Texas Method Deadlift Burnout after 500x5x1
Background:
Almost 18 yrs old, male, 5'11", 220 lbs
Squat - running out Texas Method; volume day = 385x5x4; intensity day = first week of singles at 460x1x5
Bench and Press - not worth mentioning for the context of this post, but relatively low.
- regular sleep, stress, and eating
I ran sets of 5 on deadlifts on Texas Method to 500x5x1; this was the end of a very long affair with 1 set of 5 reps and it also marked the point where I decided to stop gaining weight when I had previously been gaining 1 lb / week for the past 15-20 weeks. The next week, I switched to one triple at 505x3x1. The week after, I attempted 510x3x1 and only the first rep came off the floor. I tried this same weight again for a triple the following week and I got the same result: after the 1st rep, the weight just would not come off of the floor. Meanwhile, my squat has been going up steadily, even continuing to progress regularly on volume days, too. I had been running 2 sets of 5 deadlifts at 87% of my top set instead of sets of power cleans; this deadlift semi-volume day had facilitated regular deadlift progress for the past 7 weeks. It appears that my deadlift is just burnt out now, as evidenced by how I hit a wall hard here.
It is obviously time to move on to alternative deadlift programming because I cannot recover from what I am currently running. I am thinking of switching to 1 set of 8 partials one week with 1 set of 8 rack pulls the other and progressing each 5 lbs at a time, as outlined on this site. When I am done running out my squats, which should not be in too long of a time as I am now on 5 sets of singles for ID, I plan on cutting bodyweight from my 19% navy tape-test result down to about 10% using a Heavy-light-medium scheme. Do you think the partial/rack pull hybrid style of deadlift programming can be done successfully on a cut? Moreover, do you think one or two sets of 5 regular deadlifts on a medium day would be unreasonable on this split; if so, would you instead recommend 2 sets of stiff-legged pulls?
Thanks,
Jack Morrison