Reply With QuoteAre you DLing for 5x3? If you are, don’t. 5x1.
Member
should I change my squat to deadlift ratio?
Hi all,
Since going on TRT about 9 months ago I've seen steady strength gains with (thankfully) no recurring injuries. For quite a while my squat was my strongest exercise, and only recently my deadlift has started to catch up. However my knees have recently started to get really noisy (crepitus crackling) while squatting even though there isn't any pain. I worked through a clicking/pain phase in my knees over the summer at around 240 lbs. but I worked through it and my strength jumped up pretty easily. However 285 still feels really heavy for deadlifts, and maybe I've moved up too fast for my knees and they're starting to complain. Not sure.
Anyway do you think I should re-adjust my workset weights? I'm doing these weights below for 5 x 3. I'm still doing the novice program using the Starting Strength app. by the way.
Deadlift: 285
Squat: 285
Bench: 215
Pclean: 170
Press: 160
Member
Are you DLing for 5x3? If you are, don’t. 5x1.
Member
Maybe I'm missing something here but you probably shouldn't be doing the novice program if you are progressing that slowly. From my understanding if you're not moving up 30-60lbs per month in your squat you should move onto intermediate programming.Originally Posted by Masher
Starting Strength Coach
This.
Member
No, sorry for the confusion. Deadlifting just 5x1, which is plenty hard enough, ha.
Member
I guess I've never gotten away from the novice program because during my first year of lifting or so I did so much resetting and de-loading due to injury, I didn't feel like I was on track for anything else. I got on TRT 9 months ago, just about, and this has been my longest stretch of injury-free training. I'm still making weekly progress in small increments so I hadn't thought to change programs yet but I'll take that under advisement.
Which brings me to my question, since deadlifts have never been my strongest exercise, should I de-load squats to get my ratio more "normalized" for lack of a better word, or just expect my squat to hit a wall eventually (maybe soon) and also expect my deadlift just keep creeping higher over time and will eventually surpass it...
Member
Add a volume, lighter dead lift day move on to intermediate. Get your DL checked out for technique-I see so many rushing through it at my gym and not setting up properly, probably because it's the lift that is least demanding of technique because it starts on the floor. All the other lifts crush you if you go wrong, but if you don't get the weight off the floor nothing nasty happens. Also remember that it often doesn't come straight up and requires a concerted number of seconds before it will be coaxed upwards. Shoes are another source of problems if you are lifting in big, squashy trainers -try barefoot.
Member
What IS a normal squat/deadlift ratio if you are doing just one set of 5 deadlifts? When I was doing 3x5, my squat always outran my DL, but in my current post-weight loss linear progression (doing 1x5 DL) my squat is running 90% of my DL. I’m still adding 5# to the bar for both lifts 3x per week (so I guess that is program 1A), and while I keep thinking that any day now im going to have to drop DLs to every other session, I’m still racking up the gains every session. I’ll take it.
I’m also eating a ton, and staying the same weight while my pants keep getting bigger. Doing the program is a wonderful thing!
✓ Member
There isn’t a correct squat to deadlift ratio. The measure you are looking for is increased strength evident by increased weight on the bar.
If it is going up then you are on the right path. If it is not, you need to adjust something.
The experts on this forum can and have given you advice on how to OPTIMALLY make progress. And it works well when followed.
An individual will never know if they are training optimally or sub-optimally, but they will always know if they are making progress. It’s measurable and definitive.
Worrying about ratios or strength standards misses the bigger point.
Member
God, one of the aspects of the SS community that drives me fricking nuts is the complete lack of acknowledgement that benchmarks not only aren't useful, but that they also don't and shouldn't exist in the world of strength. For the SS philosophy to market itself as a scientific and empirically derived, it is just silly to ignore aggregate population data.
Is a healthy male, age 25, 200 pounds and with average arm and leg dimensions with a deadlift of 235 and a squat of 435 OK in the starting strength model, as long as the deadlift is going up 5 pounds/session, assuming 20 pound squat and 5 pound deadlift increases?
Posting Permissions