Burnt myself out on deadlifts... need advice.

[PhreEkGarden]

So pissed off right now but I could use some advice on where I should go from here.

Last week was the 10th week of this deadlifting cycle that I've been doing. I basically dropped exercises and volume as it got heavier and last week I hit a 25 lb pr with a 575 4" deficit pull.

Well, the plan was to hit that, then get back to deadlifting off the floor, and in a few weeks test my max.

Today I went in and was planning to hit 600. The 475 warmup felt way too heavy, and 535 barely moved so I said screw it and left the gym.

I suppose if I was smarter I would have deloaded right after that max deficit last week since I've been hitting it pretty hard for a while now. I've also been sleeping fitfully, unmotivated almost to the point of feeling a bit depressed, poor appetite, etc. My hamstrings, low back, and hips felt trashed all this week. Pretty clear signs huh? I'm just stubborn and was telling myself I wanted to hit the 600, then deload... then come back and work up to test a max. Not the best plan I guess.

Anyway, I am just hoping for some advice on how I should go about recovering and getting back to it. I was just thinking of maybe doing some super light squats later this week, some super light speed pulls on the weekend, and maybe see how I feel the next weekend. Not really sure if that is giving myself enough time... I dunno... bleh.

I appreciate the help....

[John Prophet]

link to the dl cycle?


sounds like you just went a little "flat" trying to dl max 2 weeks straight....or, you just had an off day. plus you are probably getting deep into the peaking end of the dl cycle and the body is getting pretty fatigued

thats one reason I like to use a loosely Russian "3 hard weeks then an easier week" setup. With that approach you can train hard yet keep the overreaching under control. Right now I am squatting on Mon and Fri and deadlifting on Wed. So with that setup I am not trying to dl super heavy every week. One week I will go over 90% but then the next week maybe 82-87 for sets of 2-3 reps. On the week I do the 90% deads I wont go to 90% on squats. The week that I go lighter on deads I will go over 90% on squats

does sound like you need a deload. if you arent training for a specific meet you could just take an easy week and see how you feel after that. Dependng on what kind of cycle you are doing, you may be able to just reset back a few weeks.

or, you could do a more thorough deload, like maybe 2 easier weeks. Then after you are refreshed you start back again on higher volume with lighter weights BUT still trying to increase to a higher starting point than you started the current cycle


btw, you still dating that sexy thing u was with a few years back? (if not, sorry I brought it up, lol)

[PhreEkGarden]

link to the dl cycle?


sounds like you just went a little "flat" trying to dl max 2 weeks straight....or, you just had an off day. plus you are probably getting deep into the peaking end of the dl cycle and the body is getting pretty fatigued

thats one reason I like to use a loosely Russian "3 hard weeks then an easier week" setup. With that approach you can train hard yet keep the overreaching under control. Right now I am squatting on Mon and Fri and deadlifting on Wed. So with that setup I am not trying to dl super heavy every week. One week I will go over 90% but then the next week maybe 82-87 for sets of 2-3 reps. On the week I do the 90% deads I wont go to 90% on squats. The week that I go lighter on deads I will go over 90% on squats

does sound like you need a deload. if you arent training for a specific meet you could just take an easy week and see how you feel after that. Dependng on what kind of cycle you are doing, you may be able to just reset back a few weeks.

or, you could do a more thorough deload, like maybe 2 easier weeks. Then after you are refreshed you start back again on higher volume with lighter weights BUT still trying to increase to a higher starting point than you started the current cycle


btw, you still dating that sexy thing u was with a few years back? (if not, sorry I brought it up, lol)

http://www.mediafire.com/?92opa492n2k6nw1

That is a link to what I am doing. It is basically a peaking cycle starting out real light on everything, and I suppose with last weeks max I should have deloaded.

Btw, I pulled the 573 deficit last week, and I just looked back in my journal from when I did my last competition early in the year. I weighed 270 and pulled a 550 deficit max right around the time I maxed with 620 at the comp. Those pulls were with a deadlift bar also. Right now I am in a regular gym using a regular bar and pulled 573 weighing 240, so I was pretty pumped up about that and let it get the best of me and thought I could keep going when I needed to rest I guess. I was hoping to hit somewhere between 635-650 when I test my max from the floor.

