Who Does Sets of 8 - 12 Deadlifts?

[OZ-USF-UFGator]

Anyone do sets of 8-12 deadlifts? Not as a substitute to higher intensity, but as either a separate day or back off sets?

If so, how did you like them and did they help drive your strength without overtraining you.

Oh and I know all about the "after 5, your form goes to shit, never do more than 3 reps, you'll snap your back on every 6th rep" stuff. id like thoughts MINUS these arguments (unless you have real world anecdotes about them).

[Murelli]

Anyone do sets of 8-12 deadlifts? Not as a substitute to higher intensity, but as either a separate day or back off sets?

If so, how did you like them and did they help drive your strength without overtraining you.

Oh and I know all about the "after 5, your form goes to shit, never do more than 3 reps, you'll snap your back on every 6th rep" stuff. id like thoughts MINUS these arguments (unless you have real world anecdotes about them).

Form goes to shit is a phrase aimed at novices. Plenty of sensible people in this forum did/do more than 8 reps on deadlifts.

[DeriHughes]

If you want to add in lots of light DL volume, I prefer doubles / triples on an 'every minute on the minute' type set-up

A set of 8 as a back-off to heavy work I get - Andy uses those in his programmes. Sets of 10+ outside of upper body hypertrophy work seem less useful.

[silachoo]

Once a week I do as many sets of 6 perfect reps with 70% and then as form breaks down I cut the sets off at 5, then 4, and then finally 3 reps. I do not go lower than 3 reps and the maximum quantity of sets if 12.

A day might look like 6,6,6,6,6,5,5,4,3,3
and then next week 6,6,6,6,6,6,5,5,4,3,3,3
etc...

After 4 weeks I re-test the max and re-calculate the 70%


I also pull Sumo so this isn't as devastation as it seems. And for reference my conventional DL is ~500 and my sumo deadlift is ~540. I do straight leg conventional deadlifts after squats for additionally "pulling" work. usually 5x10 with 285lbs (most recently)

[manveer]

I do, sometimes, for assistance work. SG SLDLs, for instance (hate them). They're pretty light. Not sure how much they help.

[Chebass88]

High rep deadlifts are a GREAT deal of fun. I highly recommend them.

I've used them either a backoff set to set a new maximum, or as a primary training stimulus. When I do them as the primary training stimulus, I'm also doing higher rep sets on other lifts as well. I focus on making new PRs in the 12-15 rep range, and then increasing the weight by 10-20lbs or so. High rep sets aren't necessarily the best for high end strength, but you don't lose too much. For example, the last time I trained like this, I got up to 405x12, and was able to pull 515x1 the next week, but missed 595. The week AFTER that I pulled 515x1 & 565x1, missing 590. To be fair, I had not trained to get those max singles, so I'm not disappointed.

Regarding overtraining - it is pretty simple. One all-out set and you're done. Maybe two sets if you're feeling fancy. It is all you need, and only one deadlift session per week. After one or two hard sets of higher rep deadlifts, if you have any energy for any more deadlifts within a week - your set was not heavy enough. You may have to decrease training stimulus in other areas to meet the recovery demand for high rep deads. For example, it is trendy around here to squat several times per week. Maybe this gets reduced to only once per week, in a similar set & rep scheme as the deadlifts.

A good set & rep scheme that worked for me is to use 2 sets: Set 1: 12-15 reps. Rest ~3-5 minutes (You can train for this - if you can't do it at first, the rest time can be reduced with each subsequent session). Set 2: Add 10-20lbs to Set 1 and get at least 50% of the reps done in set 1. Once you can get 15 reps in Set 1, use the Set 2 weight as your Set 1 weight. You can start with ~70% of 1RM for your first set, but there is no harm in starting lower. It might look something like this (adjust for your own weights):

365x12, 385x6
365x14, 385x7
365x15, 385x7
385x10, 405x5
385x12, 405x6
385x14, 405x8
385x15, 405x8
405x etc.

High rep deadlifts are MUCH easier after pulling heavy, and are an excellent opportunity to set a new maximum for yourself. For example - say you set a new 1RM of 500. You might be able to get 405x8 the same day. Do these sparingly, or overtraining is likely. However, if you are sufficiently fed, caffeinated, and psyched up to pull a 1RM, you might as well get another max while you're ready for it.

Regarding the issue of "form going to shit" - if your form degrades, the set is done. Leave the ego lifting on deadlifts for CT Fletcher's kid. Maybe the LAST rep gets a little hitch. Maybe. I find it much easier if I have a pre-determined number of reps in my mind, e.g., 10. I can count down from 10, and I know how many more I have left to do. I also do touch & go deadlifts (NOT bounced!). When putting the rep down, the form has to be perfect, to enable a decent pull on the next rep. It is easier to do deadlifts for reps with T&G than with a dead-stop. If you do them, make sure you put it down perfectly. You'll need to hold on to the bar tightly the entire time, and lower the bar in a controlled fashion. If you are used to dropping the weight or putting it down aggressively, your form will get messed up, and your pull suboptimal. It is just like T&G on the bench press - a light touch & then reversal of direction.

I view the benefits of high rep deadlifts primarily as a means of training mental toughness. They are very difficult, and you'll want to quit. Your hands will hurt, and so will your hamstrings. Managing breathing also becomes important. Keep pushing through - you can do it!

[jwagner]

I've done 8s as part of an Andy program (8,5,2 rotating reps) and used high rep sets for assistance exercises like SLDLs, etc. My lifts have always gone up during these periods, but they were never the done in isolation (as in perhaps a hypertrophy block sense).

SG SLDLs, for instance (hate them)

I have these today. Such an awkward exercise. Hard without being heavy, like split squats or lunges only more uncomfortable.

[Mugaaz]

I view the benefits of high rep deadlifts primarily as a means of training mental toughness. They are very difficult, and you'll want to quit. Your hands will hurt, and so will your hamstrings. Managing breathing also becomes important. Keep pushing through - you can do it!

That was my experience. This is why I thought them to be a waste of time. They did jack to make my deadlift go up. Compared to doing something like 3 sets of 5 at 75-80% which actually made a difference. The higher rep deadlifts improved my DOH grip some and were a satisfying challenge, but there was very little pay off in terms of getting me stronger.

[Christopher Anderson]

WHAT ARE YOU, CRAZY DUDE?!

I'm joshin' you brotato chip. My experience with high rep sets like you're talking about were when I first got in to deadlifting. I had just switched to doing barbell movements from bodybuilding so I was just doing high rep sets like that, well bc that's what you do in bodybuilding generally. I honestly credit that with helping get my form down bc more reps equals more practice, duh. But I honestly didn't see any real progression from a strength perspective until I lowered the number of sets and reps and just focused on increasing the weight. I think that it can help build up your muscle endurance, but as far as strength I'm not sure that it can do that, but this is just my experience.

[Chebass88]

Spending 12-16 weeks doing high reps on all exercises makes for a nice break from pushing hard for high end strength.