Increasing Deadlift 1RM

[Sam Cannons]

What is best way of increasing the 1RM. I was going to start 10x1 3/week next week. Any idears, thought ?

Thankyou

Sam In Aus

[Dave Van Skike]

Originally Posted by Sam Cannons

What is best way of increasing the 1RM. I was going to start 10x1 3/week next week. Any idears, thought ?

Thankyou

Sam In Aus

Huyoooge question. I'm a fan of ladders. Look for Shaf's primer on ladders. Others will no doubt respond with more or less detailed responses. Ladders is the best advice I got for you.

http://performancemenu.com/forum/showthread.php?t=494

Also, I believe that everything makes my deadlift go up. Squats, good mornings, deadlifts from a deficit (like off a box), or snatch grip or even tall shoes like army boots. Peter has had good luck with OHS, rack pulls transferring. I have heard of people use clean high pulls and RDL's....It' my belief that if your DL isn't going up, you are either closing in on your genetic potential or you aren't working it very hard.

Gobs of info out there on DL. If you are brand new to DL, check out a copy of power to the people. or google it. Wait I'll tell you Pavel's big secret........ 2 sets of 5 everyday, one work set, one back off set. Start at a low weight, Nowhere close to failing, add 5 pounds a week. take a back off week every month and retest your max.

[Sam Cannons]

Thanks Dave, i will give you a bit of background to make it clearer. I have only recently got enough weights at home to do a 1rm max deadlift, so i havent really ever done much 1rm max training. Compared to other lifts i think my dead is pretty shit so i really want to smash is it over the next 6 months. I wasnt sure about pavels stuff as it is only 2x5 a day.

I was going to add sets of 1rm every other day on top of the other crossfit Rx.

Again thanks for your help.

[Jesse Woody]

I was going to add sets of 1rm every other day on top of the other crossfit Rx.

Sets of your max every other day? The deadlift is a VERY stressful movement. Being that you're new to it, you can handle more-frequent training, but every other day might still be a bit much, especially if you're lifting at or near max loads. If I were you I'd start with two days a week, and cut the Crossfit WOD's back to compensate for the added stress. Make one day heavy (7x3, 10x2, 5x1, etc.) and one day moderate-light (5x5, 2x8, etc.) To start out I'd keep at least two days rest between these efforts. This is the way I've approached the deadlift in the past, occasionally adding a third day or dropping to one day depending on how recovered I feel. I'm in no way a world-class deadlifter, but I have lifted 405# at a bodyweight of 175# which was up from a 325# max barely a year earlier. I think that with the deadlift recovery is especially important, so don't add too much to your plate at one time!

[Bill Ripley]

Actually I think Pavel's PTTP would compliment CF nicely.

[Steve Liberati]

Jesse's post is right on the money IMO. Proper rest and nutrition are often overlooked when addressing heavy lifts. Cushion the two and you'll see marked improvements.

[Steve Shafley]

I'd recommend, initially, working up to a max single once a week. In good form.

Then, after that pans out, probably after 4-8 weeks, depending on your training age and status, you'll need to get trickier.

Rip, in his interview with Charles Staley, mentioned this sequence:

power clean->high pull->deadlift

These are called "progressive pulls".

If you can do PCs and high pulls, then this is an excellent way to build up pulling capacity, and an excellent way to insure you are warmed up.

An example, assuming ~500# DL max.

PC: 135x3, 185x3, 205x3, 225x3, 245x1
HP: 245x3, 275x3, 315x3, 335x1
DL: 335x1, 365x1, 405x1, 455x1, 475x1, 485x1

[Dave Van Skike]

Originally Posted by Sam Cannons

Thanks Dave, i will give you a bit of background to make it clearer. I have only recently got enough weights at home to do a 1rm max deadlift, so i havent really ever done much 1rm max training. Compared to other lifts i think my dead is pretty shit so i really want to smash is it over the next 6 months. I wasnt sure about pavels stuff as it is only 2x5 a day.

I was going to add sets of 1rm every other day on top of the other crossfit Rx.

Again thanks for your help.

Don't dismiss the PTP stuff out of hand, it's actually very productive for a lot of folks who are new to high percentage training. The volume will sneak up on you but generally will leave you refreshed enough for the other stuff you want to do.

All in all, I'd defer to Steve's take as he has a good deal of experience in that artena. As far as "maxing" every other day, if you are relatively new to heavy deadlifting, technically you don't have a 1 rep max, yu have a sorta sorta maxi (trademark DJ enterprises) I suspect that progressive pulls 2-3 days a week which might be taxing for someone who deadlifts double bodyweight or above, wouldn't be too tough on you at first. (your xfitr performance shoudl suffer) As your numbers go up, you'll need a lot more rest, unless of course you have freakshow-long monkey arms and are anatomically gifted for the DL. In which case, you might be able to push the percentages and volume with no ill effects. I'm a relative lifting rookie and at first I could deadlift "heavy" every other day. Teh I did a cycle of PTP, and soem othe rprogressiosn after that like Dan Johns' one lift a day. Within about a 3 months, the work sets on my DL had increased by well over 150 pounds and I could only hit it hard once maybe twice a week.

Steve's suggestion is probably the safest bet for you as it involves a lot pulling volume without a ton of actual DL volume.

[Gary John]

Shaf had the Westside program in an old GetUp. That was my first experience with the dead and I went through it three times.

Spent part of the summer doing SLDL's off 4-inch blocks. 5x10, minute between sets, at about 160#. Set me up for huge improvements in pulling.

I keep pushing rack pulls, but that was what really changed the middle of my dead. Shaf's ladder program, again three times through put a 150# improvement on my rack pull. Actually ran out of weight and had to buy more.

SGDL's are great and just get you strong.

Recently did 3sets of 5 in under a minute with 315# in the dead. I'm not trying for a max, cuz I lift to throw, but right now, I'm curious.

[Steve Shafley]

Frequency depends on how fresh you keep yourself.

Lower volume and relative intensities allow more frequency.

Sometimes, you just got to say "F@ck it" and try it.