Hit a Wall with Deadlifts

[Joe Wilson]

Hi Andy,

My deadlift is stuck while on novice LP, and I'm not sure if it's because I was too aggressive or am legitimately ready to move on to intermediate programming. Nothing alarming in my form checks, BW is up to 198lb at 5'10" and continues to climb slowly, and I sleep 7-8hrs most nights.

My 1x5 deadlift progression has looked like this after stalling at 310 on Stronglifts (oops) and switching to SSLP:

265>315 [5lb 2x/wk]
315>365 [10lb 1x/wk]
Stalled 375x2,2,2
335>355 [10lb 1x/wk]
355>365 [5lb 1x/wk]
Stalled 370x2,1

In short, I'm stalling at the same weight I recently deloaded from. Being of average-at-best athletic ability I suspect that the high-intensity/low-frequency setup is not working well for me, but I'm interested to hear your opinion. Any suggestions for how I should approach getting this lift moving again after hitting the wall so hard?

Thanks for your time and let me know if this level of detail warrants a private consult.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Probably respond better to more frequency even if you have to program in a lighter deadlift later in the week. If that doesn't work then switch to more intermediate programming and you'll need to incorporate a little more total volume into your DL training. Could be in the form of lighter higher volume DL sessions + higher intensity/lower volume sessions, adding in back off sets, introducing DL variants like SLDL and/or Rack Pulls

[Joe Wilson]

Probably respond better to more frequency even if you have to program in a lighter deadlift later in the week.

Thanks, Andy. I watched your recent HLM video, and based on this comment it sounds like that's ultimately the direction I am heading with the deadlift. My weekly 5x3 power clean is too low to really do anything for my deadlift, so I essentially have already implemented a light pulling day in practice. Adding what would effectively be a medium day seems like a logical next step. Would it make sense to start with something like a 1x5 at 90% of heavy day, or go right to a higher volume approach e.g. 3x5?

[donfrancisco]

Dear Coach Baker,

I've run into the same issue with my deadlift. Two weeks ago I pulled 375x5 and when I tested my 1RM last week I coudn't get past 380x1. Today I was shooting for 380x5 but was only able to complete one rep. So it looks like I've hit a hard wall.

I'm currently doing a fixed 2-day with heavy squat, press and Pulldowns on day 1 and lt.squat, bench and deadlift on day 2. So I could definitely replace the Pulldowns with a Light DL on day1 to add DL volume. Do you recommend 80% of my current DL 1RM for the Lt. DL? What would you recommend I do for the heavy DL day?

Relevant facts about me: mid-50s, lift for the sake of improving BJJ/MMA performance so fixed 2 day is the most frequency I can tolerate.

Thanks Coach,

Francisco

[donfrancisco]

Dear Coach Baker,

I left out perhaps the most relevent fact as regards my DL stall--I'm currently dieting to get back to 15%BF after hitting a high of 20%. So there is no mystery as to why I've hit a wall in my heaviest lift. I imagine the other lifts will respond similarly soon. Weight loss is going slowly but steadily at 1g of protein and carb and .25g of fat per current BW of 240 (as per Coach Feigenbaum's recs).

But within the parameters of a fixed 2 day schedule, and the competing demands of skills practice, I'm willing to do whatever I need to inch my DL upward or at the very least hold on to as much of my strength as possible. As soon as I hit 15%BF I intend to bump my calories up 100-150 above maintenance so I can continue making better strength gains.

Best always,

Francisco

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Thanks, Andy. I watched your recent HLM video, and based on this comment it sounds like that's ultimately the direction I am heading with the deadlift. My weekly 5x3 power clean is too low to really do anything for my deadlift, so I essentially have already implemented a light pulling day in practice. Adding what would effectively be a medium day seems like a logical next step. Would it make sense to start with something like a 1x5 at 90% of heavy day, or go right to a higher volume approach e.g. 3x5?

Try a little volume and see how you respond. You can always pull it down if you don't respond well.

[Hans Bachmann]

Probably respond better to more frequency even if you have to program in a lighter deadlift later in the week. If that doesn't work then switch to more intermediate programming and you'll need to incorporate a little more total volume into your DL training. Could be in the form of lighter higher volume DL sessions + higher intensity/lower volume sessions, adding in back off sets, introducing DL variants like SLDL and/or Rack Pulls

Bumping up DL volume would work when one is still squatting 3x5 heavy twice a week?

I squat 300x5 and DL 375x5 atm. My problem is that, after introducing frequency reduction for Deadlifts, the high intensity still beats me up.
I'm using a HLM setup for bench press after 3x5 didn't last very long and the lower intensity/high volume setup works perfectly fine.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Sure. Squatting and DLing 2x/week is not an astronomical amount of frequency. Add in the volume slowly and at a lower intensity and build it up over time. For some this will be the solution, not for others.