Deadlift back-off sets

[Soda]

Do you think there is any advantage to doing some extra Deadlift sets with the weight reduced after a top set, or is it better to just do the single work set of 5 (after a warm-up) and be done? I know heavy sets across are too taxing.

[Michael Wolf]

I've been adding back off sets of haltings or deficit pulls after my one DL workset. I respond in the classic manner that is the reason that SS and PP generally call for low volume of heavy pulling - DLs fry me bad and take me a long time to recover from. My squats the Tuesday after I pull heavy on Friday (today, for example) are usually pretty awful. Nonetheless, at a certain point I do think the extra work is helpful.

[Nick Klemetson]

I've been thinking about this a lot too. I did a set of deficits after my top set of 5 last week and it was brutal. It felt very beneficial, so it is something I will experiment with in the coming weeks as my sets of 5 continue to increase.

[Oldman]

I work up to a heavy single or double and then do 4 or 5 sets of 4 at 85%. I had been following that with sumos but that got too taxing. Now on my squat day, I do heavy (for me) rack pulls and deficit pulls too if I have time. That way I can pull in some fashion twice a week.

[hollismb]

I do the opposite of backoffs... I pull three heavier singles after my workset on Monday. It seems to make the workset reps feel a little less heavy by comparison. I also do 3X5 RDL's on Friday after I powerclean, which are at a little over 80% of Monday's DL workset.

[Bryan Dobson]

I pull and do back offs for fatigue targets. However I do not pull competition style from the floor every week. I will alternate, rack pulls, or pause deadlifts with the competition pull every other week. I use the same fatigue drop methods on the variations but they reduce the load or range of motion . This allows me to continue training the back frequently between heavy conventional pulls sessions.
A heavy set of comp deadlifts and drop sets to fatigue take me longer than 1 week to recover from. ( my back is already doing a lot of work on squats and supplemental pulls) . So I do some pull or supplemental pull twice a week but I use the competition deadlift from the floor sparingly and to maintain good practice. I am just starting to make decent progress again. And this is just how I am learning my body responds.

[Oldman]

I got the most consistant progress doing this on both DL and squats.

I work my squats like this too. After my DLs, I will do squat assistance lifts. That way I can get squat work in two times a week.

[Chebass88]

I have been doing backoff sets for the deadlift for the majority of programming for over a year now. I respond well to heavy volume on the deadlift. I've been following Steve Pulcinella's Iron Sport Strength Method (very similar to the "one lift per day" described in PPST3). After the work sets are done, I reduce the weight to 80-85% of the working set & do reps. I alternated 1RM, 3RM, singles at 90%, and 5RM. I've been making progress on this method nicely.

[hbriem]

I do both squats and deadlift with a single heavy set (1-5 reps) followed by 3x3 backoffs (2x2 later in the cycle).

It's kept my progress going at an age and training time where my tolerance for volume is going down so I can recommend this approach.

[RichieRich]

I got the most consistant progress doing this on both DL and squats.

How much weight did you put on the bar after you began this