Why Low Frequency Deadlifting Works

[@alephnull7410]

I take however long it takes for the complete dissipation of fatigue associated with deadlifts. It’s really easy to recognize when that occurs, by simply noticing that you actually want to deadlift.

[@zerog4261]

@@alephnull7410 thats an excellent observation. Sometimes i get to that bar and i just dont want to do it.

[@Smithster80]

100%. If you deadlift heavy enough or with sufficient volume 1x per week you don’t wanna do that movement again until another week trust me

[@alephnull7410]

@ exactly, don’t convince yourself that you are being lazy when it comes to deadlifts. You should only deadlift on days when you can’t wait to get to the gym and accelerate the bar off the ground aggressively.

[@imitatsiya]

I don't train conventional deadlifts; I always do variations. despite the lack of specificity in my training, I can always maintain and PR on my conventional deads regularly

[@Solonos]

What's your max? A lot of people can get away with doing paused deadlifts in place of a competition deadlift for a block or so, especially if you benefit from being more patient off the floor like this variation helps with. Other variations aren't nearly the same, and I've found that my deadlift form significantly degrades after doing things like SLDLs only for a few weeks.

[@zerog4261]

To summerise. You must have a beard to deadlift. If only I'd known when I started out

[@drhjhulsebos]

It's true, after shaving my beard I can only deadlift 250kg.

[@micskra]

bigger beard = bigger deadlift it's true

[@cjythandle]

Will a goatee work?

[@zerog4261]

@cjythandle get you halfways good

[@OfficialPhdPepper]

Shaving my head will have to suffice. I hit a 2- years (post injury/surgery) PR right after I shaved my chin hairs, but I also shaved my noggin!

[@victorjimenez7213]

Totally agree Daire. I’ve switched to a 4 day Texas method recently. Mainly Volume/Intensity split 5x5 squats, intensity squats 1-5 reps, plus SLDL for 3x5, with minor direct leg work with curls/extensions. And my intensity DL has gone up crazy. Hit 525 lbs last week hoping for 530 this week. Then deload for my PLing meet and hoping for 540lbs. Point being this is what a total of 4-5 sets of deadlifts per week and I’ve added 30 pounds to that lift. It works.

[@ebigarella]

recall this, people, deadlifting is not lifting from dead, is being dead after lifting

[@BobCarolgees-p8f]

I deadlift once a week sometimes once a month , i usually do rdls

[@handeggchan1057]

I switched to once a week DLing 3 years ago, and my 1rm has gone from 665 with a belt to 720 without one (mainly because the belt makes me feel nauseous when cleaning or DLing). Also the high frequency was fatiguing me way too much for Judo. The longer periods of rest I think REALLY helped me recover better. I do do a bit more volume though now than I did.

[@PLxFTW]

I like to do 3x3 heavy-ish, then 3x10 RDLs 1x per week

[@Wisey_83]

I just began my secon attempt at deadlifting daily. Plz attend my funeral.

[@AlexanderBlocker]

Curious to learn a bit more about your comment that "the deadlift is predominantly driven by increases in the back squat". Would be great for maybe an aside in the newsletter or in a video sometime!

[@GlidingChiller]

I increased my Deadlift from a 190kg 1RM to a 190kg 3RM over half a year while not doing a single deadlift but getting my Squat from 155 to 165. I did Cleans and Clean pulls, but I never touched anything over 110kg.

