Chasing 605: My Roadmap to a Big Deadlift

2010 January 12

By Matt

I like the hell out of deadlifting. I always have, from the first time I did them. I don’t know what it is about the exercise, because looked at objectively, it fucking sucks. You load up a bunch of heavy shit on the bar, grab it, then huff, puff, turn red, and blow some veins in your eyes to lock it out.

Whatever. I love it, and there’s nothing more impressive than a big pull. Squats come close, but deadlifts are just more honest. If somebody says he squats 700, there’s all kinds of questions you have to ask: How low was it? Was it in three layers of gear, or raw? Was it a gym-lift done with three spotters pushing on the bar and only the slightest knee bend?

You don’t get that with the pull. You can’t spot it, you can’t cheat it, and even lifting suits don’t add very much to it. If somebody says he deadlifts a big number, you know he means business.

I’ve been after 600 lbs for a few years now. I got close back in 2006 – weighing around 215 I pulled 500×5, 545×2, and got 585 to my knees around that time frame. Then I hit some real-life obstacles, like moving between two countries, getting married, and otherwise being in a lot of turbulence. Did I mention the injuries and the protracted rehab process going on during all that? Yeah. Not the best of conditions to be setting records.

Things have settled down for me now, and we’ve been hanging around with a solid group of lifters. In September and November of last year (2009), I did a strongman contest, involving a max deadlift, and a powerlifting meet. Weighing under 90kg both times, I pulled 230kg (506 lbs) and 240kg (528 lbs) respectively. Neither was an all-time PR, but the important thing is that 1) it’s the first time I’ve pulled that much since 2006, and 2) it’s momentum.

That got me thinking – why not shoot for the gold? A 275kg deadlift would be 605 lbs. I’d aimed to hit 240 in the meet as part of my roadmap, which would only leave me needing to add 35kg by the end of 2010. It would be hard, but it could be done if I applied myself. Hitting 240 as I planned meant full speed ahead.

The first thing I knew was that I needed benchmarks and goals. Adding 35kg (77 lbs) to a lift that’s already pushing the curve is no easy feat, even in a year. It’s worse because I want to do it with only a belt; not that a suit would add much anyway, but it’s still something. Add to that the fact that I want to do it weighing under 90kg and you’ve got a nice problem to troubleshoot.

So I have to break it into chunks. The first benchmark is to hit at least 250 (550 lbs) by late February, early March at the latest. As of this writing I may actually be good for it given recent numbers; but I’ve found that I’d rather play conservative for now and have a surprise on the test day.

The next step is 260 (572 lbs). This one is important because it’s going to show me that I can really do it. Closing the gap will boil down to a mere 15kg. This will also be the most difficult part because it’s going to be brand new territory. The 250 benchmark is still not really ‘new’, in that I’ve done it before. Hitting 260 on the other hand will be breaking entirely new ground.

I need to hit this by no later than June. That gives me roughly four months to move from 250 to 260, and it’s not so late in the year that I can’t make the slog to the target.

Once over that hump, there’s only the end-game. By this point it’s only another 15kg, but I have the feeling it will be the hardest phase of them all. Assuming I’m on point to hit my November PL meet again, I’ll set 275kg as the goal for a second attempt. That will again give me 4-5 months to make the target.

I may be too conservative here; then again, I could be overestimating my own ability to pull it off.

To hell with it. The only way to know is to try.

Training Strategy

I’m not following anybody’s program. All I can do at this point is pay attention to my weak spots, pay attention to what’s been working, and try to keep the bar moving up.

My current strategy is drawing heavily on the wisdom of Bill Starr, Louie Simmons, Jim Wendler, and Mike Tuchscherer. I’m using a fairly eclectic mix of strategies to develop a routine; so far it’s been working, and I’ve got some aces up my sleeve for if (when) I hit roadblocks.

