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

[Steve Liberati]

Steve,
Any chance you have a link to that interview? I'd certainly like to check it out. Makes good sense.

[Steve Shafley]

I think it's still here:

http://media.staleytraining.com/rippetoe.mp3

[Rick Deckart]

For a beginner there a plenty ways to improve the deadlift without training it much at all. For example work on squats, occassionaly do deadlifts like Steve described, the deadlift will most likely rise too.

Rack pulls or pulls from blocks helped me big time (okay my weights are so tiny they don't deserve any mentioning but still...) OHS brought some good transfer for me, but in all fairness I did a lot of volume with it. Not sure if that would be worthwhile for others.

Identifiy your weakness (the start, transition around knees, lockout) and give it some extra work.

One thing not mentioned so far, straps. These can and will increase your deadlift considerably. Don't know why but there is some linkage between hands and back/legs. If you feel that you can't hold a weight it won't move. Use straps and the very same weight may fly up... Happened to me on several occassions when I did deadlifts.