There is nothing quite as frustrating as a Deadlift that just won’t budge.
Every lifter that has been training for a while has experienced that day where he locks into to pull his 5-rep work set, but instead the barbell just sticks to the floor. Instead of 5 reps, you maybe get 5 inches. It’s the kind of thing that makes you check the plates on the bar to make sure you didn’t accidentally load a few extra 45s by mistake.
It’s defeating, but it happens.
Relative to my squat, I’ve never been a great deadlifter. My presses and squats have always responded well to pretty basic programming, but I’ve always had to get a little creative to get the deadlift to keep moving, and I’ve had plenty of clients in the same boat. Over my 10+ years of coaching the barbell lifts I’ve tried, failed, and succeeded with several different approaches to deadlift programming.
In this article I’m going to outline one method that requires quite a bit of work outside of just deadlifting, but generally works well, especially over a long period of time.
You’ll need to be able to devote 3-days per week to this approach, and one top of this you can layer in your Bench and Press training as you see fit – either on separate days of the week or you can add some pressing to any of these 3 days.
Monday – Deadlift Day
Exercise #1: Deadlifts
You’ll start on Monday with regular conventional deadlifts for 3 work sets. Each week you will alternate between sets of 8, sets of 5, or sets of 2. I suggest starting this program at 70%1RM for sets of 8, 80% 1RM for sets of 5, and 90% 1RM for sets of 2. Every time you complete the 3 week cycle you will add 5 lbs to each week for the next cycle.
Exercise #2: (Choose One of the Following) Box Squats, Pin Squats, Front Squats, Stiff Leg Deadlifts, or Deficit Deadlifts.
You will perform 3 work sets for 8 reps. For experienced lifters I recommend changing the exercise up every week. For intermediates I would pick one and stay with it for several weeks until you are struggling to complete 3 sets of 8 reps. At that point switch movements.
Exercise #3 (Choose One of the Following): 45 degree back extension, 90 degree back extension, glute ham raises, lying leg curls, or reverse hypers.
The point here it to build work capacity in your posterior chain with a low stress movement. I suggest 3 work sets of 15-20 reps. This will help you build the tolerance for all the deadlift volume in this program.
Wednesday – Upper Back
One the upper back day you will do anywhere from 1-4 movements depending on your work capacity and how you have your week scheduled. You will always do Barbell Rows as your 1st or 2nd movement of the day. Second priority would go to Pull Ups which you should probably do before you Row if you are going to do both exercises. Third and/or Fourth would be some shrugs and/or another row variation such as DB Rows, T-Bar Rows, or Seated Cable Rows. I recommend 3 work sets for each exercise, all in the 8-10 range. Use straps as needed to save your grip and keep the focus on building your back, not your grip.
Friday – Squat Day
Exercise #1: Squats
Program your Squats the same way you did the Deadlifts with my 8-5-2 scheme. 3 work sets, rotating through the different rep ranges each week.
Exercise #2: RDL or Goodmornings
After squats perform either an RDL or a Goodmorning. If you know how to do both, then switch on a weekly basis. If you don’t know how to do a Goodmorning then simply perform RDLs. Again 3 sets of 8 reps. Every 9-12 weeks you will drop this exercise completely in preparation for a deadlift testing day on the following Monday.
Exercise #3: (Choose One of the Following): 45 degree back extension, 90 degree back extension, glute ham raises, lying leg curls, or reverse hypers.
Again 3 sets of 15-20 reps and I suggest a different exercise than what you used on Monday.
Testing and Deloading
After 3-4 cycles of this (9-12 weeks) you will test a new 1RM on the Deadlift. The testing day should fall on a week that would normally have your performing 3 sets of 2. You will test the 1RM in place of the 3×2 workout.
After the 1RM Deadlift on Monday I want you to skip exercise #2, and only do the light posterior chain work.
On Wednesday, just do light and easy upper back work. Maybe Lat Pulldowns and Seated Cable Rows.
On Friday you will Squat 3 moderate sets of 5, skip the RDLs or Goodmornings again, and perform some light posterior chain work.
The following week you will restart the program with sets of 8, recalculating off of your new 1RM or simply adding 5-10 lbs from where you left off in the previous cycle.
