The Unmatched Deadlift Technique of Konstantin Konstantinovs

[@AlexanderBromley]

Free KK Program Download: empire-barbell.com/full-library-of-free-video-pdfs/ Never doubt your programming again. Learn more at www.BaseStrength.com "Big Dreams, Bad Genes" at www.Barbellapparel.com/Bromley WE'RE ON DISCORD! BromleyHQ discord.gg/CnhSBYb5qy

[@bloodysath]

Gratz to 1/4 Million Subscribers. You really earned it 💪

[@AlexanderBromley]

Thank you 🙌

[@JustSomeGuy69420]

I deadlift with a perfectly straight back and then do weird round back stuff for my accessories. I am enlightened. 😇

[@unc1221]

You probably can’t even pull 405 clean. Stfu

[@shades4313]

I think that’s actually legit the way to go

[@DDazzle1]

Hey, fellow patrician speaking. I round on warmups for pull movements

[@Tokenutha]

Just pulled 285kg at my first meet thanks to your programming bromley, just wanted to say thanks for all the info you put out and boost the algo lol

[@nickcustodi592]

Wow I absolutely nerded out on KKs programming. Love the use of the heavy rack deadlift to prime his nervous system for the rest of his lifts for the day. Absolutely incredible work capacity on those heavy deadlifting days. Makes complete sense you’d need so much time in between those. Very interesting to see the programming of the elite - but even cooler to see KK had some deeper understanding of training to make such intentional choices in his routine. I have to say his beltless 939 will forever live on in my head rent free. When I think of lifts that spike testosterone; that one gives me supraphysiological levels comparable to an IFBB pro. RIP KK you are a legend and the lifting world is a better place because of you.

[@alexmc7798]

Evan Kardon; famous for rounding the back. Famous for rounding up her age.

[@HonkeyKongLive]

KK was such an animal. Everything looked like he was doing it "wrong" but it was always putting him in a mechanically advantageous position. He was one of the first guys of the post-Westside era to realize that optimal technique wasn't just about shortening the ROM, it was about focusing on what enabled you to generate the most force.

[@Iamnotcertain]

We need to band together and get Rick Boogs to compete

[@Kushgroove234]

Ricky isn’t that strong proportional to his body weight Weighs 290lbs and deadlifts 750, benches low 5s (less than 2x body weight) and not sure the squat but I’d imagine in the 700s

[@krulidn]

Does powerlifting allow drugs?

[@janisarbidans8931]

@@krulidn Im pretty sure it doesnt exist w/o drugs

[@ambatukoom]

​@@Kushgroove234Did you just say that a 5 plate bench isn't that strong?

[@DennisGr]

i really like that you immediately open up the importan question "good because of it" or "good despite it". i've seen it in many elite atheletes that succeeded with odd strategies. sometimes it works JUST FOR THEM due to their specific body or training and you can NOT copy it to get better.

[@elilachappa3330]

"he only ever hurt his back squatting, not deadlifting" same bro

[@Mr.PotatoAWESOMEFitnessTips]

The fact I've lifting for decades and coaching for years, and just realized that my spinal erectors are ginormous from rounding my back a lil'bit is one the things that makes me love this stuff so much- it's a never ending learning experience, so very very humbling at every stage.

[@PlutoTheGod]

I miss the old Russian team of KK, Kirill, Malanichev, Koklyaev.. those dudes were my idols when I was starting out

[@EdvardPROx]

I have the same feeling, but unfortunately time takes its toll. KK is not with us anymore, and the rest of the crew are long past their prime. Good thing there are plenty of video recordings to witness days of their past glory)

[@freakied0550]

My first 300kg deadlift in competition was beltless. LARPed as a KK wannabe, but really was too lazy to learn how to use a belt.

[@Buchinator12]

Oh the irony in the synergy of two conflicting viewpoints resulting in a sum greater than its parts

[@psyoperator]

As someone who doesn't deadlift with a belt close to max... EVER! My guess is the reason he didnt use one is the same reason I dont... It most likely was causing him pressure type injuries/uncomfortableness during heavy lifts. Also... I can confirm that back pain is psyop.

