Deadlift Frequency, Female Client, Late Noce/Early Intermediate

[Ben Baker]

Hey Andy,

I have a questions that requires your expertise.

I have a female client (mid-30's, 120 lbs [I've tried to convince her to gain some weight, she reuses to], 5'7") who's a competitive weightlifting athlete. I've been training her for the last few months and have taken her towards the end of her novice LP. She's doing advanced novice work currently, and my main question is deadlift frequency. She started her LP for deadlifts at 3 sets of 5, I progressed her to 5 sets of 3 and she did that for a while, and now recently I've been having her do a heavy top triple and two drop-set triples with a 5% offset as you detailed in PPST:3. Her other two days for pulling I have her doing 5 sets of 3 cleans one day, and then chins the other day with some light snatches thrown in. She also does some accessory Oly work on some of her off days.

My question, is that enough volume to drive continued progress for her deadlift? I know women need to be doing more frequency and more volume to accumulate enough stress to drive progress on the deadlift, but I'm also trying to balance that with adequate recovery. What would you recommend? Her last deadlift work she pulled 142.5x3x1 for 1x3. She's still making progress, but I want to make sure it's optimal. Thanks!

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

If she is doing a lot of cleans and snatches then 1x/week heavy DL is probably fine. Especially if she is squatting 3x/week. You might increase DL volume if she gets stuck by having her do her back off sets as 5s instead of easy 3s. In other words, top set of 3, back off with 2x5 as heavy as possible.

[Ben Baker]

Thank you for the reply, Andy.

She is training 3x per week and she is cleaning and snatching frequently. Gotcha, that's a great idea. She's still progressing now, but it's definitely getting tough. I'll keep the heavy 2x5's in mind and adjust her programming as needed.

Thanks!

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

You could also add deads or even RDLs after here cleans and/or snatches if you want to increase pulling volume that way. Just titrate it up slowly and don't change all the variables at once.

[Ben Baker]

Would you recommend a percentage offset in that case or just start low and progress incrementally?

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

If those were gonna be "light deads" maybe start with a 5-10% offset and see what happens.