Deadlift is stuck and weak / Squat is still going and strong?

[phonics]

Thanks for the tip Aaron. I will still likely implement it, but...

Couple concerns:
-Have you noticed a tendency toward over training with the DL volume above?
-My issue seems to be pulling heavy weight and any crazy form experimentation I do seems to work at that weight.

Honestly, I am not really concerned about my other lifts at this point (except for squat form) as they have already exceeded the novice phase gains potential. This and other life factors are pushing me to an intermediate program and this appears to be an excellent transition for my lagging DL.

[Jeff Illingworth]

You'll know pretty quick if it's helping, hurting, or doing nothing. If it's either of the two latter ones, back off on your "light" and "medium" pulling days will fix it. You can always go ahead and transition your whole program to an intermediate program or you can phase the lifts over as they stall. Practical Programming and The Barbell Prescription really explain all of this well and I would recommend you get and read them. However, if you need a quick reference, check out the articles and videos that Andy Baker has posted. They'll give you a good overview or, if you don't want to have to think about it too much, get his Garage Gym Warrior program. For $25 bucks, it's an easy to follow but very productive intermediate HLM program.

[Aaron Montgomery]

Thanks for the tip Aaron. I will still likely implement it, but...

Couple concerns:
-Have you noticed a tendency toward over training with the DL volume above?
-My issue seems to be pulling heavy weight and any crazy form experimentation I do seems to work at that weight.

From what I've read/heard, sensitivity to deadlift volume varies from person to person. If you give 3x5@80% a try for a couple weeks, and consistently feel beat up and unable to smash Friday's 1x5 session, try 2x5@80% instead. If you and I had 500lb deadlifts, I'm sure 3x5@80% wouldn't be very beneficial, but several SS coaches recommend it for early intermediates. Oh, and on days that I'm feeling really good, and 80% feels light, I work on exploding off the ground, and lowering the weight somewhat slowly. For several weeks I even paused right after the weights left the ground to make sure my balance was good.

[Greg Ruhl]

Now may be a good time to incorporate a light squat day. Do your heavy DL on that day and deadlift variations (power clean, pendlay row, lighter 3x5, etc.) on the heavier squat days.

[phonics]

I'm back with a couple days of squatting videos.

340x6 vid
I'm not sure if I should have skipped this Monday and waited for light squats to try this stuff out, but for whatever reason (loss of concentration regarding bar path obviously) my balance was all over the place and I did an extra rep because I can't count.
Here is that vid from 45 degess back: e20170724_SQ340.mp4 - Google Drive

Notes:
- I think I might be losing the back angle too much during the hip drive out of the bottom. This is likely due to me forgetting to keep a constant back angle that would keep me from doing a good morning.
- What are the opinions about what looks like lumbar hyper extension to less extension (small degree of butt wink) at the bottom? I cannot stay perfectly tight no matter how hard I try even on light warmup sets. I have absolutely no lower back pain, but that could just be a temporary thing at relatively lighter weights.

275x5 vid
e20170726_SQ275.mp4 - Google Drive
This is my new light squat day and I gave it another go with leaning over (sitting back) more with lighter weight. I still have balance as a secondary thought and I'm starting to think I agree with part in SSBBT where the master cue is all you need and let the body figure out the angles as necessary.

Any additional feedback is much appreciated. The deadlift volume day feels great so far, but nothing new just yet. I will say that 275x5 on the floor feels a hell of a lot heavier than on my back. I felt like jumping off the ground on some of those lighter squats.

[Jeff Illingworth]

I'm not sure what was going on the 340 video, but you looked like you were having a hard time just staying balanced while standing. Regardless, you're pretty upright in both videos and aren't getting bent over enough to get good hip drive. A couple of things:

Narrow your stance. Bring each foot in about a half foot width. It looks like your stance is too wide so your knees can never get really well set side-to-side.

Try some different shoes. It looks like you're rolling around a lot in these. Try something with a harder/more solid sole to give you some balance help.

Your upper back could be a little tighter and a little more in extension. If you can't get it to pull in tighter, try lifting your head just a little bit.

I think you'll really like squatting with a belt.

[phonics]

Thanks Jeff. I couldn't agree with you more on all points. After I really watched what I was doing in those vids, and stopped laughing, I started reading about the TUBOW video (How to use the TUBOW with Jayson Ball and Noah Millstein | On the Platform - YouTube). I reaffirmed how upright I was even now and terribly reliant on my knees at the bottom. I guess I need to reread the squat chapter and use lighter weight for the time being.

Also, I do have a belt and very much liked that it helped me stay tighter and brace harder with a big breath. I was not using it on my last reset for fear that I would be leaving back training on the table. But now I know that my upper back seems to be the weaker link.

Back to the drawing board.

Thanks again to everyone.

[Jeff Illingworth]

I keep fighting with being more upright and I tend to "panic" toward that when things get heavy. The thing that's helped is really working on making sure I'm chest down from the very first warmup. If you're used to using a belt while upright, you may want to use it earlier in your warm ups because it'll feel different when you get bent over and have your hips more in the squat. To be honest, if you're using the belt right and squatting right, I don't think you'll be leaving that much back strength on the table.

One thing that will make things a little tougher for you is your rack set up. With it so close to the wall, you're kind of forced to unrack the bar in a more upright position. Being able to get under the bar in a quarter squat, low-bar position will help ingrain things (it has for me and a few people I train, anyway).

Where do you live?

[phonics]

For me it was a badly ingrained movement pattern wanting to be more upright especially with longer weaker back and getting the weight up, but that is exactly what the low bar squat is meant to fix.

The rack was pretty close before and would be an issue for anyone taller using it but my initial setup was just the faulty pattern of being more vertical. I like the idea of quarter squatting using the low back angle and will start using it after moving it out a bit. Honestly, I'm just waiting to graduate to an actual rack once the time is right (cash and commitment).

I've been a central Illinois boy since birth.

[Jeff Illingworth]

Phonics, if you can swing it, you'll be able to get these things fixed faster if you can get some in-person coaching. There are a bunch of coaches up in the Chicago area and at least one over in St. Louis.