[@stephen8996]

Or he wasn't a 🐱

[@juuso4148]

​@@stephen8996yes, he was a 🦩

[@dieselpunkpowerlifter7667]

To me there's a big difference between a slight rounding of the back at the starting position that straightens as the lift progresses, and a drastic rounding of the back that develops during the lift, resulting in a rounder back mid lift than you started with.

[@DFunct905]

This is a good observation.

[@drewgatewood1864]

This is an amazing video. Your stuff is always extremely thoughtful, and your are extremely generous in the amount of insight you share with the people for free, but this is a level above. Thank you for continuing to share this type of tremendous content with us.

[@kentuckyteck9302]

This kind of information is so important. Everyone is different but knowledge is power

[@jermellemacleod7750]

We need a deadlift like George Leeman video! Another legend!

[@teiwaztim1482]

no complaints on your channel; i love listening while meal prepping on sundays. would you ever consider covering any olympic weightlifters? not lasha or karlos or any of the other known guys; maybe someone like artem okulov or ruslan nurudinov, guys still training and competing. someone like klokov? rostami? lu xiaojun? we love you here in Appalachia mate. many of the dogbrothers and i listen daily. cheers!

[@BurntSofa]

the history and analysis is absolutely awesome, keep it up bromley

[@dantemarotta356]

A pleasure to watch , Saw KK live once awesome individual.

[@NateGfit]

this is amazing! this is so similar to the same form that i have fallen into after trying so many things, and it works really well for me. exciting to here, that my body works well with similar form to one of the best deadlifters ever! now im just amped and ready to keep working on this.

[@j.n.4977]

Love to see Emanuel Pescari get some attention. He is an insane athlete and i'm hyped to see his progression.

[@DreynHarry]

the thing that amazes most on KKs deadlift is, that he did not rip off his biceps. his back was always in a stable position.

[@LandonTBrock]

KK is the reason I got serious about lifting for strength when I got started 8 years ago. Love the breakdown of this video and his technique. I mimic a fair bit of his methods both in deadlift and in my focus of which muscles I focus on for accessories. It's got me a belted 620 deadlift and a 495 beltless as of this year. So it works. You just have to be prepared for alot of hard work. Side note I've also never hurt my back pulling. Only from an accident at work that was completely unrelated to weights.

[@WilliamsWrestlin]

I decided to pull like KK today with the more kyphotic rounded back and I pulled 610lbs, first time I pulled over 600 lbs in 3 years. Weird thing is that the lockout was the smoothest part and I had another 20 lbs in me. Legit set up

[@LeoJGym]

This is very insightful and very similar to Zack Telander's video about Lu Xiaojun's ability to essentially deep squat his clean & jerk just from being adapted to it for so long.

[@divicospower9112]

I love how we can see the calves work at 13:20

[@kh.movement]

Well thank you for the shoutout!

[@alexrobinson5114]

For the Motherland

[@beetlejuice4693]

🇷🇺💪

[@cammackk]

Another guy I've seen perform a variation on this is Justin Lee, dude really gets as much out of upper back rounding as he can.

[@michaelanthony4750]

I love these historical deep dives

[@thomasreynolds1530]

The KEY here is that KK's back straightens THROUGH the lift. His back doesn't bend in response to the weight---it straightens!

[@dirtygeazer9266]

What a name doesn't say im a brick shit house quite like that name

[@likemy]

weighted rollouts? For a guy that big? Insane stuff.

[@GEMSONCOBSON]

i found that keeping the bar touching my shins prevented back pain, even though i round my back quite a bit

[@kblkbl]

"Heavy lifters often need less volume and lower tonnage" > KK doing deadlift 2x/wk twice over the same session lol

[@AlexanderBromley]

A top set on 2 deadlift variations is pretty low volume and speed deads are more recovery work than anything.

[@theghostofjimmcknight4378]

Putting AtlasPowerBottom in a video about KK seems sacrilegious

[@Biglenny-v9r]

Bromley, could you do a video on benefits of tapers vs deloads??

[@geneharrogate6911]

I think Greg Nuckols said when his DL was at its strongest, about 725 and change, he was doing Roman chair situps with a 90lb dumbbell on his chest.

[@Rikullinen]

I would be in shock if after 34 years on this earth id suddenly one day discover i was actually Konstantin Konstantinovs

[@Souljaxl]

Never seen someone so effortlessly destroy such a well constructed strawman before. First few minutes where very impressive.

