Deadlifts before squats

[PaulfromCanada]

I searched through the forums around the topic of deadlifting before squatting and found the consensus is it’s a bad idea for multiple reasons, including how draining deadlifts are and psychological benefits of getting squat out of the way. I agree with this and much prefer doing the exercises in the recommended order.

I’m currently in my NLP. I’m in a situation where my gym only has one rack, so if someone else is squatting I have to switch up the order or I won’t be able to finish my lifts before having to get back to work.

My question is, is this suboptimal but fine in a pinch, or should I be really trying to find some other solution? And is there anything I should do differently on those days from a programming perspective? Luckily, it’s probably only 1 out of 10 workouts that someone is actually using the rack, as most people here don’t do barbell lifts.

Thanks.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Deadlifts before squats are suboptimal. The program is written this way for good reasons. Deal with it as you must.