Anyway, gotta go get ready for my halloween party. That sexy little thing from a few years back is my wife now. I am dressing up as a box of raisins and she is a devil. We are goin as Raisin Hell, lol.

Edit: This was a really long deadlift cycle... never done anything like it before. I really like it though, and give props to Babyslayer for it. He basically laid out the idea of it and I tweaked it a little and made it into a spreadsheet. If I do it again though, I won't stretch it out quite as many weeks and will deload when necessary.

[John Prophet]

glanced at it. the only thing that stands out is every week it says "as many reps as possible" lol. That leaves the door open for some good abuse hehe

Thats basically a 'linear' routine at the end and if you are hitting squats hard also and other bodyparts, you simply might run out of steam especially with the deads over 90-95%. an idea would be to hit the 95% range, then the next week back off to, say, 75-85% for like 2x2 or 3x2 or whatever (nothing hard) and THEN hit a max

another thing I sort of dont agree with is where (it appears) that you arent doing any regular deads at all, then all of a sudden you are going to max on them. Yes, I understand it has the defecit deads all the way thru and therefore theoretically you would be able to max more on regular deads than the deficits. That being said, specificity is still king and it seems to me it would be better to do some regular deads in the cycle too.

The way I have worked that issue is to do the deficits in the early part of a cycle and then near the end to drop them out and focus on the regular comp deads. Here is essentially what I have done since June trying to get ready for a meet on Dec 10th

8 weeks -- stiff legged deads (from a deficit, using 25lb plates, letting the back round way over, last rep each set from dead rest off the floor)

6 weeks -- 3" deficit deads, 1.5" deficit deads, regular deads. start on 3" go up to 80-85ish%, go to 1.5" deficit, either do same weight or add, then a few sets of regular deads

4 weeks -- 1.5" deads, regular deads.

last 4 weeks, just regular deads

I think that is a decent way to structure a longer cycle. It starts off lighter and less specific, then it gets heavier and more specific as it goes.

no doubt, you and babyslayer are way stronger than me, lol...but maybe some of my ideas will work for you anyway

[breathinglife]

Stop deadlifting so much. Your max squat is ~450ish right? It's no wonder you are burning yourself out on deadlift. This is also the probably the reason that your squat is 150 lbs less than your DL.

It's tempting to focus on your strengths, but it's more beneficial to focus on your weaknesses. I did this for a long time. I got my deadlift up to ~550 and hit a brick wall for 2 years. It was only when I started focusing on my squats that I was able to get my deadlift back up.

Try just pulling some singles every two weeks and focusing on squats in the meantime. I bet you'll pull some big PRs.

[djs5017]

* don't deadlift as much. Do some light KB swings for a couple weeks. Focus on getting some good sleep and meals.

[DCSpartan]

where in Manassas are you lifting? Every gym aorund here I know they would freak out with the wieghts you use!

[brentwillisbgw]

Stop deadlifting so much. Your max squat is ~450ish right? It's no wonder you are burning yourself out on deadlift. This is also the probably the reason that your squat is 150 lbs less than your DL.

It's tempting to focus on your strengths, but it's more beneficial to focus on your weaknesses. I did this for a long time. I got my deadlift up to ~550 and hit a brick wall for 2 years. It was only when I started focusing on my squats that I was able to get my deadlift back up.

Try just pulling some singles every two weeks and focusing on squats in the meantime. I bet you'll pull some big PRs.

This, this, and this.

[PhreEkGarden]

glanced at it. the only thing that stands out is every week it says "as many reps as possible" lol. That leaves the door open for some good abuse hehe

Thats basically a 'linear' routine at the end and if you are hitting squats hard also and other bodyparts, you simply might run out of steam especially with the deads over 90-95%. an idea would be to hit the 95% range, then the next week back off to, say, 75-85% for like 2x2 or 3x2 or whatever (nothing hard) and THEN hit a max

another thing I sort of dont agree with is where (it appears) that you arent doing any regular deads at all, then all of a sudden you are going to max on them. Yes, I understand it has the defecit deads all the way thru and therefore theoretically you would be able to max more on regular deads than the deficits. That being said, specificity is still king and it seems to me it would be better to do some regular deads in the cycle too.