[@Rorschachs_Blot]

Bromley did include my happy ending, nice.

[@nureddinz]

5:48 Loss of force transfer is bad in things like vertical jumps, but is it really bad in powerlifting?

[@IncompletenessTheorem]

"This is my fucking belt!"

[@inzer0]

i round my upper back while my low back is in extension.. best accessory for it is rounded back good mornings. and handles-down ssb gms and squats, emphasis on handles down.. but yeah, i also do not use a belt on deadlifts, because my wedge causes the belt to cut into my hips and ribs and leaves welts and bruises, belts dobt work with a good wedge

[@gyrozeppeli7296]

How do you do good mornings with a rounded upper back? How is the bar staying on your back

[@sethreed7213]

I'm bad at neutral spine lifting, I get hurt often. With thoracic curvature I haven't had an injury in several years. To each their own I think

[@atlaspowershrugged]

Actually, I think the biopsychosocial model is a cop out that appeals to professionals who feel self conscious about not being certain what the cause is. Your back doesn't hurt because of "microagressions" or whatever. It is probably biological in most cases other than hypochondriacs, who you can't help anyway. But that doesn't mean it is fully understood, and my understanding is, that the degree to which the spine can adapt to loaded flexion isn't fully understood scientifically at all. But practically speaking we can see that people with healthy spines at least absolutely can make adaptations in terms of capabilities, whatever that ends up looking like on the inside, and have been doing that throughout history.

[@AlexanderBromley]

It was coincidence your clip ended up there. I didnt know what your actual take was, (or the other guys for that matter), I was painting with a broad brush. Very generally the "round back" advocates overlap with "back injuries are NBD... if not all in your head" crew. But I completely agree. It's that doctor bullshit where, in the face of no clear cause, they relabel their uncertainty to give an affirmative diagnosis. Its the need for authority over accuracy

[@atlaspowershrugged]

@AlexanderBromley understood, but there are definitely some factions in "movement optimism" that I disagree with, movement nihilists, "lift as thou wilst shall be the whole of the law" gym Crowleyites. I align with the "science doesn't understand this, so lets get technical and figure out a set of best practices to do this stuff right in practice" subfaction

[@cheeks7050]

Then why does how much sleep one gets or how stressed one is on a given day affect pain massively? And why are most disk bulges asymptomatic, i.e. pain free? Think dude.

[@AlexanderBromley]

@cheeks7050 pain has a subjective component and not all bulges cause symptoms. Both reasonable and correct statements. But what did you prove there

[@GnarStark]

Interesting. I slightly round at the top of my back as well but it never feels like it’s risky. Everything feels tight and safe. Of course maybe I just haven’t gotten injured yet. I’m going to continue to try and correct it if I can but maybe my body shape just is stronger in that position 🤷‍♂️

[@zedcastillo5758]

3 thumbnail changes in a day

[@scottharrison5734]

Bob peoples pulled with rounded back pulled 725lb 182lb farmer powerlifter natty

[@cheeks7050]

Take that, Glassbacks.

[@dustinfrank6129]

Somebody send this to Mark Rippetoe

[@MarkWadey]

If it’s under 100 lbs I don’t bend down to pick it up. Rounding the back is the most effective way to lift at work. You don’t have to take the time to bend down.. you save the lower back as it is already exhausted from lifting the super heavy things when you need to bend down an use the legs.

[@Rudi4rius]

can you double check?

[@Bknorrski]

Heard he does pull ups.

[@DrAJ_LatinAmerica]

Very interesting. Thanks 👍

[@umtluyum]

Hi Alexander, not related with this video but i do have a question. I'm going to try 5-3-1 but there's one thing i dont understand. I'm gonna use it for my Streetlifting training so weighted pull up, dips and squat for 3 days Am I suppose to do every one day each lift or like for week 1, im going to do 3 day every lift first 2 set excatly same just third set AMRAP My English is not very good but I hope I was able to explain my question properly

[@Simlatio]

