Q:  I dunno if this is something you’ve done before.  I figured since you piss excellence that you would be a good person to go to for a deadlift dissection.  I am currently in week 3 of phase 2 of Show and Go, and just pulled some sumo deadlift singles. It felt good; looks okay; I know there is always room for improvement.  Any suggestions, other than “eat more kale”?

A:  First off, well played on the kale reference!  For those not in the loop – THIS may help explain things.

Secondly, when puling with close to max effort weight, the rules almost always go out the window.  I don’t care who you are, if you’re able to keep impeccable form during a max effort lift, you’re not pulling nearly heavy enough.  That being said, your technique, while not remotely horrible, does warrant some comments.

• You’re spending far too long setting up.  By my count, roughly twelve seconds passed from the time you grabbed the bar until you actually exerted effort and pulled.  You’re not doing long division here.  Get your air, grip the bar, and rip it!  There’s something to be said about utilizing the stretch shortening cycle (elastic energy of the muscles), and the longer you spend contemplating, the less likely you’ll be able to take advantage of it.

• Although, in truth, I’m kinda in a similar boat as yourself.  I too tend to do that whole “hip bobbing” routine before I pull.  But, in your case, I think you’re taking a lot away from your lift by taking foooooooorever getting ready.  Speed it up a bit.  I’m willing to bet you’ll notice a vast improvement.

• Moving forward, iF you pause the video at the 35- second mark, you notice almost immediately that your hips come up first.  It’s subtle, but it’s there.  When this happens, I Iike to tell people to try to get their ass into it more.  Meaning, stiffen up your upper back, really (and I mean REALLY) push your hips back and sit down into the stretch until you feel significant tension in your glutes/hammies.  From there, “press or push” yourself away from the floor through your heels.  Doing so will undoubtedly get the posterior chain (namely, your ass) involved more – which is what you want.

• Lastly, I could be overly nitpicky here and say that you could get your hips through sooner, but I’d just be clutching at straws at this point.  All in all it was a fantastic pull, and I think 405 is right around the corner.

UPDATE:  Whoa whoa, whoa, and whoa – I just watched the video with the sound turned on and noticed a serious lack of Wu-Tang Clan or Godsmack playing in the background.  Listen, just like everyone else out there, I think JT is one talanted bastard.  But lets be clear:  He in no way should be playing over the stereo during a max effort lift.  Jesus, I think my sperm count just went down by 47%.  Come on man, lets get with the program here!