Rack Pulls

[CHIQUITITA]

I've never done these but I want to add thse into my routine for variation other than just doing conventional deads. So if you will please entertain a few of my questions... Thanks in advance.

For starters how often would you use these in your routine... Once a week, every other week, how often???

Also, at what height are you pulling? Would you measue your pin placement to be at knee lever or at the shins?

Last question, when constructing a new back routine would it be doing too much if I toss in rows, pull-ups, shrugs and pulldowns into the mix??? I just dont want to get into trouble and over-tax the cns sending me into overtraining syndrome.

Any help here is appreciated.

[oldmma]

use rack pulls as a major exercise and rotate it in every couple of weeks.
example week 1 deads. week 2 rack pulls. week 3 plat form pulls. week 4 shrug bar deads. also i would keep track of the height your pulling from and vary that as well just be aware and dont do rack pulls an inch off the floor week 2 if you set a new PR week 1 with conv deads, in that case id move the pins to 3-4 inches from lock out and do them there. one thing ive done in the past is separate my dead work out from the rest of my back day and do deads along with my squat work out varying my weights and do one heavier on one week and the other heavier the next. if your in tune you can squat a near max and still pull an 80-90 % dead right after and then do two or three supplemental lower body exercises and call it a day. and then hit the rest of your back on the regular back day. i used that on and off for years with good effect. hope this helps ya

[CHIQUITITA]

I appreciate your input oldmma... Thank-you.

I did do the rack pulls the night before last and really started of light just to make sure I got my form down first before attempting to go heavy and naturally I worked my way up to what really felt suitably heavy for me.
One thing I think I should of mentioned in my original post is my reasoning for incorporating the rack pulls into my routine are not necessarily to build strength but more for variety. In the last several weeks doing the deadlift has been a trigger for my sciatic nerve to flare up leaving me feeling a bit crippled for a day or two and it has mattered on how light I backed my wieght off either.

Anyway, I started to do the rack pulls for reps rather than heavy wieght and at first I was concerned that this would not be a good idea. However, I did get alot of feedback from some other reliable sources that this was alright considering my goals.

After actually doing the pulls, I think for the interim I'm going to do them at least once a week for a few weeks as a replacement for my dl and then reincorporate deads back into the routine. I will however vary the hieght level at which I do pull from. I started at my knees so next week I'll lower my pins a notch and feel my way around it. Oh and the good news, the day after I did the pulls my sciatic nerve absolutely did not flare up but my back felt torn up!!!! Well, in a good way!