The way I have worked that issue is to do the deficits in the early part of a cycle and then near the end to drop them out and focus on the regular comp deads. Here is essentially what I have done since June trying to get ready for a meet on Dec 10th

8 weeks -- stiff legged deads (from a deficit, using 25lb plates, letting the back round way over, last rep each set from dead rest off the floor)

6 weeks -- 3" deficit deads, 1.5" deficit deads, regular deads. start on 3" go up to 80-85ish%, go to 1.5" deficit, either do same weight or add, then a few sets of regular deads

4 weeks -- 1.5" deads, regular deads.

last 4 weeks, just regular deads

I think that is a decent way to structure a longer cycle. It starts off lighter and less specific, then it gets heavier and more specific as it goes.

no doubt, you and babyslayer are way stronger than me, lol...but maybe some of my ideas will work for you anyway

I agree with what you are saying, because when I went back to regular deadlifts they actually felt a bit awkward. If I do anything like this in the future I will keep your advice in mind.

I thought it was funny that you remembered those before/after pictures I put up a couple years ago. I was pretty damn skinny in that first photo right after being sick.

Edit: Just realized those pictures are still in my profile, lol. Damn, it's been about 5 years since I started lifting weights. About 3 since I started squatting/deadlifting and powerlifting I think.

Stop deadlifting so much. Your max squat is ~450ish right? It's no wonder you are burning yourself out on deadlift. This is also the probably the reason that your squat is 150 lbs less than your DL.

It's tempting to focus on your strengths, but it's more beneficial to focus on your weaknesses. I did this for a long time. I got my deadlift up to ~550 and hit a brick wall for 2 years. It was only when I started focusing on my squats that I was able to get my deadlift back up.

Try just pulling some singles every two weeks and focusing on squats in the meantime. I bet you'll pull some big PRs.

Word. Looking back at my log when my deadlift was strongest earlier this year we were squatting heavy / supplement pulling one week, and deadlifting heavy / supplemental squatting the next. I hit a 500 squat but I don't think I could hit that right now. I mean, I wanna hit the 700 deadlift mark in the not-so-distant future, but it might be a bit awkward if my squat is still under 500, lol.

* don't deadlift as much. Do some light KB swings for a couple weeks. Focus on getting some good sleep and meals.

Thanks. I will definitely be resting and eating well before I get back to it.

where in Manassas are you lifting? Every gym aorund here I know they would freak out with the wieghts you use!

Actually, I'm living in the UK right now for the next couple years, but back at home we found a great warehouse gym called Aggressive Strength & Conditioning. It's in Sterling and has a ton of strongman/powerlifting stuff. The only thing it's missing is a mono lift but they are gettin one in the future.

This, this, and this.

Pfft, what do you know?

Seriously though, I will get back to deadlifting less often and just focus on pulling heavy singles again. That is what I was doing before and had made some good gains, on squats & deads. Although I like the 'program' I was just running I think for me it just went on too long after it got really heavy at the end.

I'll just chalk it up to more training knowledge in my bank and rest up and move on I suppose. I'm not really sure why I stopped trying to push my squat either, because it was going pretty well before.

[PhreEkGarden]

Thanks again everyone. I suppose I was just pissed and kind of freaked out yesterday and it's probably not that big of a deal. I'll be fine in a week or two. Thanks for the advice too... I am deadlifting too much and need to get back to some heavy squats and not pulling so much.... how I was training back at home.

[naturalguy]

Someone told me this a while ago and it seems to hold true "the less you deadlift, the more you deadlift"


You sound over trained and need to deadlift less, work on accessory exercises that will strengthen your deadlift

[brentwillisbgw]

Pfft, what do you know?

Seriously though, I will get back to deadlifting less often and just focus on pulling heavy singles again. That is what I was doing before and had made some good gains, on squats & deads. Although I like the 'program' I was just running I think for me it just went on too long after it got really heavy at the end.

I'll just chalk it up to more training knowledge in my bank and rest up and move on I suppose. I'm not really sure why I stopped trying to push my squat either, because it was going pretty well before.

Lol. I have always made the most progress with my deadlift when I am making gains on my squat as well. I pretty much ignored my squat during the training cycle for my last deadlift meet and it definitely showed. I made about zero progress during that entire cycle lol.