deadlifts as primary excerise - and i know im not doing the programme

[danlightbulb]

Hi all,

I have dabbled with weight training for around 3 years now, have always struggled with the 3x per week regime and have always, and always will, struggle with eating tonnes of food.

Ive seen various levels of success during this time, by my standards anyway. I think its time I realise that i'm never actually going to stick to the full SS programme, and I'm never going to be able to eat 4k + calories a day. Its just how it is.

In the past as I said I have had various levels of success, periods where I did manage to eat well and push my squats up. The problem is that the level of intensity isn't sustainable for me, it causes me to feel too much pressure, to worry when I don't eat right or when my lift isn't quite right or whatever. I enjoy training, but not when this level of intensity causes me too much stress.

I have always found, that my body seems to respond better to the deadlift than the squat. I want to keep training, but I want to enjoy it, and I want to do it at my own pace. I might not get the maximum benefits in the shortest time but I don't need to either. I think it must be the ability to lift higher weights with seemingly less stress on my body that makes me respond better to the deadlift. Anyway, I'm looking for a good way to maximise this. If I still include squats, they won't be 3x per week and I will not be forcing the weights up and up.

So I guess my question is, is there a good way to incorporate deadlifts into a programme that I can enjoy doing and that doesn't create mental pressure that I don't need? I also do mountain biking, so I'm hoping that deadlifts + overhead press + chins (?) would be a good programme that will complement the MTB.

Also, is my feeling correct that the deadlift could benefit me more than the squat? I can definately lift higher weights than on the squat, and it feels like a strong stable lift for me. I also feel strong after doing deadlifts, helping me go on to the OHP, whereas after squatting i always feel weaker, drained.

FYI im not a big guy, struggle with eating and weight gain. My biggest ever squat was about 105 kg, and believe me when I say that I was mentally and physically f*cked both in the run up and after achieving this lift, it just took everything out of me. My biggest ever deadlift was about 120kg, but in comparison to the squat I actually like this lift, I enjoy it, it feels good.

Thanks

[skipbeat]

How old are you, weight/height?

Do 5-3-1 by jim wendler. It's much less aggressive, it'll cause less stress, and you won't have to run out at midnight to get more milk. However, you'll find that committing to the routine is key in any exercise program, and you will always fail unless committing.

[Les Hahn]

How old are you, weight/height?

Do 5-3-1 by jim wendler. It's much less aggressive, it'll cause less stress, and you won't have to run out at midnight to get more milk. However, you'll find that committing to the routine is key in any exercise program, and you will always fail unless committing.

Yeah, I would give something like 5/3/1 a shot too, or I would try an upper/lower split. You would only be squatting 2x per week there, and on 5/3/1 it would be 1-2 times per week, since you can squat on DL day. I wouldn't skip the squat, since it can help drive up your deadlift. Same goes for the bench. Channel your inner bro and try to do it too, it will help with your OHP.

So try to do the lifts if you can, even if you don't go all out on them. Doing something like 5/3/1 should be less stressful and give you more time for biking.

Best of luck!

[danlightbulb]

How old are you, weight/height?

Do 5-3-1 by jim wendler. It's much less aggressive, it'll cause less stress, and you won't have to run out at midnight to get more milk. However, you'll find that committing to the routine is key in any exercise program, and you will always fail unless committing.

Im 32 now, 5'11 ish, 150lb. My max weight was last summer, 170 lb, thats when I squatted 105kg but after this I had a big mental crash, big downer and suffered alot of depression (may or may not be linked to the training stress i don't know, there are other things involved too), which meant I lost 30 lb and all the strength i'd gained. Hence why I'm trying to take it more steady now. I'd like to gain back that weight over a period of a year or so, more steady than before and with less stress. I'll take a look at 5/3/1 thanks.

If you're interested, I have tracked my weight since starting training 3 years ago, this is the chart:



As you can see I have a period of growth and motivation followed by a period of depression which causes me to lose motivation, strength and weight (due to extreme loss of appetite). From march 11 through to July 11 I had huge weight gain (relative to my previous record of course), but then suffered a bigger than ever crash. I went below 140 lb, its now climbing again as you can see.

I enjoy training and I want, and need, to gain some healthy weight, but I need to do it within my means.

Just looked at 5/3/1 too. I can do a 2 day a week version of it. Am i right in thinking that the weight is only increased once every 4 weeks? It seems quite a complicated programme in terms of all the weekly combinations.

