Intro and Deadlift question(sort of long)

[al]

My name is Al Saavedra. Ron and Jim you helped me with my bench shirt last Sunday. [thanks again!] I compete in the 242 collegiate class as I am taking night classes for a degree after work. I've been competing since 2004.

My question is about deadlifting. I have pulled both styles I did 565 conv a few months ago in training but best in a full meet is 540 in sumo style. For both I used a supersuit.

For the past few months I was using this program:
www.elitefts.com/documents/moscow_and_columbus.htm

Basically you pull off blocks for triples once a week and singles at about 60% for speed another day. It was working pretty well for a while and I was going to do a meet in April and was excited to see what would happen. I had an injury on my right hip and lower back from years ago but I wanted to do the meet so I kept training this way anyway. For personal stuff that came up at the last mintue I had to miss the meet.

Afterwards I decided to back off deadlift training as the hip problem was getting unbearable so I just did singles. That was going well then I cramped up again during a workout a few weeks ago, I was doing 10 singles with 425. After that I started alternating singles with deadlifts off blocks each week. 2 weeks ago since I was tapering for the meet I just did some reps wih 365 off blocks to kind of save myself for squatting in a suit later in the week and the reps felt very easy.

Today though I did some squat singles in my suit then I was warming up to deadlift and went to 405 and could barely break it from the ground, It felt light in my hands but it was like my muscles did not work or something.

I kind of eased up on training weights and volume but I don't understand why I would be 100+ pounds off my best, especially since my squat improved during the same time period. Sorry for the sob story I'm just trying to figure out what I did wrong so I don't do it again!

[jimpope]

Al,
I tried sumo style for about six weeks. When I got to the top end with the sumo style, it fell short of what I could do conventional style. Therefore, I quickly went back to conventional style. I'd want to see you deadlift before making any comments or suggestions.

[al]

Jul 14, 2008 8:54:31 GMT -5 jimpope said:

Al,
I tried sumo style for about six weeks. When I got to the top end with the sumo style, it fell short of what I could do conventional style. Therefore, I quickly went back to conventional style. I'd want to see you deadlift before making any comments or suggestions.

Thanks Jim, lately I've done only conventional since my hips were bothering me. I will try to get there one day when you guys are lifting I understand you would need to see my form before making informed advice.

Is it normal to have days that off though, or is it a sign of burnout or injury

[jimpope]

Al,
Yes, you have the right to some not so good workouts but you try not to have them to often. The reason for the bad day could be a number of things. Just take a hard look at the workout and pull the positive things from it. Then forget it and move on to the next day at the gym.

["ronnybench"]

Al,
I will gladly let Jim handle all the dead lift technical stuff. I am probably more experienced at the "Bad Day" end of the question. The worst day I ever saw Jim lift was excellant. I did not even know he having a bad day until he told me he had passed a kidney stone the night before and only had one more left on its way.
A few things I know of that can affect your performance for sure:

Overtraining: usually going over 80% for more than three weeks straight will push you off the cliff.

Poor sleep or not enough sleep: something apparently most Americans suffer from.

Stress: Mental and emotional, by the way, this will also give you
cancer.

Poor nutrition: It is not just important to eat enough calories, they should be "clean" caslories.

Dehydration: Saps strength big time.

Combine a couple or all of these together and you are going to have a "bad day"

[al]

Thanks for your help guys