[@rustysausage69]

I'll copy word for word my comment I made here on exactly this. I fucked my knee up in a motorcycle wreck a while back (nothing torn but bruised AF) and I used ATG squats for therapy, that spiraled into loving squats and 3 years of squatting 1-3x a week, 5x5s at 60-80%. In the prime, a pause 5x5 of 365lbs was a good day. Well during that 3 years I had less than 10 deadlift workouts throughout (none of them useful by any stretch, just ego), and they were ALL PRs from a prior max of 545; nailed 605, nailed 635, failing 660 and hitting 640, to obliterating 675, 11 reps of 495, 25 reps of 315 (I'm 190-200lbs bodyweight). All this from squatting. The best thing that ever happened to my deadlift was NOT DEADLIFTING

[@chillin3035]

I do deadlifts 3x a week soon 4x, using Greg Nuckols intermediate program and I've seen huge progress from 315x6 to about 380x1 within a relatively short span of time. That being said I have very good leverages and can recover well using sumo and many other factors. I tend to agree with the idea that lower frequency deadlift is more recommendable to the public.

[@alejandromagnobarrasa9244]

I do have a question I was wondering about. I saw the average broz way of training and I did that for three years during that time I worked out usually twice a day but sometimes just once. And I usually did their prescription work up to a heavy single in the back squat and go back down and do 5 to 8 sets of triples. I did MWF front squats and I usually warmed up with the overhead press and maxed that out also, and I think the most I achieved was a 345 lb squat but more importantly I did a 175 overhead press, but I never did any deadlift. I did cleans but no jerk or snatch. When I went to a gym with bumpers I hit an easy 195lbs snatch 315 squat but a super. Fast 420 lbs deadlift. When God gave me 405 in the back squat 440 in the deadlift was a grind. I always thought that the reason for the difference was the overhead press and the front squats. What do you think the difference is? Btw when I found a weightlifting gym and bought weightlifting shoes I was able to snatch 215 lbs while struggling to back squat 275 like 6 months after putting snatch first. I’m just curious about your thoughts on this. I know shoes make a huge difference in mobility at the bottom of the snatch. When I focused on the clean I could back squats 315 for a fast triple and cleaned 300 I know focusing on a lift helps a lot, but I’m not sure what to make of all this. I know you guys don’t prescribe to the whole lifting everyday, but I just want to know what your thoughts are on the difference is performance.

[@KwisBwown]

You weightlifted every day for 3 years? Sounds like it went great for the snatch an clean! 215 snatch it epic. First year weightlifting but very very humble numbers 😂 I ended up only training 3 huge days a week mainly.... potentially intermediate style. Perhaps should've spread it out over 4-5 days.

[@jayryu4993]

Can we get some insights on staggered jerk stance that some Kazakhstani lifters do?

[@nova68nova]

Have similar build to Daire, and my overall strength gains are so much easier when I do DL once a week. Can DL 125% of BS but don't even have to go that high to get strength gains. DL is so much more natural for me than squatting.

[@OfficialPhdPepper]

What data do you have for the assertion that building back squat is the primary driver for deadlift gains? Curious not critical.

[@rustysausage69]

I have annecdotal evidence of having only ego stroking deadlift workouts along a 3 year timeline of squatting 2-3x a week, my max prior to the squatting frequency was 545 and in the prime, under 2 years after that, I blasted 675. Not a single deadlift workout was useful volume or hypertrophy; the ONLY goal was to squat with clarence kennedy form.

[@smolboyi]

should I do DL as well as clean and snatch pulls?

[@simons1982]

how do you programme once a week deadlift into the sika's weightlifting 4 day a week programme? just add it to one of those days or do a separate workout on day 5? what would the structure and progression be?

[@Shaunelvey1981]

I’ve had my best results deadlifting everyday but mainly submaximally. 172 days in & my back feels the strongest it ever has. Im stronger in the deadlift whilst being lighter & adding conditioning. I certainly don’t think it’s the best way to get a better 1rm, but it seems to be working for me in terms of making the lower back more robust.

[@thephotochad]

Very informative video. I rarely Dead Lift though; maybe a few times a yr. Beats me up lol

[@aussie-luke]

Any thoughts on the Pavel/Dan John methods of deadlifting daily/multiple days per week at low reps (2 x 5) and at way below max?

[@christopherseat9871]

Westside Barbell would DEADLIFT once a month. All that Squattin and bench press work, made there DEADLIFTS big. Of course this is a POWERLIFTING way.

