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Barbell Barbell DL once per week?

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JGP718

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Hello all,

I’m currently doing S&S 5 days per week. I would like to incorporate some deadlifts into my training to help in absolute strength. I would love to own short term a 300lb deadlift and long term the double body weight dl. Can I have success deadlifting just once per week on the weekends? Would easy strength style not be enough volume?

Thanks!
 
Can once a week be enough? It has been enough for plenty of medals and records. Whether it's enough for you is another case.

For someone with little experience in the lift I'd recommend more frequency. After the technique becomes adequate, once a week may be enough.

I think the intensity needs to be pretty high if deadlifting only once a week.
 
Yes, no problem with once a week. You're already patterning the hip hinge with S&S. Your DL day will have to have some extra volume over time. I would hit the DL on Saturday with Friday as a rest day. Slowly work into a Russian Bear program, work up to a heavy but not killer 5 rep set, drop some weight and do say 3 sets of five week one. The following week add 5-15 pounds depending on feel, and go for another heavy set of five, drop some weight and do say 4 sets of five. Each week add a bit of weight to both your high end set and add a bit of weight to your volume sets and add a set. If things keep progressing, great! If not de-load for a week and then reset both the high end set and volume sets. Think 4-6 steps forward, 3-4 steps back. You'll be lifting quite a bit of weight before you know it and you won't be breaking down in the process.

There's a few way to go about this, this is how I would do it if I wanted to continue with S&S at the same time.
 
Thank you for the responses. Maybe I would make better progress with 3 days per week of S&S and 2 days a week of deadlifting? Just really looking for the minimal effective dose! If I go 2 days maybe I could use the PTTP programming.
 
@JGP718
Do you have a home setup with a barbell?
If yes the Daily Dose Deadlift Plan might be something for you. I know 5x per week is a lot different than 1x per week, but it requires little to no warm-up and you're done in 10-15min without breaking a sweat. Something you could easily do every morning after waking up or before going to bed.

If I had a barbell at home I'd go for something like this:
Waking up -> couple of OS resets to get my body moving -> first DL -> going to the toilette -> second DL -> making coffee -> third DL -> heating the pan for eggs/making a sandwich -> fourth DL -> putting together the whole breakfast on the table -> fifth DL -> eat breakfast -> brush teeth -> go to work -> come home -> S&S session -> free time.
You wouldn't really loose any time, get in your five daily singles and still had ~3min rest between each single.
Of course this just applies if you've got a barbell at home.

If you really can only get in one session per week I'd also go for 531. @damogari has done that in the past.
 
Kettlebelephant said:
@JGP718
Do you have a home setup with a barbell?
If yes the Daily Dose Deadlift Plan might be something for you. I know 5x per week is a lot different than 1x per week, but it requires little to no warm-up and you're done in 10-15min without breaking a sweat. Something you could easily do every morning after waking up or before going to bed.

If I had a barbell at home I'd go for something like this:
Waking up -> couple of OS resets to get my body moving -> first DL -> going to the toilette -> second DL -> making coffee -> third DL -> heating the pan for eggs/making a sandwich -> fourth DL -> putting together the whole breakfast on the table -> fifth DL -> eat breakfast -> brush teeth -> go to work -> come home -> S&S session -> free time.
You wouldn't really loose any time, get in your five daily singles and still had ~3min rest between each single.
Of course this just applies if you've got a barbell at home.

If you really can only get in one session per week I'd also go for 531. @damogari has done that in the past.
Click to expand...
Yes I do have a barbell set in my basement. I’m going to look into this! I like the idea of spreading it out like you said.
 
People who deadlift only once a week typically do other exercise that carryover over to their deadlift, e.g., a powerlifter might squat twice a week and deadlift once, and a PL style squat, with its wide stance and focus on hip involvement, has great carryover to a barbell deadlift.

Light/Medium/Heavy would be my weekly minimum recommendation if you aren't also squatting heavy.

-S-
 
I’m pretty sure one arm swings 5 days a week and deadlifts one day would work just fine.
 
@NoahMarek, that depends on what you mean by "work just fine" - for me, it wouldn't be sufficient practice at the skill of deadlifting.

-S-
 
@Steve Freides the poster is a male trying to achieve a 300 lb deadlift. I think there is a good chance that this could get him there easily. For him, this would work likely just fine.
 
@NoahMarek, I think someone new to any lift will, in general, do better with high frequency and low intensity. I think once a week deadlifting also increases the likelihood of injury if the intensity is high. I do not agree with your recommendation here.

-S-
 
ross enamait for example advocates one to two times deadlifting per week. one heavy day and one light day with assistance work like swings.
but one good, heavy day of deadlifting is enough, if you are doing other lower back/legs work, like squatting, shouldering, cleaning, snatching, sprinting, etc.
i for example improved my deadlift by not deadlifting at all. a lot of zercher squats, shouldering and hyperextensions helped. especially sandbag shouldering seems to work like magic!
 
I'm a once-a-week barball deadlifter, primarily because I don't have a barbell setup at home and it's tough to make time to get out to a gym. I supplement it with single-leg deadlifts at home with a kettlebell.

I found that at the start (when I hadn't really done either much before) that there was reasonable carryover between the two - I could feel them in the same spots. But I am finding as I progress that they're starting to diverge - having to fight the rotational forces with the single leg, vs. the focused tension into the floor as the barball gets heavier. Still making progress in each, but definitely slowing down.

I think it's just a question of time. If you can live with slower progress, once a week is fine. If you're really focused on driving your deadlift weight up for a near-term goal, I think you'll need more focus/specialization.
 
Using the Beast with the single leg when I push it. By comparison, 3 x 335 lbs with the barbell deadlift is pushing it.

I think I've wrung out the "easy" gains now. But I'm not in a rush at the moment, ok with making slow gains for a while.
 
First off, I wouldn't necessarily listen to anything I say - don't have nearly the experience of most of the people here.

So now that we have that out of the way....

If you are gunning for 300 I would guess you are relatively new to the DL as the heavy hitters here floss their teeth with 300lb barbells. That being the case, I think technique practice, for you, is as important as "building strength". (I am also in this category). Not a math guy but to me Strength^Technique=Capacity.

So I think once a week would work for an experienced guy who's doing other complimentary movements during the week. For the relatively inexperienced I think it would be hugely beneficial to add a practice day or two to your one day of grunting. I don't think one day a week is sufficient to develop the skill - for a new guy/gal. I think just a set or two at even 65 to 70% would do it - just something to practice under a bit of load.

You often here people say "and one day it just went up!" implying a sort of non-linear progress. My theory is that is the day their technique fell into place and that for the most part the strength was there. I guess there's also a psychological component of getting past a perceived limit - but getting that perfect swing just once seems to clear a lot of barriers out of the way - especially if you can burn the pattern into your muscle memory.

One other thing - you may want to consider getting the one-lift plan from Fabio (available somewhere here on the website) - I think its enormously helpful, I would even go with hugely helpful, and you'll learn a ton just from following his plan.

Bonne chance.
 
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