deadlift advice sought

[Piotrek]

Hello there.

Can I maintain my current conditioning and do either less weight, less reps or less frequent sessions.?

I am 60 years old, 178cm, 75 kg slim build. I deadlift once per week, trap bar, one set with a strict 3 second up phase and a 4 second down phase, 90kg, 12 reps, maximum effort. No 13th rep is possible. I never hurt myself doing DL, and afterwards my back is fine, but glute soreness extends to at least 3 days after.

I do this primarily so that I don't get the old man's "frogs arse" and because trap bar DL is convenient logistically.

I am an infrequent (once per week), short, intense training session sort of person.

Many thanks.

 

[metaldrummer]

Without knowing what your current conditioning is I would say no beings that you said you're only training once a week. Imo, realistically you can only really hope to hold on to where you're at if you're only training once a week. I know because I've been there. It's better than nothing but hardly optimal for anything. Is there a reason you only train once a week? Also, from a strength perspective I would never go over 6 reps probably, even for speed work. IMO deadlift is a low rep exercise, but again this is coming from a purely strength perspective.

 

[s f]

It appears you train to failure adapting Arthur Jones/Mike Mentzer principles where hypertrophy is the primary goal rather than pure strength.If you continue this way,you can use less weight but need to make the exercise harder to fatigue the muscle to momentary muscle failure(less reps with a longer cadence).Recovery will dictate the frequency but once a week should suffice for what your apparent goals are.

 

[metaldrummer]

It appears you train to failure adapting Arthur Jones/Mike Mentzer principles where hypertrophy is the primary goal rather than pure strength.If you continue this way,you can use less weight but need to make the exercise harder to fatigue the muscle to momentary muscle failure(less reps with a longer cadence).Recovery will dictate the frequency but once a week should suffice for what your apparent goals are.

Lol wut? I don't think anyone, especially someone who's natural is going to go anywhere by training once a week AND also using less weight. That's just nonsensical.

 

[Grayland]

I'm 59, 5'9, 170 lb. (so pretty close to the OP). I also DL once a week. I do one set of 5 one day per week as Mark Rippetoe suggests in Starting Strength. I workout 3 days a week, but only DL once a week. Most people I know only deadlift once a week - if you're going heavy, you'll need a bit to recover.

I've always understand that on a DL you should let the bar down pretty quickly. I don't drop the weight (as I don't want to be that guy at the gym), but I don't go slow either. I know there are exercises where slow, strict movement (both ways) are are a good thing (maybe curls?), but I'm not sure the DL is that exercise.

 

[Boris Bachmann]

One set once a week and you want to do LESS?

I think if you're doing other training/activity, and you're not real strong to begin with, then, I guess, 'maybe'?

 

[Piotrek]

Without knowing what your current conditioning is I would say no beings that you said you're only training once a week. Imo, realistically you can only really hope to hold on to where you're at if you're only training once a week. I know because I've been there. It's better than nothing but hardly optimal for anything. Is there a reason you only train once a week? Also, from a strength perspective I would never go over 6 reps probably, even for speed work. IMO deadlift is a low rep exercise, but again this is coming from a purely strength perspective.

Many thanks for the reply. Having weight trained for 45 years, all I want now is to hold on to what I have, stay injury free and spend as little time in the gym as possible, hence the question.

One set once a week and you want to do LESS?

I think if you're doing other training/activity, and you're not real strong to begin with, then, I guess, 'maybe'?

Thanks for your reply. I'm pretty strong. I just want to keep what I have.

 

[Piotrek]

I'm 59, 5'9, 170 lb. (so pretty close to the OP). I also DL once a week. I do one set of 5 one day per week as Mark Rippetoe suggests in Starting Strength. I workout 3 days a week, but only DL once a week. Most people I know only deadlift once a week - if you're going heavy, you'll need a bit to recover.

I've always understand that on a DL you should let the bar down pretty quickly. I don't drop the weight (as I don't want to be that guy at the gym), but I don't go slow either. I know there are exercises where slow, strict movement (both ways) are are a good thing (maybe curls?), but I'm not sure the DL is that exercise.

Thanks for the reply. A set of 5 DL's must be pretty heavy I imagine? Do you go to failure? Do you feel it in your glutes the next few days? Thanks in advance.

 

[Piotrek]

It appears you train to failure adapting Arthur Jones/Mike Mentzer principles where hypertrophy is the primary goal rather than pure strength.If you continue this way,you can use less weight but need to make the exercise harder to fatigue the muscle to momentary muscle failure(less reps with a longer cadence).Recovery will dictate the frequency but once a week should suffice for what your apparent goals are.

Thanks for your reply. Great insight on your part. Yes, before he passed I had a consult with Mike years ago. My glutes are sore for at least 3 days after the DL set, but I really do go to failure, with the risks that that entails. I want to know if I can back off a little a still hold my nice set of buns, and reduce the risks a little. Cheers.

 

[Piotrek]

Lol wut? I don't think anyone, especially someone who's natural is going to go anywhere by training once a week AND also using less weight. That's just nonsensical.

Scepticism is good. Combined with an open mind, it's even better.

 

[Grayland]

Thanks for the reply. A set of 5 DL's must be pretty heavy I imagine? Do you go to failure? Do you feel it in your glutes the next few days? Thanks in advance.

It is pretty heavy and I do pretty much go to failure - I've never dropped the bar but I usually don't have another rep in me - due to grip more than anything. I feel it a little bit in my glutes the next day or so, but it isn't like I walk funny because of the soreness.