5x5 Deadlifts!

I tried the thumb in the hole, actually, and it made it harder to balance because half of the plate was off of my hand on the other side of my thumb. It was killer though. I was actually thinking of getting some small sections of chain and putting them through the holes and using that has a handle.
 
Yes, I can see how the thumb could be weird, and the chain certainly makes sense. If you got a handle with some webbing you might be able to use it for the flies (flys?) as well as for some TRX type moves with an over the door strap.

Been fun chatting with you today - got to get in the car and go drive for 5 hours now...
 
I was actually thinking of some way I could run a cable over the top of my power tower to do close grip pull downs. I assume the pull up bar could withstand that considering you can do chin-ups with a close grip on the bar.

It has. Have a safe trip!
 
Squats, just because.

Squats - 135lbs 3x8 - 185lbs 5x5

I had a 5x5 itch I had to scratch. I wanted to go heaver, but held off since I'm doing back in two days.
 
Rather than simply putting a cable over the bar, try attaching a pulley to it and having the cable go through that. The friction of the cable on the rack could damage both and make the effect unpredictable.
Pulleys aren't expensive and your rack will easily take it.
 
If I could get a pulley on there, that would be great. I'll have to check out my options and see what I can fabricate. I rarely used the cable machine, but I used to love close grip pull downs.
 
the fact that they are listed as "climbing gear" automatically adds some to the cost, but check out pulleys on Amazon in the sports/outdoor equipment category. The pulley's used for hauling when rock climbing have a high test failure value since the expectation is that a body may be attached, and are designed to be rigged with webbing or carabiners. Petzel or Black Diamond are both quality brands. I'm thinking webbing around the rack, cable around the pulley, and all of it delivered to your door in a box with a smile on it.
 
Climbing pulleys will carry a certain level of cost load, but they are tested to the nth degree because they always have a person on them. Sometimes it's worth the extra to know it will work.
Be careful of the load capacity though. Some aren't that high, climbers are not renowned for being heavy.
 
Good back and bi's night. My high pull and curl weight went up, and I had a dinner break in the middle.

Wide Grip Pull-up's - 5x4
Deadlift - 135lbs 3x6 - 175lbs 3x5 - 225lbs 3x3
Barbell Row - 115lbs 8x8
High Pull - 75lbs 8x8
Barbell Curl - 55lbs
Dinner break - Meat Loaf - Mashed Potatoes - Peas
Barbell Curl - 65lbs 4x8 - 85lbs 3x6
Back Dumb Bell Flyes - 40lbs 4x8

I need to start taking a dinner break in the middle of all my sessions. I never would have gotten that last set of barbell curls or the flyes if I didn't break. I dropped my barbell row weight because last week when I was rowing 135 for 8x8, I could feel my form faltering and my lower back engaging. I'm glad my curl and high pull's' are steadily going up. I would love to high pull 100lbs fo 8x8, as well as curls. If I can keep these sessions up like this, I'll be doing just that in a few months. I would love to get some chins into my workout, but I just don't know where to put them. I tried doing them after my rows, but it wasn't happening. Otherwise a good session.
 
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Forgot to post reps of dinner.

Meat loaf - 1x3(1 serving/3 pieces)
Potatoes - 1x2(1 serving/2 spoon fulls)
Peas - 1x2(1 serving/2 spoon fulls)

Overall, it was a good dinner. Good pump. I'm going to work on getting my servings up though. Hopefully, by summer, I'll be at 5x5.
 
Yours is definitely more power eating, low reps high volume. Mine is stamina eating, steady stream of low volume reps throughout the day. I barely work up a sweat but the overall amount of food shifted is impressive.
 
I would consider it power eating, yes. I try to get as much volume as I can as to not have to take a break to get up and refill my plate. My logic for eating is pretty much this...

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I've put a lot of thought into this, and I've decided to stop dead lifting for a while. Ever since my three month weight lifting drought when I had tendinitis two years ago, I haven't been right. I worked my way back up slowly, only to hurt my lower back pulling 320 lbs last year. Now, I pulled 225 two days ago and I feel like I have a damn hernia(I don't). Something isn't right and something hasn't been right fora long time. Being 6'5, dead lifting has always been a problem for me, and honestly, never in my life am I going to have to naturally lift 200+ lbs from a bar that is placed perfectly above the middle of my feet. If I were shooting for a "natural" lift, I could go out and buy two 150lb dumb bells or a trap bar and lift from my sides. I've been thinking about it for a while, and I think mentally, I'm just not there anymore. I want to place my focus on areas I'm more concerned about now, and dead lifting just doesn't interest me right now. Maybe six months from now, I'll start over again, but when I think about doing it now, it's like the feeling of having to go to a job that I hate, and I can't stand that. Besides my family, training is my absolute favorite thing in this world, and I always said, as far as training is concerned, I would never do something I dread doing. I'm sure I'll still do some RDL's, but as far as regular dead lifting, I'm done for a while.
 
Priority number one is enjoy your training. Dead lifting is good but it's also an all or nothing confidence exercise so if in doubt don't.
 
Priority number one is enjoy your training.
Click to expand...

This ^^! I totally agree with this - yes, we do it for health, functional strength, and maybe vanity, but really, if spending the time and money, do it because you enjoy it and because you enjoy the rewards. Pain (as opposed to that "I used my body well' soreness) is not what any of us is working for and is not a reward. Good for you for reaching a healthy decision.
 
Thanks guys. I wish I were still there mentally, because I made more gains, physically, dead lifting than with any other exercise, but like Tony said, it's an all or nothing lift, and I haven't been "all" there for a while now. It's ok though, my mindset has changed as far as training goes anyway. I'm not a "big three" lifter like I used to be. I've branched out into different rep ranges and different exercises and I'm seeing good gains doing what I'm doing at home now, so I doubt I'll miss it much. Maybe in the summer time, I'll fabricate some sort of boosters for the bar and set it up a bit higher(to where a normal person would grab the bar) and give them another shot. We'll see.
 
There are so many challenging options, Justin - explore them and see what you enjoy. I have found over the last couple of years that I really like the challenge of taking on something new including that [hopefully] temporary feeling of being a little uncoordinated and using new muscles or using old muscles in a new way such as with some of the more dynamic or plyometric body weight exercises - T2B, muscle ups, and now the gymnastic rings... I have this impossible dream of some sort of front lever.
 
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