Pulling 405!

I always get excited when I see deadlifts on the schedule for a WOD. It's something I am pretty good at and is a real confidence booster. I may not be able to hang with other athletes with squats and compound olympic lifts, but I can pick shit up and put it down. Simple as that. I've been chasing an elusive number for 7-8 months now though. In October 2011, I was able to pull a solid 395 deadlift however failed at 405. I just figured I wasn't ready to lift that quite yet. Several other times over the last 8 months, I have failed at 385 and 395. This did little for my confidence.

On Friday, 1 June 2012, CrossFit Reston's WOD was a 1 RM Deadlift. I was determined to break that 400 lb barrier. Thursday, I did a little light weight deadlifting with Coach Brian Wilson at CrossFit Walter Reed; focusing on position, hand placement and driving my feet through the floor. Friday arrived and I was ready.

As suggested by Coach Gretchen Kittelberger, I started low and did limited warm up sets. As I climbed in weight, I felt good but then disaster struck. I failed, AGAIN on 385! WTF? How? No way was I going to let this happen again. I took another breath, set my feet and hands, mentally set myself, gripped and pulled the weight up. The second attempt was successful but had I used up that little bit..........NOPE! With just a minute or two left, we loaded up the final set with 405. Stepped forward, gripped it, took a breath and pulled.

I finally broke the barrier! That elusive barrier I had been chasing. Now to keep going. Now let's be honest, due to bio-mechanical limitations, there was a small amount of back rounding and a small amount of shoulder rounding despite starting with my shoulder blades back. I'll over come this but with over 400 lbs suspended from my arms, I am sure this a little normal.

Sets:

135x5
225x3
315x3
345x1
365x1
385x1 FAILED
385x1
395x1
405x1