• I have to make a few concessions to my injuries, unfortunately. This means that I can’t really back squat with any significant weights, since I tore my right quad while prepping for my last meet. Instead I’ve been relying on front squats and box squats; this may be for the best, since both of those seem to translate very well to my deadlift.
• I’m doing a lot of good mornings, only with lighter weights and focusing on volume. This is something I picked up from reading Bill Starr, who was a fan of using these and stiff-leg deadlifts to build the strength of the lower back. The stiff-legs will be making an appearance in the coming months, as I’ve always found them useful.
• Another gem I took from Starr was to work the hell out of the back raise/hyperextension. Starr suggested doing a set of these for very high reps before and after your workouts, so I’m easing these in as well along with weighted ab work.
• Right now I’m programming the deadlift with the Jim Wendler’s 5-3-1 setup, following the weekly percentages he lays out, working to one top set (which always works very well with the pull), and using a conservative max.
• I plan to rotate that strategy with more familiar Max Effort workouts, focusing on variations of deadlifts. Options on the table are reverse-band pulls, pulls against bands, rack pulls from a low pin, and deficit pulls. What I mean by rotating them is doing a four-week cycle of 5-3-1 numbers, then a 3-4 week cycle focusing on ME work.
• I want to start bringing in very heavy shrugs and/or rack pulls from the mid-thigh. Normally I don’t think much of these except as a show-off exercise, but in this case I want to start getting 260-280 in my hands on a consistent basis and this is the easiest way to do it.
• Also I want to start bringing in halting deadlifts, both free and combined with rack isometrics. My strength off the floor is fine right now thanks to front squats, but the mid-range is another weak point that can never get too much help. What I may do is alternate between the top-end shrugs/pulls and the low-end halting DLs depending on my ME lift. If I do something like a reverse-band DL, then I’ll do haltings as a second lift. If I do deficit pulls, I’ll hit the shrugs. That way you get some top-end and some off-the-floor at each session.
• I’m keeping power cleans in the routine right now, because I seem to really benefit from speed pulling. Whether it’s power cleans or speed pulls, I need something fast and easy in there to go with the heavier work. I’ll probably play around with rotating cleans and speed pulls against bands.
• I’m trying to train without a belt as much as possible, especially now with lighter weights and higher reps. My philosophy towards the belt has always been train without, max with. That’s always paid off for me.
• Believe it or not, I’m doing a good bit of conditioning work right now as well, mainly intervals and tempo rides on the bike, but also steep incline walks and the occasional kettlebell or barbell circuit. Why? Because it makes me feel better, it keeps my weight in check, and because I’ve noticed that better work capacity helps both my recovery and my workouts. I don’t plan on taking it out, since I’m only doing 20-30 minutes three times a week. If it starts impacting my recovery, I’ll either scale it back to easy LI cardio, or just drop it for that day.

My current weekly routine is split between pushing and pulling muscles. I’m squatting and pressing for the pushing workouts, then deadlifting or cleaning and doing chins + curlz on the pulling days. I don’t know if I’ll stick to that structure; it will entirely depend on recovery. In that regard, a more standard upper/lower split might be better, as the same muscles are being worked every workout with the push/pull strategy.

I’ve tentatively planned my next training cycle around the Triumvirate, with more of a focus on ME and DE pulling. Bouncing back and forth between 5-3-1 and more traditional but deadlift-focused Westside may be one option here.

Another thing I’m considering after some conversations on IGx is to give block periodization a try. Landon Evans and Jeremy Frey over on EliteFTS have put together some interesting training cycles based on accumulation, transmutation, and realization blocks.

As pl54 summed up in an excellent post over on IGx, it would break down like so:

Accumulation is really high volume through low rep multiple sets done with short rest periods with compensatory acceleration. The exercises are not the big three but derivatives-box squat, floor press, incline, dl from deficit, GM from chains.

Transmutation is really load up with bands and chains and do board press, box squats, and DLs form floor. Less volume and uses a RPE to determine a 92-85% load then drop 3-5% and do some singles.

Realization-just the big three in gear practicing the lifts and staying at around 85%.

Nothing in here i haven’t seen in WSB, Sheiko, Hatfield, Circa max, except the use of RPE to determine bar loads.

From the simple comes the more complex and a new wrinkle (RPE) which will get applied in all the other methods. A far better way IMHO to guage loads than percents.

Sounds like a damn good strategy to me, and I can see what I’m doing now evolving towards that as I get closer to the target. He also brings up a good point with the mention of RPE, which I’ve discussed before. In my opinion, using RPE to manipulate workouts – or auto-regulation, if you want to use the fancy word – is critical, and I’m going to have to make more use of it as I get into new territory.

I’ve got some ideas ruminating for an RPE-based block periodization strategy, revolving around frequent, high-volume/lower-intensity training, perhaps using the push/pull strategy such as I’m using now; then shifting into ‘harder’ (by RPE/effort) and heavier training with an upper/lower routine for less frequent exposure. Follow that up with short two-week tapering phases, and hit a new max at the end. I’m really just kicking around ideas at this point, but that’s where I see it heading.

I expect to write follow-ups as I go, just to keep a record of what I’m doing and to log any changes to the strategy. And those changes will happen; with this kind of thing all you can do is lay out a strategy. What actually happens will be a different matter.

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