Deadlift Stall

[Justin Johnson]

I'm looking for some guidance on progressing my deadlift as an early intermediate.

Male, 37yo, 5'11", 215lbs. I should be eating enough (minimum of 200g protein daily with more on training days, 250-300 Carb, and fat generally below 90). Sleep can be an issue, but on most nights at least 6 hours.

Started running LP in December of 2018, and finished LP in April with 305SQ, 235B, 330DEAD, 170P. Since 4/27 I've been running a 4 day split due to time constraints. I started 4 day split by adding 5 pounds to the last LP sets for Intensity, and then 85% of the ending LP set for Volume. Then have attempted to add 5 pounds both Intensity and Volume weekly.
M - Deadlift 5rm, Squat 5x5
Tu - Press 5rm, Bench 5x5, Chins
Th - Squat 5rm, Deadlift 3x5
F - Bench 5rm, Press 5x5, Rows

Deadlift was the first thing I failed in LP at 310, so I switched to 2 sets of 3. I progressed to 345 doing that before failing again. Went back to sets of 5 for a few workouts before the end of LP, and finished up at 330x5. Pulled 335x5 for the first Deadlift intensity, and then failed on the 4th rep of 340 the next week. Rested a few minutes, and added 2 more reps. This morning, a week later, I failed 340 again on the 4th rep. Rested and was able to get 3 more reps.

Any input would be appreciated.

[Mark Rippetoe]

You're eating maybe 3000 kcal/day.

[Justin Johnson]

You're eating maybe 3000 kcal/day.

Would you have a preference for which macro to increase, or to increase all 3 and see what happens?

[Treg]

Deadlift was the first thing I failed in LP at 310, so I switched to 2 sets of 3. I progressed to 345 doing that before failing again. Went back to sets of 5 for a few workouts before the end of LP, and finished up at 330x5. Pulled 335x5 for the first Deadlift intensity, and then failed on the 4th rep of 340 the next week. Rested a few minutes, and added 2 more reps. This morning, a week later, I failed 340 again on the 4th rep. Rested and was able to get 3 more reps.

You appear to have missed an important point that Rip stressed in PPST and that has been echoed here by Michael Wolf and others. You’re supposed to avoid failed reps by anticipating them and going to a lower rep number before they happen. It looks to me like your 5s gave out a while back and you should already be doing 3s. When you realize 3s are going to fail soon, drop to 2s right away instead of failing at 3s. And so on.

I made the same mistake of trying to hang in there with 5s on DL for too long and it cost me a lot of time. We’d like to do 5s forever, but that’s not how it works. Just run it out and the 5s will be there waiting for you when you start the next cycle.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Would you have a preference for which macro to increase, or to increase all 3 and see what happens?

Ask Santana in the Nutrition forum.

[Justin Johnson]

You appear to have missed an important point that Rip stressed in PPST and that has been echoed here by Michael Wolf and others. You’re supposed to avoid failed reps by anticipating them and going to a lower rep number before they happen. It looks to me like your 5s gave out a while back and you should already be doing 3s. When you realize 3s are going to fail soon, drop to 2s right away instead of failing at 3s. And so on.

I made the same mistake of trying to hang in there with 5s on DL for too long and it cost me a lot of time. We’d like to do 5s forever, but that’s not how it works. Just run it out and the 5s will be there waiting for you when you start the next cycle.

I’m familiar with that point and have tried to learn from earlier missed reps in LP and forecast them more accurately. I was not expecting to only complete 3 reps at 340, when I completed 5 at 335 the week prior. I’d had two rough nights with my 1 year old, so that seemed like the most likely cause. But it seems as thought that wasn’t the only factor.

Thanks for all the feedback and I’ll ask for Santana’s thoughts