Advice for running out the deadlift

[Michael Wolf]

Ya, one lower stress week with intensity and volume pulled back enough to start the new round fresh, but not so much to detrain very much. Light workout the first day, medium the second day, heavier the third day, then two days off for weekend and hit it again next week. The heavier workout of this particular week would be considered a light to medium workout, Medium day an easy workout, and light day is borderline between WO and WU, so you basically are warming up to an easy work or two set that first day.

So in the case of a guy who did an easy 405 and a hard 425, it might be working up to one set of 300x3 the first day. 295x5 and then 315x3 the second day. And maybe something like 325x2, 345x2, 365x2 the third day. You could do it in a bunch of different ways, but if you assume 295x5 is just heavy enough to be contributory work for this person, then you're actually getting some decent amount of work in this week, but mostly at intensity low enough to be fresh at the end of it, while still hitting just enough work in the heavier range (345 and 365) to keep that aspect of training from backsliding as well.

As always, the point isn't to do exactly what I wrote. It's to understand how this is one example of applying the concept.

[Justin Smale]

I got to the part about running out reps, and the part that jumped out at me was that running out reps should be planned and not a result of missing reps.

I swallowed my pride and am running a NLP again for squats and deadlifts, and I'm at close to this point with my deadlifts so this thread is awesome advice. I'm just wondering about the aspect that it should be planned and not because of missed reps. My weekly set of 5 is a struggle (I'm always wondering if that last rep will make it) and leaves me feeling like hammered s**t every week, but I can keep adding weight each week and my form is mostly good. So I'm just struggling on knowing WHEN this planning aspect of the transition should be kicking in. For reference I'm 180 lbs and my last 5 was 375 lbs (trying to put on 15 pounds by late March/early April for a participting - not competing - in a meet).

[Michael Wolf]

I swallowed my pride and am running a NLP again for squats and deadlifts, and I'm at close to this point with my deadlifts so this thread is awesome advice. I'm just wondering about the aspect that it should be planned and not because of missed reps. My weekly set of 5 is a struggle (I'm always wondering if that last rep will make it) and leaves me feeling like hammered s**t every week, but I can keep adding weight each week and my form is mostly good. So I'm just struggling on knowing WHEN this planning aspect of the transition should be kicking in. For reference I'm 180 lbs and my last 5 was 375 lbs (trying to put on 15 pounds by late March/early April for a participting - not competing - in a meet).

You say you're re-running an LP. If you did it correctly the first time, and it wasn't too long ago that you were training, you should have a fairly good idea of when this is, and plan accordingly. If this is your first real LP done right, just let yourself miss so you know for sure. You don't have a frame of reference to estimate properly yet, and you're not yet strong/adapted enough relative to your potential that missing reps is costly from a recovery standpoint - so you just go till you miss. 375 is probably heavier than average for that point, but certainly well within normal limits so if that's you, just keep going. If you have data that tells you, then use that. Not complicated.

[Treg]

Ya, one lower stress week with intensity and volume pulled back enough to start the new round fresh, but not so much to detrain very much. Light workout the first day, medium the second day, heavier the third day, then two days off for weekend and hit it again next week. The heavier workout of this particular week would be considered a light to medium workout, Medium day an easy workout, and light day is borderline between WO and WU, so you basically are warming up to an easy work or two set that first day.

So in the case of a guy who did an easy 405 and a hard 425, it might be working up to one set of 300x3 the first day. 295x5 and then 315x3 the second day. And maybe something like 325x2, 345x2, 365x2 the third day. You could do it in a bunch of different ways, but if you assume 295x5 is just heavy enough to be contributory work for this person, then you're actually getting some decent amount of work in this week, but mostly at intensity low enough to be fresh at the end of it, while still hitting just enough work in the heavier range (345 and 365) to keep that aspect of training from backsliding as well.

As always, the point isn't to do exactly what I wrote. It's to understand how this is one example of applying the concept.

Michael, I just realized I never thanked you for this reply. So, thank you! This is a great thread and I hope to be able to put all this to use in the months ahead.

[Treg]

Hey coach!

Just wanted to report back now that I've finished my run out. I know you said it wasn't a prescription, but I figured I might as well follow it as written. Stuck with it up until the last couple of weeks when I condensed it a bit for the sake of testing a 1RM before the arbitrary deadline of 2018. My initial goal was to pull 405, but I realized a few weeks ago that I could probably do better. Today I pulled a pretty speedy 405, and a much less speedy, far shakier 425 for a pair of PRs!

Looking forward to going back and hitting some rep PRs as I rotate rep ranges on intensity day. Was thinking of starting at 350x5, 365x3x2, and 380x1x5. Think this would be a reasonable place to start?

Thanks again for all your help, Wolf!

Michael, a couple more questions, if I may:

1. Running it out a second time using a 5/3/1 scheme like this, how many lifts at each rep number would you generally expect the lifter to be able to do? Maybe three or four, similar to the first time through?

2. Would you still recommend the same backoff scheme for the 3s and 1s, i.e., a 3 and a backoff 3 at 90-95%, and a 1 and two backoff 1s at 90-95%?


Thanks again!

[Michael Wolf]

The thread is now so old that I don't remember any of the relevant info and, TBH, am too lazy to go back and look it up this far afterwards. My customer service for this free forum sucks pretty bad, huh?

[Treg]

Definitely not!!! Problem with me is I'm always thinking of more questions. You've given us a LOT to work with here and I know I'm not the only one who really appreciates it!