Front squats as assistance for deadlift

[JamesW]

Reviewing my training log over the last ~9 months, there were two periods where I was front squatting regularly. Both times my deadlift when up nicely. The first time, I was running 531 with relatively low back squat volume. The second time, I was running TM with front squats for recovery day and was still using 531 rep scheme for deadlifts, which I did after intensity squats. I have run TM with 531 reps for deads but without front squats and did not experience similar gains.

Could it be the front squats? My sticking point is 1-3 inches off the floor.

[Miro]

What did you do in place of front squats last time? At first glance you seem to have improved your deadlift because of better recovery (front squat = lighter weights + active recovery).

[JamesW]

Generally nothing because I was doing a 4-day TM spit with only two back squat sessions. It could be that front squats=active recovery=better than passive recovery, although I generally felt well recovered for deads on the 4-day split. Also could be that MWF, with front squats on Wednesday and deads on Friday, was better because of the addition day of rest after volume squats compared to the the 4-day split with deads on Thursday.

[JamesW]

My best guess is if it is helping, it is because it helps with the initial knee extension necessary to break a deadlift off the floor, which is where I fail.

[Immortal_k]

If you stall a few inches off the floor then FS could've been very helpful. Same would probably hold true for halting deadlifts, paused deadlifts or deficit deadlifts.

[JamesW]

What's a paused deadlift-pause at sticking point then resume lift?

[Immortal_k]

What's a paused deadlift-pause at sticking point then resume lift?

Exactly. Usually it's just below the knee but you can pause it at any point.

[Meshuggah]

Dan "The Boss" Green does them to help his Deadlift. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM-YgRN2OLc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYAl_-OHFiU