Deadlift frequency

[brutus79]

Looking for aggregate advice here as I am having trouble settling for the answer I am fairly certain is right for me.

Background
3 + years in the gym, 2 1/2 bodybuilding and 8 months powerlifting.
Started at 230's and as high as 292 last cycle. I will never go that big again- never felt like such a mouth breathing piece of shit in my life. Probably 15% bf at the 292.
Powerlifting started with sheiko. Started off and did block 29... recalculated maxes and fucked my neck up. Out for a month. Lost all strength gains. Tried to restart it over the course of a couple months and could never get the energy or time up for all the volume. Schedule got hectic at work, with kid, etc. Put a gym in my house and had time to do 4 day wendler bbb 5/3/1. Been going almost three months.
Strength gains have been pretty consistent except deadlifting. Every 2nd or 3rd week I just die out before I even get to max set... just die half way through a weight I repped 10 times the previous week.
I do not do 5 sets ten for bbb for deads... I rarely do ten reps because my form gets fucked.

I will say I feel like reps are too high but since I fucked myself doing sheiko with a recalculation I won't be doing one here. In my three week I just did bench 365 x 7, squatted 425 x 10, military pressed 200 for 8. Last week I deadlifted 490 for 9, this week I died on my second rep of fucking 470. Completely died. The same shit happened before my deload and when I first started this program.
I am thinking I will deadlift every other week and do assistance work (sumo pulls, good mornings, shit like that) and maybe extra squats.... but my knees have appreciated the once a week squats and squat numbers are climbing.

After a week off or deload from deads I steadily pull pr's. Thoughts?
@Docd187123 @insertnamehere @Masters Power @RodgerThat and any other powerlifter out there. It seems like a pussy approach but I have been climbing fast with minimal volume and no injuries... I like that part.

I hopped off 5 weeks ago. I will post a chart with my number averages- you can see the dip when hormones cleared in everything but squat. Deads you can see the trend I am talking about.

 

[brutus79]

 

[Masters Power]

If you are pulling pr's after a week off from deadlifting or a deload week the answer is easy. Only pull once every two weeks or pull every week but keep your numbers light both in terms of actual weight and volume every other week.

No reason to overthink it. You already have a good idea what works for you. Go with it until it isn't producing higher numbers consistently and then switch it up. Lots of very strong guys out there who pull infrequently yet still hit big numbers deadlifting on meet day.

 

[RodgerThat]

I simply think it's the total reps frying our CNS out with that kind of weight doing 8 reps is absolutely killer. I'd probably stick to lower reps and focus on the explosive speed off the ground as opposed to getting rep PRs. This will keep intensity very high but not putting as much volume for the week so you should recover better

 

[devildog93]

Totally agree. You found something that is working it looks like. No need to reinvent the wheel, at least until you quit responding to it. Grats on the 600 pound dl by the way.

 

[jaymaximus]

I simply think it's the total reps frying our CNS out with that kind of weight doing 8 reps is absolutely killer. I'd probably stick to lower reps and focus on the explosive speed off the ground as opposed to getting rep PRs. This will keep intensity very high but not putting as much volume for the week so you should recover better

This is what I do now. 8 - 10 sets, but only 1 - 3 reps per set. I just have to keep myself in check from going y heavy too often.
I also do a variation on another day. Rack / Block pulls.

 

[DonQKong]

That's a wicked program you have there. What is it?

 

[Perrin Aybara]

I had the same kind of thing happen running an RTS template last year, I'd hit a rep PR one week and the next couldn't budge something that should have been easy.

Bottom line if that's what works for there's no reason not to do it. They make these programs to work for most, but we're not all the same. For me spending time in what most consider too high a rep range (6-10) blows my deadlift up.

Also, I was talking to the guy who took first at my last meet about what he did for deadlift and he pulled every other week, too. He was mid 40's, 242lbs and had a mid 700's pull. So it's not just you and it can obviously work very well.

How you'd program it, I'm not sure. It seems like Practical Programming 3rd edition had a little bit in the way of programming less frequent deadlift. It's been awhile since I've read it though.

 

[brutus79]

I had the same kind of thing happen running an RTS template last year, I'd hit a rep PR one week and the next couldn't budge something that should have been easy.

Bottom line if that's what works for there's no reason not to do it. They make these programs to work for most, but we're not all the same. For me spending time in what most consider too high a rep range (6-10) blows my deadlift up.

Also, I was talking to the guy who took first at my last meet about what he did for deadlift and he pulled every other week, too. He was mid 40's, 242lbs and had a mid 700's pull. So it's not just you and it can obviously work very well.

How you'd program it, I'm not sure. It seems like Practical Programming 3rd edition had a little bit in the way of programming less frequent deadlift. It's been awhile since I've read it though.

I think I'm just going to skip eow deads on the app. Fuck it. I meant to tag you too but couldn't even begin to spell your name by memory.

 

[brutus79]

That's a wicked program you have there. What is it?

It's wendler 5/3/1 boring but big. I'm off cycle so I don't really do assistance work to keep the volume down and I don't really have time anyway.

 

[Perrin Aybara]

I think I'm just going to skip eow deads on the app. Fuck it. I meant to tag you too but couldn't even begin to spell your name by memory.

It's all good, as far as I know this name only exists in the book it's from.

So, are you going to stick with the 5/3/1 format and just skip a week? Like this?

Week one
Squat, bench, deads 5's

Week two
Squat, bench 3's

Week three
Squat and bench 5/3/1's, deads 3's

Or just skip the week altogether and keep reps the same?

