Increasing ROM for Strength?

I’m sure some of you heard the story about the 150lb Russian guy who deadlifted 700lbs. He would dig a hole in the ground, stand in it (decreasing the ROM of the lift), and deadlift a weight higher than his current max. Over time he would add dirt to the hole increasing his range of motion until he got to ground level.

Has anyone ever tried this? I know it is totally different from the usual PL programs but it kinda makes sense.

I’ve seen people use a similar progression sequence with rack pulls.

Paul Anderson tried it, and it worked for him pretty well.

was always very interested in this kind of progression, any more info would be appreciated

i’ve heard of good things, and as long as your making slow adjustments, i cant see why it shouldnt work as another form of progressive overload

ROM is a good progression. BTW, I think this was posted a few months back.

Anyone know who this russian guy is??

I’ve never heard of a Russian dude digging a hole, but Drechsler talks about Paul Anderson squatting in a hole, and adding a little soil each workout, until eventually he was squatting full range with the weight he started with doing tiny partials.

Never heard of this mythical Russian dude but brad gillingham follows a similar type of progression with his deadlifts using rack pulls. Check out his dvd. I believe benedikt Magnussen (sp) also did a similar routine back when he was PL

[quote]robo1 wrote:
Never heard of this mythical Russian dude but brad gillingham follows a similar type of progression with his deadlifts using rack pulls. Check out his dvd. I believe benedikt Magnussen (sp) also did a similar routine back when he was PL[/quote]

I was actually gonna mention the Gillingham cycle.

I’ve done it and got great gains out of it.

I used this type of progression a year or so ago when I couldn’t do a single-leg squat. I’d just squat to a box or something, and once I could get 8 reps or so I’d just find something lower until I could do the whole thing.