Managing CNS fatigue on the deadlift

[Robert Santana]

You are very welcome!

[Erik Y]

Hi Coach Santana, just been wanting to update you on my situation. After adjusting volume down and suffering a crazy work schedule, I broke through my plateau at the end of May. Deadlift is moving well and shows no sign of slowing down soon. I’ve put 10-20 pounds on deadlifts every month - nothing Herculean, but steady progress - and pulled 420 for a double just last night. It wasn’t easy, but the bar moved pretty quick. If this keeps up, I might hit 500 just after the holidays.

Most importantly, the anxiety and and over-fatigue is mostly gone. I have trouble sleeping if I lift at night - nothing strange about that, though - and then get on with my life as normal. So a huge thanks to you for getting me out of a rut and on to new PRs.

[Robert Santana]

Hi Coach Santana, just been wanting to update you on my situation. After adjusting volume down and suffering a crazy work schedule, I broke through my plateau at the end of May. Deadlift is moving well and shows no sign of slowing down soon. I’ve put 10-20 pounds on deadlifts every month - nothing Herculean, but steady progress - and pulled 420 for a double just last night. It wasn’t easy, but the bar moved pretty quick. If this keeps up, I might hit 500 just after the holidays.

Most importantly, the anxiety and and over-fatigue is mostly gone. I have trouble sleeping if I lift at night - nothing strange about that, though - and then get on with my life as normal. So a huge thanks to you for getting me out of a rut and on to new PRs.

Happy to hear this. Now since you are getting up there in load expect that the bar will now feel as though it is not moving off of the ground on the initial pull if it hasn't felt that way already. For the longest time I struggled with my perception of the initial break off the floor from 455 to 500. Then I started approaching it like a "tug-of-war" in the sense that I now know that I will be pulling on the bar for what seems like several second before I actually feel it moving vertically up the legs. In fact, I do not feel the first 2" at all and the perception is that the bar isn't moving. The difference now is that I ignore this and keep pulling until the bar pulls me back down. Important consideration when developing one's deadlift. I have found that there are many undertrained deadlifts out there for this reason in addition to others that I have shared on this board.

[Erik Y]

Thanks Coach, that’s good advice, and that range is fast-approaching. Hope to be reporting back again in another few months.

[Robert Santana]

You are very welcome. Looking forward to hearing back!