[@TraposaurusFlex]

When you're saying deadlift once a week do you mean any and all variations? E.g would you recommend one deadlift or deadlift variation per week or a main competition deadlift per week plus an accessory or variation? In terms of training for powerlifting. Thanks!

[@synapsy9291]

I am a big deadlift fan because is my best lift and i have good leverages so i can recover quickly. Since it s my favourite lift i would like to train it like 3 times a week for the enjoyment. Is it possible considering that my 1RM is not so high? Maybe if i go lighter? Or the lack recovery will catch up anyway? Thanks

[@durzoblint415]

I hit a year long plateau doing once a week. As soon as I went to twice a week my PR and overall strength increased. I’m sure I made some training errors along the way forsure

[@zacholson4901]

I'm a weightlifter & I've took a minimalist approach to programming by only doing front and back squats without deadlifts. I've heard this could cause muscle imbalances in hamstrings relative to my quads that could lead to injury. How valid is that?

[@zerog4261]

I can't deadlift in flat shoes, i need my weight lifting shoes, ive no idea why? Im not a weightlifter.

[@MrAlex-]

I’m pretty sure that you’re hinging at the waist and not at the hips when you do your deadlifts I’m pretty sure I think?

[@saure22]

Making my 200kg deadlift look far less impressive. What’s your all time pr?

[@Yupppi]

Does anyone else think Fitz's deadlifts look great from rep to rep? Like a jack straightening out to a single straight line.

[@noalane3626]

Excercises exist on a spectrum?!? Makes sense, for I too, exist onna spectrum.

[@seanashworth6750]

I only need to squat once, as well as deadlift once a week, but I do leg press and single leg squats on my deadlift day. My gains have been insane, 30 kg PB on dead and 15 kg PB on squat after one 8 week block

[@JeromeONeill-m1l]

The Lilliebridges deadlift heavy every 2nd week and Eric has deadlifted over 900 in comp so the deadlift doesn’t need to trained heavy often if you’re pushing your assistance work

[@paulleclaire8252]

Nice

[@alic6958]

I think you still need to maintain a high enough frequency to learn/practise the form correctly. Deadlifting twice a week is fine, as long as you keep the weight sub maximal. For example twice a week you do a deadlift accessory, e.g. Pause Deadlift. Then every second week you replace one of those days with a heavier competition deadlift.

[@JeromeONeill-m1l]

There isn’t much skill involved in deadlifting. Well at least for conventional deadlifts. So you don’t need to train it often if you don’t want to. As long as you push your squat numbers up get stronger on some sort of hinge movement like a back extension which doesn’t use half the load you’d use on a deadlift and your grip is up to snuff your deadlift will increase with out training it much.

[@Wisey_83]

@@JeromeONeill-m1l to a point. This is how i trained it before i hit a wall at 250kg....trying all manner of things over a couple years from better deadlifters than me. Until i got sick of getting now where, went a bit crazy, and deadlifted everyday until i hit my 272.5kg goal. I tested my max at the beginning on day 1. It was 240kg un-peaked. On day 20, i pulled 272.5kg. Oops. On Day 19, i nearly pulled 260x2...missed the second rep half way up. I'd attempted 272.5 i think 3 days before that. Hell of a ride. Didnt squat during this time. LOL

[@eminemkh]

Come here to make this point but you describe it perfectly in terms of practicing. DL likely the heaviest weight bearing exercise for most of the program, it takes deliberate effort to make sure technique checks out. Also agree with twice a week, second day DL variation. I always DL on Tuesday and deficit/snatch grip/pause on Thursday

[@saviola5194]

Ankle mobility of a 90 year old

[@LatimusChadimus]

16nd

[@DrAJ_LatinAmerica]

👍

[@XXXKruszakus]

I do Zercher deadlifts only - greater mobility gains combined with tissue quality improvement seems more beneficial to me than pure strength gains.