A weaker deadlift because of new heeled shoes?

[David_G]

Hi coach,

I have been using rogue's shoes with you title for the past 6 weeks, I am also slimming down on those last 6 weeks, I was 22% BF and I want to reach 13-14 before starting a new short cycle of SS followed by TM(currently at 16, so 2-3 more weeks to go).

I scheduled 1 heavy workout for triples at the end of the week in order to maintain some strength.
I was able to maintain most of my lifts, squat remained almost the same (325 for a set of 3 instead of a set of 5), OHP is 140 for a set of 5(originally 145 across), BP went up since I never tried triples before(originally 210 across, now 225 for 3) and the PC remained identical.

OHP, Squats, PC all feel great in the shoes, but deadlifts feel awkward especially while pushing the floor aggressively, sadly my original 380 for 5 was 360 for an ugly single tonight.

Would you recommend using my old shoes(chucks) for the deadlift or should I not worrie at all? Should i not worrie about strength loss while losing weight?

[Mark Rippetoe]

You are attributing to the shoes that which can be easily explained by the weight loss. If I thought the shoes fucked up your deadlift, I wouldn't recommend them for deadlifts. All this info, and you omit your bodyweight, so we can see how advanced your numbers are.

[elVarouza]

When I first switched to heeled shoes I too felt that doing deadlifts in them was odd. I also have the Rogue Rip's.

However, everything felt odd due to the heel for a couple of weeks. Once I got used to it I really liked it. It took me a bit longer to get used to it for the deadlift; I could definitely feel extra quad activation that I wasn't used to.

Give it some time, and deadlift regularly. Maybe you'll end up liking the shoes, or maybe you just plain won't like them for deadlifts, and that's fine too.

[forgeforth]

It has nothing to do with the shoes. My Rogue Do-Wins arrived in the mail about three weeks ago and my deadlift today is better than it was three weeks ago. If you would like to lose fat, that's your objective, but I would recommend that you run a full blown TM over the next year and get your deadlift up to 500. The muscle mass you'll accumulate will make it much easier to slim down. And when you slim down, you'll need to do it in a careful, well-thought out manner, unless you want all your hard work flushed down the drain.

This is my opinion. Do whatever you want. But if you wish to maintain a modicum of the strength you've worked so hard to accumulate, read around the boards for ways to slim fat and keep your lifts up.

[David_G]

Other lifts were not as effected, that's why I asked.

I understand the weight loss is the big impact here, and since the deadlift is the last exercise of the workout I am highly fatigued already, only eating around 150 gr. of carbs a day on a 2.2K calorie intake for an active student isn't easy.

My initial BW was 232 at 22%(6'1), current BW is 213 at 15-16% or so, already looking very skinny, especially thanks to my genetically ridiculous calves.

Am not planning to go below 205 no matter what, so should be done in 3-4 weeks and start SS again, this time I would try not to surpass the 20% mark, I got Starr's book here and I would try following his dietary recommendations.

[EvanJones]

Is there any reason you NEED to lose weight? The only accpetable-ish answers would be you compete (seriously) in a weight class sport or want to join the military and they told you to slim down. I'm no doctor but 22% BF does not sound high enough to warrant slimming down especially when you want to get stronger.

[Qvistus]

Doug Young has said that anybody who claims that looks don´t matter, is talking bullshit.
Fat doesn't lift the barbell for you or get you pussy. It's perfectly normal that weights drop a little as body weight goes down but they go up fairly easy to the same numbers they were when you were heavier.

[David_G]

I know myself, and if I continue a new linear program for 4 months i'd be 20 lbs heavier, I don't have time to count calories, I just eat and drink my milk in order to get ready for the next workout.
I don't really wanna be a 25% BF 260lb man not seeing most of my dick for a few months, I got no competitive aspirations so I don't see any reason why I should... losing 7-8% BF is something that takes 2 months of dropping down some carbs, it's not like I took 1 year off linear progression.

[Gunnhild Bruno]

Doug Young has said that anybody who claims that looks don´t matter, is talking bullshit.

Why in these conversations is there always someone who sets this up as though, if you keep some extra bodyfat for the purposes of maintaining an anabolic environment, this means you don’t give a shit about how you look? Can we please just stop with this false dichotomy and come from the assumption that people who respect themselves can still look at a little extra fluff on the mirror without turning away from themselves in horror? This is just as bad as bashing people for wanting to be lean.

Wanting to be lean is fine, but there are some points in one’s training when trying to stay lean will get in the way. Being a little fluffy is fine, too, and good for putting on strength and muscle, but it’s not a requirement to be fluffy to be considered strong.

Fat doesn't lift the barbell for you or get you pussy.

I find that men grossly overestimate the extent to which pussy responds to muscles. I think strength is a great pursuit for many, many reasons, and every human being should strive to be stronger. And if getting more pussy is one motivation for it, then great. But a lot of guys need to tone down their expectations for what bigger muscles will do for them in the pussy department and think for a minute about why it actually works for those men it works for. Because men who have thought processes simple enough to assume that muscle will solve all their problems in the pussy department tend to have overall thought processes that kind of creep women out.

If the OP or anyone else wants to think he looks totally respectable at 22%, then can we stop acting as though they are in danger of becoming hideous specimens of humanity whom the dogs will bark at in the street? If that guy is smart, clean, interesting, and has some social skills, he can get some pussy, I promise. And if he’s strong, he can lift the barbell. 22% bodyfat does not make anyone useless or a pariah.

[selters]

Is there any reason you NEED to lose weight? The only accpetable-ish answers would be you compete (seriously) in a weight class sport or want to join the military and they told you to slim down. I'm no doctor but 22% BF does not sound high enough to warrant slimming down especially when you want to get stronger.

AFAIK even Rippetoe himself says that going any higher than 20% bf isn't necessary to get strong.