People are always talking about the deadlift being the king. Yet so often for the exercise that’s given such a status, it’s the most poorly performed and most haywire programmed exercise of the lot.
The deadlift, like a king deserves respect and If you’re someone that wants to see more plates on the bar then you need to start addressing the deadlift correctly.
I was just like most, stuck at the same weight wishing it would get better but not giving it the proper attention. Even at one point I went close to 500 days without seeing the weight on the bar go up. I know I’ll never be having that same problem again thanks to changing the way I went about training the deadlift.
It sucks knowing you put in the work, yet you don’t see the results you deserve for your all your efforts. So let’s change that, here’s my three go to methods to bring up your deadlift to the status it deserves.
Speed it up
Most people spend way too much time doing shitty reps at way to heavy weights to build strength. Two of the most effective methods Sheiko and the Conjugate method come back to an average percentage of 70-75% of their max for the program yet most people spend all their time doing 85%+ grinders and high rep set with weights that won’t carry over to getting more weight on the bar.
What if we could get more high quality reps in with less training time and be building our strength in other lifts as well? Simply dropping the weight back and performing less reps for more sets on shorter rest periods allow us to do this. I prefer to do 3 week waves of a variation of the lift before rotating to another weak point. Here’s how my last training cycle went.
Week 1-3 Sumo Deadlift 24-32 Reps between 70-80%
Week 5-7 Block Deadlift 24-30 Reps between 70-80%
Week 9-11 Conventional Deadlift 20-24 Reps between 70-80%
Try it out with your weakest point and work back to your strongest position.
Hammer Your Weak Point
We all like playing to our strengths but everyone knows that you’re only as strong as your weakest point. Yet we often neglect to train it with enough volume or intensity to make it stronger.
Depending on your build and your deadlift stance the weakest point can be different from person to person. Longer leg lifters with short torsos tend to have the weak point in their hips and hamstrings vs a shorter leg, long torso build tends to be weaker in the midline. Knowing your weak point is going to go a long way to figuring out the best deadlift builder for you to use through your training cycle.
For me being closer to a mid-range build the combination of pushing back squats and heavy stiff leg deadlifts tends to work the best for building the deadlift. The best place to put this lift in your program is either as an assistance lift on one of your lower body days or potentially as a main lift early in the training cycle. Stick to reps of 5-10 as an assistance lift or 3-8 as a main lift for these. Aim to beat your rep records as you go and your deadlift will continue to follow.
Just Flirt With The Heavy Weights
I remember listening to Power Athlete Radio with ex NFL star John Welbourne talking about the deadlift. He said to treat the deadlift like a hot chick, you have to flirt with all her friends and only occasionally her. Now I can’t say that works for picking up girls given I’ve been in a relationship for a while now but, for the deadlift I find it spot on.
I tend to find only just touching in with heavier singles once a month and just working until bar speed starts to slow to be an effective means of keeping a feel for the heavy work and ensuring that your training is on the right track. Just remember that it’s not a monthly max out otherwise you will take away from the next month’s training.
Go Forth And Conquer
There you have it 3 simple but effective ways to drive up the deadlift and start seeing some progress again. Make sure to share this with someone struggling with their deadlift.
Enjoyed this article? Go ahead and like our Facebook page for more training tips to get you strong, jacked and athletic.