I love the deadlift and I love deadlifting. I do both conventional and sumo lifting, and I believe I benefit from both styles. So I was excited to see this new article by Louie Simmons on why deadlifting is on the rise:
Finally, after many years, it seems the deadlift is on the rise. In New Orleans in September 2002. I was lucky to witness not one but two 900+ deadlifts, by Gary Frank and Andy Bolton. After trading the record back and forth, Andy reclaimed it in Columbus Ohio in March 2003 with 934. With Steve Goggins pulling 881 and Ano Turtiainen having made 892, it is apparent that we must work on deadlifting to keep up. Some lifters are born to deadlift, i.e., short back, long arms, and large hands. In fact, most big deadlifters lack a big bench except for Gary. So, how can one obtain a big deadlift? Hard work, and more hard work.
Note, in reading, the achievements of Jerry Bell and Rick Crain: each one, competing at 165 pounds, was able to deadlift 700 pounds or more. Wow.
Posted by Craig Ceely at August 22, 2004 10:25 PM