Your English makes it tricky to know what you are saying, but I'll try to help you. Find your 1RM for each lift. After this multiply these 1RM numbers by 0.9 to get 90% of your 1RM. Use these new 90% figures (SV) for your calculations from now on. Week One: 3 sets of 5 reps, last set being AMRAP. Set 1 = 65% of SV, set 2= 75% of SV, set 3 = 85% of SV. Week Two: 3 sets of 3 reps, last set being AMRAP. Set 1 = 70% of SV, set 2 = 80% of SV, set 3 = 90% of SV. Week Three: Set 1 = 5 reps @75% of SV, set 2 = 3 reps @85% of SV, set 3 = 1+ AMRAP @95% of SV. Week Four (deload): 3 sets of 5 reps. Set 1 = 40% of SV, set 2 = 50% of SV, set 3 = 60% of SV. At the end of deload, add 2.5kg (5lb) to the previous SV of your upper body lifts and 5kg (10lb) to the previous SV of your lower body lifts, and repeat the program from weeks 1-4. Since you appear to be a beginner and are not following a powerlifting template from 'Wendler 5/3/1', you will have to program your own lifting schedule. If you plan to do 3 days of weighted pull ups, weighted dips and weighted squats (Mon/Wed/Fri), then this will be 9 sets for squats and dips, with maybe some additional fractional volume from dips adding to your pulls ups, making the pull ups perhaps 10-12 working sets. If you find it easy to stack on muscle then this may be enough volume, but you might discover that you require a little more volume than what you can get doing those 3 exercises using the 5/3/1 formula. In this case, you might want to add some accessory work to a session or two to increase your volume to a minimum of 10-12 sets for each muscle group over the week. Trial the 9 sets per week first and if you are able to add the 2.5/5kg increments described and hit the targets on your second cycle, then there is no reason to add accessory work to increase the weekly volume beyond 9 sets. If I didn't answer your question properly, feel free to use google translate to type in your native language and let it translate to English because I might understand it a little better. Or if you speak Polish you can just reply to me in that language instead.

[@umtluyum]

@@Simlatio Thank you very much for your answer. I got the answer as I expected, thank you very much. I am thinking of adding only bicep curl, triceps extension and back extension as accessories. I will be tired because I will go to work and university at the same time, so I don't want to push myself too hard.

[@ronbackal]

Seeing Konstantin from the back angle, you don't need hip thrusts to get huge glutes, but boy that's much harder to deadlift 400kg

[@Pepecigar]

Sounds like a stupid question but what do i do when my grip fails before my muscles do ? I feel i'm bottlenecked by my grip most of the time while i feel i can do more rep

[@AlexanderBromley]

Wear straps!!!!! If your grip is weak, it's more effective to do holds and other exercises specifically for that than just waiting for it to catch up from crappy deadlift sets. So in the meantime, don't sideline the bigger muscles of your legs and back because of your grip

[@Pepecigar]

Aight I'll do that then, thank you for your fast answer. Have a nice day.

[@purplecircle7413]

How tf did he round the upper back and keep the lower back straight I can’t do it. Feels about as easy to do as trying to wiggle my ear

[@UnitedEminences]

Hi Alexander, do you have by chance a specific contact email? Have a good day!

[@lloyd011721]

i heard the knife fight one, but 45 minutes? what?

[@chasleichner5895]

I know that you are being hyperbolic for the bit, but the biopsychosocial model of pain is very commonly applied to ankles as well. People's understanding of how their healing can progress and how load can be applied at each stage of healing is definitely well known to affect their rehab of all sorts of things. (That wet pop is the "bio" part.)

[@AlexanderBromley]

How? I mean EXACTLY how, not the vague move of stating "x can effect y" then failing to give an actionable follow up or real examples in treatment. I had mine reconstructed with a plate and 12 screws.... it was a big ordeal and the "psycho social" part was nonexistent. So I'm struggling to think of any scenario where it's actually used.... let alone used "commonly"

[@chasleichner5895]

@@AlexanderBromley I'm sorry that your care didn't include those components. Pain neuroscience enducation (PNE) has been a useful tool for patient healing and return to sport in every study that I have read on it, but I don't have a specific one on hand for ankle reconstruction. "An Updated Model of Chronic Ankle Instability" by Jay Hertel and Revay O. Corbett describes the specific ways the biopsychosocial model (amongst other things) inform the diagnosis and treatment of chronic ankle instability. To be more specific, they discuss analyzing the biological factors (joint laxity, joint movement restrictions, osteoarthritis, impared somatosensation), pschophysiological factors (pain), and psychosocial factors (fear of instability, fear of movement and reinjury). These are therefore all areas to assess and work on during rehab. There is more to it, but this comment is getting a bit long. The whole paper is pretty readable though. The paper has received 630 citations since 2019, so it is definitely part of the discussion in the academic side of PT and sports medicine but 2019 is still relatively recent for this approach to saturate rehab practice, but something can be common or well-understood without being completely ubiquitous. (And also PT, like any profession contains people with a variety of skill levels and a variety of interest levels in staying up to date.)

