Decaying Deadlift Strength

[Mr.City]

Hey gang,

I've been having deadlift difficulties recently. When I hit a stall on that particular lift, I hit it hard. I can't complete any reps for that set and my strength begins to decay rapidly. For example, I can do 340 for a set of 5. When it came time for 350, it wouldn't budge.

Just recently, I deload my deadlift to 315. I couldn't even lift that. I've had this problem before around 290 back when I was deadlifting every other workout. I cut down the deadlift frequency and I shot up to 340, making two or three 15 lb jumps even at weight. Well, here I am deadlifting every other week, as per the model in PP, and again, I've hit a hard stall. My squat is about 5 lbs away from my deadlift, yet this lift continues to kick my ass.

Deloading hasn't worked and really am at a loss.

[gman]

How's your grip strength and what grip are you using?

[Mr.City]

Mixed. I could do double overhand til 290, however I think my grip took a hit over last semester since this new school didn't have any chalk or good bars.

[Greg C]

Hey man,

I am certainly far from an expert, but having recently re-read PPST, what you are describing here and in your other post is sounding a lot like overtraining to me. Have you considered this?

Just a thought.

[zepled37]

I posted a similar question to Rip a while back. Not about the deadlift specifically, but more about overall rate of overtraining onset. I seem to get overtrained really quickly. Going along fine and feeling good and then like crap all of a sudden.

Rip suggested this is most likely due to a nutrition issue, but not sure that is the case for me and what I experience.

[isis]

The first thing is always recovery...are you eating well, sleeping, not stressed out about anything?

If you're sure that's not the problem, so for whatever reason you are just really prone to overtraining on the deadlift, maybe you should try the Bill Starr non-deadlifting deadlift program. For your heavy pulls alternate the halting deadlift for 1x8 with the rack pull for 1x5. You'll probably be able to use a higher weight for the rack pull than the halting deadlift. Use power cleans for light pull days. Maybe you will be able to tolerate heavy pulling once a week since these movements are less stressful than the full deadlift, or maybe only once every other week...if I were you I'd try both and see what works.

Both of these lifts are covered in SS. The rack pull is really easy to do wrong. Have someone watch your knees to make sure they don't go forward.

[theuofh]

Have you been losing weight?

Has the flooring changed at your gym? Its a long shot, but one of the gyms I lift got like rubber tiles for a floor. It killed my deadlift strength their and I had to find another gym to deadlift at.

[Mr.City]

Damn, should of posted my weight/height. I'm 6'3 and around 234 lbs. I thought the halt/rack pulls were employed during a double bodyweight deadlift.

As for overtraining, my most recent deadlift attempt came from a Wednesday session after missing a Friday and Monday session thanks to Easter Break. And on top of that, I was squatting light and pressing on a deload. Could I still be overtrained somehow?

Edit: Could 10 lbs jumps be too much?

[PVC]

How often are you deadlifting?

[Mr.City]

Every other week.