Since you keep close track you'll figure out what works for you, it'll evolve over time. I haven't seen a whole lot in terms of doing things that way, so I can't really say what'll work. Doc might have more to say whenever he makes it here.

From what I do remember of the stuff in Practical Programing it was things like rack/block pulls one week and then deadlift to the knees the next. I personally hate deadlift to the knees as it feels like a failed rep, but the theory is still pulling heavy often, just not through the full range of motion, so it's not as taxing. How to apply that to 5/3/1 BBB, I'm not exactly sure. Doing stuff like good mornings, light sumo, light deficit, Romanian deadlifts, etc. in place of the BBB deads might work. Doing 5x10 rack/block pulls or partial deads doesn't really make sense though. Some of those BBB templates that do 5x5 or 5x3 in place of 5x10 might be better for those type of movements. I don't know, I'm just thinking out loud here, just doing the every other week thing might be sufficient. I am a chronic overthinker.

 

[devildog93]

I've been thinking about pulling lighter every other week as well. I have my best deadlifts when i've skipped it for a week or two for some reason. I don't want to blow the day off, but my recovery has gone to shit as i've gotten older. Maybe on dl day i'll just go light and accessories every other week.

 

[turcao]

QUOTE="brutus79, post: 1555397, member: 62813"]I think I'm just going to skip eow deads on the app. Fuck it. I meant to tag you too but couldn't even begin to spell your name by memory.[/QUOTE]
There's a podcast by Rippetoe about deadlift/squat frequency for the over 40 crowd. I Don't think you're there yet but he says that he only deadlifts ever other week and doesn't go above 5 reps.

I was running 5/3/1 for a while and I think the last set of deads (the + set) was running me down a bit. FWIW

 

[heady muscle]

In on this to learn. What's up Brutus?

 

[brutus79]

QUOTE="brutus79, post: 1555397, member: 62813"]I think I'm just going to skip eow deads on the app. Fuck it. I meant to tag you too but couldn't even begin to spell your name by memory.

There's a podcast by Rippetoe about deadlift/squat frequency for the over 40 crowd. I Don't think you're there yet but he says that he only deadlifts ever other week and doesn't go above 5 reps.

I was running 5/3/1 for a while and I think the last set of deads (the + set) was running me down a bit. FWIW[/QUOTE]

That was the other concerning thing to me was being over five reps... even on five rep days I am pretty shot the next week. I read that rippetoe stuff... I just feel like I am being lazy even though all the results are there.

I really appreciate all the feedback guys... kept going back and forth in my head. I also dropped lower on calories and volume way down... lost about 20 lbs in the last month and a half. Less fat, sleeping better, feel way better but it's a fucking mind fuck losing weight AND having maxes drop. Panic time even though it's on purpose.

 

[devildog93]

Ok Brutus, i'm on the every other week train now as well. My workout partner isn't buying into it, so i'm having to low key it. One week i'm just not going to be feeling it, then the next week i will try and bang out maybe 5 as heavy as i can go. He's one of those guys that thinks if he isn't giving max effort every moment he's going to lose something. Me, i'm just tired of feeling beat up. Yesterday was a max effort day and i could tell the difference after cruising the week before.

Since you hit 600 on dl maybe you can help me out here. I have not and was wondering what a 600 pound single equates to for a set of 5 for you.

 

[RodgerThat]

Ok Brutus, i'm on the every other week train now as well. My workout partner isn't buying into it, so i'm having to low key it. One week i'm just not going to be feeling it, then the next week i will try and bang out maybe 5 as heavy as i can go. He's one of those guys that thinks if he isn't giving max effort every moment he's going to lose something. Me, i'm just tired of feeling beat up. Yesterday was a max effort day and i could tell the difference after cruising the week before.

Since you hit 600 on dl maybe you can help me out here. I have not and was wondering what a 600 pound single equates to for a set of 5 for you.

545x5 will give you a 600lb top end. Also I'd still go through the deadlift motions just stick light and do speed work on the week off. Maybe 225 with a 100lb band and do 8 sets of 3 for speed you won't burn yourself out and you'll work on your explosive power

 

[Perrin Aybara]

Ok Brutus, i'm on the every other week train now as well. My workout partner isn't buying into it, so i'm having to low key it. One week i'm just not going to be feeling it, then the next week i will try and bang out maybe 5 as heavy as i can go. He's one of those guys that thinks if he isn't giving max effort every moment he's going to lose something. Me, i'm just tired of feeling beat up. Yesterday was a max effort day and i could tell the difference after cruising the week before.

Since you hit 600 on dl maybe you can help me out here. I have not and was wondering what a 600 pound single equates to for a set of 5 for you.

In my experience in the two months leading up to my meet where I pulled 600 I hit 495x8, 520x5, 540x3 and 570x2. Now each of these sets was an AMRAP after doing a few sets at that same weight and I was running a peaking routine, but that's how it went for me.

 

[devildog93]

Thanks guys. Rodger, no bands at my house, sorry. I have a power rack, a couple of rogue bars and maybe 8-900 pounds of free weights. So it sounds like maybe when i get to 535 for 5 then i can think about running the progression to 600 and trying to break through maybe.

 

[RodgerThat]

Thanks guys. Rodger, no bands at my house, sorry. I have a power rack, a couple of rogue bars and maybe 8-900 pounds of free weights. So it sounds like maybe when i get to 535 for 5 then i can think about running the progression to 600 and trying to break through maybe.

speed work doesn't have to be done with bands you can just focus on exploding up or make your second deadlift day a powerclean day instead so your still going through the motion. I just think 1x every 2 weeks will make your form become unnatural to a certain degree