Beyond-Brawn-2nd-Edition

BEYOND BRAWN
drop” training. I was streaming with sweat and there was a pool of the stuff
in front of the bar, having dripped there during the rest pauses.
Appetite and the total gain
17.54 I did not make a conscious attempt to increase my food intake. My appetite
took care of it once I was deadlifting about 330 pounds. At that stage, immediately
after a bout of deadlifting, and the 2–3 days afterward, my appetite
was almost insatiable. en it dripped until the next deadlift workout. e
deadlift-free workout had only a small impact on my appetite.
17.55 I ended the cycle about 5 pounds heavier than I was back in November
1991. Bear in mind that had I been working on 20-rep deadlifts a few years
earlier—when I was successfully performing low-rep deadlifts—I estimate
I could have done 20 reps with 350 pounds. e net result of this 1991/92
cycle was a new territory gain of about 50 pounds on the 20-rep deadlift. I
was not trained down at the beginning of the 8-month deadlift focus, only
out of touch with the bent-legged deadlift. As a result I would not have
expected a big bodyweight gain to accompany 50 pounds or so on the bar.
Also, I am past the days of eating myself fat to produce big bodyweight
gains. It is possible, however, that had I applied some of what is described in
Chapter 21 I would have gained more muscle.
The downside
17.56 For four days after getting all 20 reps I had severe muscular soreness, almost
crippling. On the fifth day, the worst of the muscular soreness was behind
me and I started to feel a twinge going down into my left buttock and leg. I
thought it would fix itself. I had decided that I was now going to drop the
sets of high reps and go to sets of 5 reps. On 21 July I was back deadlifting.
I did 5 reps with 400 pounds. ey felt very heavy and I knew that I was
injured. When I did the 400 × 20 I had a feeling of indestructibility, but
now I was beginning to feel like an invalid.
17.57 I cannot put my finger on the exact cause of the injury. ere was the rounding
of my back on 9 July that may have done it, or at least contributed. ere
was some asymmetrical pulling that cannot have helped. Perhaps neither
did the damage but set me up for it from something else. Two days after the
400 × 20 I did my usual full-range bent-over barbell rows, while my back
was still massively fatigued. Perhaps the too-vigorous bent-over rows with
almost 200 pounds was the final straw that hurt my back. I will never know.
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