[@AlexanderBromley]

The lines are getting blurred here. The specific difference between the back and other joints that leads me to poke fun is that the back is the only body part where the 'psycho social' factors are used specifically to explain away pain and inflammation. "instability" is a reach; my point is that no one has ever gone in for pain in their ankle, hip, knee, shoulder, etc. and had the practitioners begin with those factors as a potential root cause. Pain might be higher or lower based on those factors, but the assumption is something is mechanistically wrong. Of course pain is subjective and of course managing it can help with rehab. That's not where the controversy is.

[@cheeks7050]

It's so dumb to call back rounding a loss of efficiency and force transfer. Force transfers equally well through a round or flat back, and a round one is more efficient because of the shorter moment arm from the hips.

[@Isaiah_McIntosh]

Makes the lockout harder though. There's a balance for the amount of round you'd want for your leverages.

[@AlexanderBromley]

I believe my words were "if you pull up and your back goes down". No, that is the exact definition of loss of force transfer. But that's why I differentiated between starting rounded like KK (and being strong enough to straighten out as you lift) and floppy sponge back pullers who don't think about it

[@zsahe21]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@azulsimmons1040]

I thought he died doing bodyguard work protecting a client. I guess no one knows for sure. Though if he were protecting a criminal client, that client may not want any word of what happened spread. Who knows. It is unknown. That dude believed in old world masculinity.

[@bobojenkins5805]

you can get all the single moms you want without ever deadlifting js

[@Jon-xc3xd]

Haack rounds even more than KK

[@runtav_guz8564]

But I literally am Konstantinov

[@HikoSeijuroXIII]

I can't lift with a belt anyhow, it really chafes.

[@alexanderchernoshtan9898]

"Konstantinov", no one calls u Bromleys, right?

[@AlexanderBromley]

lol try google

[@alexanderchernoshtan9898]

@@AlexanderBromley aa u made him Latuanian, haha, okay

[@captainobscurity491]

All my homies hate Stu Mcgill

[@drip369]

K K

[@JorgeDaCapadócia-u8u]

One K away from those that work forces

[@drip369]

@@JorgeDaCapadócia-u8u yeah I had to space them apart for me to use his initials to express agreeing with what the title is telling me to do

[@vids595]

I really dont give a shit what a man can deadlift with straps, a deadlift suit, or a belt. I can operate a forklift so if we are involving technology I'll win.

[@MutantCyborg001]

This smells like broscience and cult like beliefs, but whoever wants to break their bodies go ahead , why not.

[@savage_deadlift6842]

I’m unfollowing you because you put Evan in this

[@jmw1500]

Won't miss you. Don't know you. Don't care to know you.

[@teedee1167]

I wouldn’t encourage anyone to lift like this. Try to keep the spine neutral when lifting weights. When lifting anything!

[@david.kovac.23]

Ok Johnny Pencilneck

[@LazarusLifts_]

Glass back be like

[@windsolarupnorth7084]

Strength aswell as hypertrophy is improved by exposing a muscle to load at a stretched position. If you never round your back you never train your spinal erectors. Ever. Thats why you have a weak back and get injured. Do you also just rack and re-rack the bar when you are benchpressing, never ever performing any actual lifts? If you were to lower the bar to the chest you would accidently expose your pecs, delts and triceps to load in a stretched position and as we know you would never encourage anyone to lift like that?

[@impaledface7694]

Did you not watch the video? Neutral low back with rounded upper back+loads of ab work. I won't change my lifting style, but I can always be reminded to do more abdominal work and upper back work.

[@Egoliftdaily]

@2:31 Frank Yang? A YT OG fitness influencer. Nice.

[@jojcaac5488]

Stop deleting JayJay Bla Bla comments Bromley. It will never stop and there's nothing you can do about it.

[@jojcaac5488]

Jason Blaha