August 18, 2004

2 responses to The usual and some Rolling Thunder observations

  1. Scott Bird Says:
    August 21st, 2004 at 11:25 pm

    I’m curious to know approximately what these guys would be able to lift in a ‘normal’ single-handed deadlift: lifting a heavy dumbell or weighted bar rather than the Rolling Thunder.

    I’ve no doubt that having a large, revolving handle makes a significant difference - it seems the 300 lb lift awaited by IronMind is safe for now :)

  2. Kris Says:
    August 21st, 2004 at 11:36 pm

    The strongest lifter in this survey has a deadlift that is 100 kg/221 lbs higher than the weakest lifter, yet we all clock in at within 10 kg/22 lbs of each other on the Rolling Thunder. There simply is no correlation as the limiting factor (in most cases) is different on the two lifts, i.e. grip strength vs. back strength. The RT is three times thicker than a normal powerlifting bar (60mm vs. 29 mm) so the specificity of strength makes sure it matters little how much you can hold on to with a normal bar when confronted with the RT.

    In contrast, I think there would be a correlation between the deadlift and one-handed deadlift with a normal handle since the limiting factor here would be the same, i.e. back strength. I would think most people would be able to handle at least 50% of their deadlift max. The range of motion is very short on this lift, equivalent to a rack pull well above the knees. There are probably more than a handful of men in the world who can easily single hand deadlift above 550 lbs/249 kg off the floor (Hermann Goerner did 727 1/2 lbs/330 kgs single handed in 1920), yet no one has yet broken the magic 300 lbs/136 kg mark on the RT.

    Once my back is 100%, perhaps I’ll give this lift a go with a normal cable handle.

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