Deadlift Stance

So there's been alot of great info that has been put out recently on the Deadlift aka the best mothafuckin' lift on the planet. Of course, I call it that because I don't completely suck at it. If you've never deadlifted before, then I think you sould check out this article  http://robertsontrainingsystems.com/blog/deadlift/ by Mike Robertson. For those of you that pull conventional, I'd like to talk for a second about your stance. When I seriously started training my deadlift (5/3/1 style back in 2009), my heels were only about 3-4 inches away from each other. Even at 5'6'' that's pretty close. If you saw me pull, you might say "Goddamn he's slow off the ground!" And you'd be right. In fact, up until about 4 months ago, my stance stayed pretty narrow, although it naturally widened out little by little as the weights got heavier. So what does this mean? Pull sumo? Pull with a stance like Donnie Thompson? Not necessarily. The reason a slightly wider conventional stance works is because it allows you to get that nice mix of hips and quads on that first tug off the ground. Basically, you want to think about doing a leg press-type movement to get the bar moving fast. Remember that you should be pulling the bar back, not up (unless you want to do a straight-leg DL and slow down your lockout). Thinking of pushing your legs through the ground can also help with keeping your chest up and not letting your hips rise before your chest. I suggest pulling with your heels about hip width apart (for me, thats almost twice as wide as how i was standing) and pointing your toes slightly out. If you're used to pulling conventional with your feet wider than this, my issue is that your hands must be placed further toward the collars of the bar. If your arms aren't long, than this increases the length the bar has to be pulled to lockout, which is just making things unnecessarily harder for yourself. Try it out and let me know how it goes. Drop comments, even if you completely disagree with me!

Here's my training from Monday:

*2-board Bench Press (raw)
worked up to 235x1, 245x miss, 240x1, 210x1x3sets

*T-Bar Row
plate x8, 2plates x5, 3plates x5x3sets

*Dip Machine Triceps
195x10, 225x10, 240x10x3sets

*Ditillo Rows
3 sets of 15-20 reps with some light weight
(these are rear delt flyes done on a cable machine with Spud Straps)

*Pallof Press
3 sets of 15 reps per side with a gray band

I should have hit 245 but I brought it down too slow and got out of position...and I wasn't set tight enough. 240 felt real good though. Did the down sets with 210 to get extra volume. Back and Tricep work is CRUCIAL!