Rack Pulls are often overlooked.
Deadlifts in general are often overlooked, but rack pulls even more so.
Rack pulls are a great way to train your ‘pull muscles’ in a different way.
I love Rack Pulls for a variety of reasons:
They’re great for training form
You’re in a much better position to pull heavy weight in a controlled manner with proper form.
Deadlifting from the ground can put pressure on the lower back.
That being said, you still need to take care when lifting. No lift is safe when you don’t do it right.
Train Lockout
Rack pulls help your train deadlifts in incidents. Deadlifts are a complex and highly technical lift.
It takes may years of work to slowly improve your deadlift once your newbie gains diminish.
Train upper body tension and form
Building tension in your muscles is a critical component of the deadlift. Doing this properly takes practice.
Not building tension before lifting compromises form during the lift.
Rack Pulls help train your back in a neutral position. You can focus on the upper half of your body’s movement since your hips and above are moving the weight, as opposed to your legs in traditional deadlifts.
It’s much easier to keep good form with rack pulls, even while lifting heavy.
Often times with conventional deadlifts, corm is compromised as weight increases or fatigue sets in.
This puts stress on your lower back.
Just because you can lift more weigh with rack pulls doesn’t mean it will necessary translate to an improved deadlift from the floor.
However, Rack pulls definitely have their place in any weight lifters repertoire.
Frank Zane used Rack Pulls to sculpt his amazing back.
Rack Pull Setup
Setup in a squat rack. Put the safety bars in position where when you set the bar on them the bar rests about an inch or two below your kneecap.
Feet Position – just under your arm pits. Move wider or narrower based on your comfort. The bar should line up with the middle of your foot.
Arms and Shoulder Position – your wrists, elbows, shoulder socket and bar should make a straight vertical line.
Hand Postion – Grip at shoulder width for regular rack pulls. (Take a wide grip to train more of your upper and middle back.)
Grasp the bar with a double overhand grip.
Performing the Rack Pull
Pull the slack out of your arms, and flex your lats and back muscles. Build tension in your legs to further pull slack out of the bar.
Breathe deeply into your stomach while keeping everything nice and tight. Drive your heels into the ground, push you hips forward while keeping the bar close to your body.
Flex everything at the top and put your chest out. Then slowly lower the weight back down to the starting position. All the while maintaining perfect form and a straight back.
Wide-Grip Rack Pulls
Wide Grip lat pulls are my favorite variation because they ignite my middle/upper back muscles, located between and just below my shoulder blades.
This exercises builds muscles needed to retract the scapulas and maintain good posture.
I recommend using lifting straps for wide-grip rack pulls because it’s hard to maintain a good grip in that position.
Lower body queues are the same for wide grip rack pulls as they are with regular repack pulls
Grip the bar as wide as you can. Straighten your back puff your chest, lift your head and pull all the slack out of the bar. Your lower back, lats and traps should feel engaged.
Then rip that puppy straight up off the rack. Slowly lower the weight back down as gently as you can, like you’re putting a baby to sleep.
Slow and controlled motions are the name of the game.
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