Why would you do just a 2nd, and no 3rd?Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe
Starting Strength Coach
The more meets you enter the better you will get at selecting opening attempts and figuring out how big a jump to make, etc, etc. You can also be your own coach and be quite good at it if you have the ability to objectively analyze yourself (i.e. you make decisions with your brains and not your emotions), and you are not a pussy. I also suggest not chasing after other lifters at the meet.
Member
Why would you do just a 2nd, and no 3rd?
Member
... but you can only figure that out if you actually DO 1RMs from time to time. The point I was making is that Rip is discouraging us from doing 1RMs (at least on the deadlift) outside of the meet, since they are not particularly effective training tools, are hard to recover from and (presumably) carry more risk than 5RMs. That leaves those of us without an experienced coach in somewhat of a bind.
I was thinking that trying some 1RMs every three months or so might be a reasonable compromise - one can then guess the 1RM at intermediate time points from the progress made on the 5RMs - Rip, does that sound sensible or too much risk for not enough benefit?
TMPHBITEU
Because some advanced lifters have used up enough gas that only one very heavy deadlift is all that is there. You could just do your last warmup on the platform, but I never found it necessary to go 9-for-9 for its own sake.
Why don't you just go to a meet 4x/year, if knowing your 1RM is that important to you?
Member
danimal, the way you worded your first post I'm assuming your training with Wendler's 5/3/1 program? What kind of gains have you made?
Member
Dang! I guess you got the common sense gene or something!
Starting Strength Coach
Nonsense. You don't need a coach to be a good lifter or to make your own choices about your training. If you are stuck, try something to fix it. My deadlift has always been my weak link and has always dragged down my total. After trying many different methods to get it moving, I found a combination that worked.
I PR'd my deadlift this past summer by 40 lbs by doing NOTHING BUT HEAVY SINGLES for my deadlift training (Fridays) and did Goodmornings for 5x5 (Monday).
However....There is an important distinction to make between HEAVY SINGLES and 1RM's. They are NOT the same thing, especially on the deadlift. Leading up to the meet, I never pulled a 1RM in the gym.
Member
OK, I should have said " ... those of us inexperienced lifters who have not been to meets before and who are without an experienced coach in somewhat of a bind."
But as Rip has now pointed out - this can easily be fixed by going to lots of meets.
Member
Deadlift training
Heavy ass deadlifts
Second Andy, my deadlift is awesome and I am self coached...also use singles all the time, I think the eccentric portion of the deadlift is stupid, some cycles I actually refuse to do it due to damage, the lift is basically concentric only, so practcing your set up over and over again is helpful I think...a lot of people bounce their reps and shit so high rep sets may be less effective than pause reps or many singles with short rest periods, how about video tape yourself and look at your form and your speed then determine how much more you have left in the tank...
all may help you get better at DL
Member
The same thing happened to me. I did 6 months on Wendler's program and my final squat set was 300x10. I think that calc would have put my 1rm around 400lbs. I went in for a 1rm check just for fun and at 365 it felt pretty heavy and at most would have got 385. I think if you spend more time in the higher rep maxes you build strength endurance vs maximum strength production.
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