the floor? I think the weak point of my DL is out of the hole, especially the first rep, I generally don’t have too much issue with locking it out. Rack pulls help more with lock out, correct?

  2. This is just for curiosity’s sake, but how much contact are you guys making with bar to shin when you DL? I chalk my shins to help out and scrape maybe midway up my shin.

Thanks.

[quote]Brazen T wrote:
2 Questions.

  1. Rack Pulls: I’m fairly proficient at pulling from the floor and comfortable with it. My question is; would I benefit from switching to rack pulls for a while? Will I see much of a carryover when I switch back to deads from the floor? I think the weak point of my DL is out of the hole, especially the first rep, I generally don’t have too much issue with locking it out. Rack pulls help more with lock out, correct?

  2. This is just for curiosity’s sake, but how much contact are you guys making with bar to shin when you DL? I chalk my shins to help out and scrape maybe midway up my shin.

Thanks.
[/quote]

Depending on the the height of where the bar is placed in the rack, rack pulls may help with lockout, the midpoint, or breaking the floor.

If you use a westside approach, try rotating the squat, deadlift off the floor, and rack pulls every week or every other week.

Try using the snatch grip deadlift while standing on a 2-4" platform, there was a minie article about this exercise earlier this week. This will increase the range of motion of the lift and if you stick with the exercise and add weight there’s a good possibility it will increase your pulling power.

If scraping your shins becomes a habit invest in some knee high socks or shin gurads/protectors.

Why are you chalking your shins? That would mke the bar stick to your shin. You would want to put baby powder on your shins, not chalk.

Yeah chalk’s probably gonna make it WORSE by creating more fricition.

Rack pull carryover depends on whre you’re weakest and what height the pulls are being done from.

Trying do some from mid shin or there abouts. Maybe leave the plates 3 inches off the ground

Haha…chalk on shins, oops! This is why we ask questions.

Hanley: That’s what I was thinking too, maybe like 3-4 inches off the ground.

The Gillingham 5x5 squat and deadlift cycle is one that combines many different height rack pulls and pulls fro mthe floor too. I put 20kg onto my deadlift after doing it.

I don’t know if you would necessarily benefit from switching to racks, at the exclusion of pulling from the floor but am very confident in stating you would benefit from incorporating them into your program.

The reality of things is I think most novice to intermediate lifters fail to realize the benefit of rack pulls for mass and total body strength.

Do them at varying heights and varying rep ranges. They will help. IMO, they are a huge contributor to upper back strength and for that reason alone should be utilized.

I tend to agree with APW on this. Rack pulls will make you strong overall. They may help your deadlift- but they will just as likely improve your squat.

I favor pulling from right around the knee cap. I use straps for these. While I will occassionally go real heavy on them for singles, I think they have served me best by repping in the 3-6 rep range with something like 90-110% of my max full-range pull. At that kind of weight, pulling from the knee, you can get away with doing them as a second lift- after squatting or pulling heavy- or you can even stick them in on an accessory or back training day.

Regarding your second question, I scrape the hell out of my shins.

Excellent…good opinions thus far.

I’m really shooting for upper back development, this is why I’m starting to think about them. I’m just starting to scratch the surface of the Clean as well. Going to have to read up on the Gillingham program.

I personally like reverse band rack pulls from 3 inches off of the floor i’ve been using this with great succes along with rack pull just under the knee and have upped my pull by about 50lbs or so and should break 725 or so in the coming year. I only pull off of the floor about every 6-7 weeks and rotate every other week with squats.

Don’t mean to hijack the thread, but I don’t get any shin-scrapping when I DL, is that a bad thing?

If you can deadlift more without scraping your shin, there’s no point in adding in artifical scraping.