[hunter308]

Kaly Aron is a PT in Australia and posts some really interesting stuff on this forum. He stated in one of his posts that if a guy
starts with a weight he is comfortable with and then adds 1 pound to the bar each work out for 1 year he will do just fine.
This makes a lot of sense to me so I went to Home Depo and got them to cut some really short pieces of chain, they probably
weight a 1/4 - 1/2 pound each and my plan is to slowly add these over time and see how it goes. I ran into the same problems
as you and then would quit the program for a month or two and then I repeated the same mistake over and over again for 2 years,
keep in mind I dont know a lot about this subject and only have Marks first book.

There was a famous lifter who stated that "you have to own the weight before you increase it" this makes sense and sounds
like a safe route.

Tommy Suggs stated that Bill Starr had his NFL guys Squat on Monday, Bench on Tuesday, Powerclean on Wednesday
during there "In Season Strength Training" and all the guys lifts went up each week. Jim Wendler then interjected in the
conversation and said this is fine as long as you add chin ups, its all you need to get strong. This round table discussion
can be found in the resource section.

[Jsutt]

Im 32 now, 5'11 ish, 150lb. My max weight was last summer, 170 lb, thats when I squatted 105kg but after this I had a big mental crash, big downer and suffered alot of depression (may or may not be linked to the training stress i don't know, there are other things involved too), which meant I lost 30 lb and all the strength i'd gained. Hence why I'm trying to take it more steady now. I'd like to gain back that weight over a period of a year or so, more steady than before and with less stress. I'll take a look at 5/3/1 thanks.

Weight training has been linked to a decrease in mild to moderate depression although I haven't looked at the methodologies the studies use. A causal link could be something like depression -> decreased appetite + loss of interest in recreation (weight training) -> strength loss -> further decrease of interest in weight training due to weights going down -> loss of benefits from weight training -> further depression, then iterate as you please. I think that's more plausible than accumulated fatigue from weight training contributing directly to increased depression.

Sorry I'm in the middle of writing a social sciences thesis this is my normal way of thinking at the moment.

[Tom Narvaez]

Gotta agree with Jsutt. I would blame the affects of depression for a loss of appetite far before just giving up on the prospect of ever being able to eat more. I see a few 300lbs+ people every time I go to places like Costco, WalMart, etc. and I doubt they try very hard to be that big.

[tzanghi]

Gotta agree with Jsutt. I would blame the affects of depression for a loss of appetite far before just giving up on the prospect of ever being able to eat more. I see a few 300lbs+ people every time I go to places like Costco, WalMart, etc. and I doubt they try very hard to be that big.

Agreed. I hate to be unsympathetic, but please forgive me, I have no problem eating a lot. With the invention of free oils and whey, I just don't see how you could not be able to(or even enjoy) eating that much food. Again, I'm not trying to be tough, I just think you might want to try some new stuff. I can 100% see people not being able to do GOMAD because that seems strenuous, but maybe try an alternative. Fry your veggies in lots of oil maybe? Protein shakes with lots of oil? I'm not sure what will work, but I wouldn't give up just yet!

[danlightbulb]

Agreed. I hate to be unsympathetic, but please forgive me, I have no problem eating a lot. With the invention of free oils and whey, I just don't see how you could not be able to(or even enjoy) eating that much food. Again, I'm not trying to be tough, I just think you might want to try some new stuff. I can 100% see people not being able to do GOMAD because that seems strenuous, but maybe try an alternative. Fry your veggies in lots of oil maybe? Protein shakes with lots of oil? I'm not sure what will work, but I wouldn't give up just yet!

Actually, milk is about all I live on when depression hits, and if it wasn't for several pints of milk a day it would be a whole lot worse. Its very difficult to explain how depression feels if you've never experienced it yourself. This isn't a sob story, I do want to train, and now I'm feeling much better I am getting back into it again. I just know that I can't do SS, that I struggle with the squat and that I like the deadlift!

Dont get me wrong, in the periods of time where i've squatted 3x per week and managed to get relatively heavy (above body weight), then i've experienced quite rapid strength gains and weight gain, the problem being that i cant keep this up for more than a few months. I can easily pick up an above body weight deadlift hence the reason that I considered this excerise might benefit me at least as much as the squat simply on the assumption that I can more easily go heavy with it.

And Jsutt, im not saying that weight training fatigue caused a bout of depression, there were other factors involved. However Im under no doubt that at the time of trying to push my squat over 100kg i felt under immense pressure and stress because of the pressure i put on myself to reach that goal. My goal weight was 12 st, when i hit that it was a very big comedown.

[Mike C]

I find strength training during a period of depression to be absolutely impossible. Can't sleep + can't eat = terrible training.