Barbell Deadlift program help please

[Trever]

I’ve been working out at home for the past couple months do to pandemic.
My workouts are a mix of deadlifting, kettlebell ballistics and TGU’s. My deadlifting has been with kettlebells because I didn’t have a barbell and plate set and took me two months to finally find one. With kettlebells I’ve been using a mix of two kettlebells per hand to vary the deadlift weight, but the heaviest combo is 203lbs.
I’m not a big guy at 5’8” and 137lbs lean and 51 yrs old. My heaviest BB deadlift is 275lbs but I’d say my good form max is 250lbs.

Now that I have a bar and plates, my problem is a lack of small weights so I’m not sure how to program with what I have.
I have 45lb bar, 4x45lb plates and 2x25lb plates.
I can’t find 10 lb plates anywhere, but I’ll keep searching. So I have barbell options of 135lbs, 185lbs, 225lbs and 275lbs
And kettlebell combo options of 151lbs and 203 lbs.

I deadlift 3 times per week and would appreciate some opinions on how I should program with the limited weight options to keep increasing my deadlift strength. Thanks a lot.

 

[T_M]

With the restrictions you have on weight progression, you might want to consider variations of the DL: deficit deadlifts, snatch grip deads and romanian DLs come to mind. You can also target parts of the posterior chain like the lower back with good mornings and the hammies with straight leg DL with a light weight. Check out Craigslist and Ebay for extra plates. Good luck

 

[Deleted member 5559]

I think if I only had those plates, I would probably consider doing different rep ranges depending on the load. Singles, triples, fives, and eights. You could further vary the number of sets at those intensities.

 

[Steve Freides]

@Trever, you have about a 67% and an 82% weight. There's lots you can do. Lift 185 for higher reps - you can probably do at least 12 with that weight, so stick to between 4 and 8 reps. You can probably lift 225 for 7 or 8 reps, so stick to 3 and 4 reps.

But one example would be to work up to 5 x 5 @ 225. One heavy day per week where you do as much of 5 sets of 5 reps each with 225 as you can, gradually increasing for 3-4 weeks in a row then inserting an back-off week. On the other two days, go with 185 for 5 x 5 or do assistance and variation work.

If you have craigslist.org or another source of local, used goods, 10 lb. plates are usually pretty easy to find.

You can also put together a varied sessions, e.g., 185 x 5, 225 x 3, and repeat that as often as you wish.

-S-

 

[JeffC]

Work up, with Plates and Quarters, to an uncomfortable set, like a daily max, heavy, not crushing, go back one plate change, and do Back Off work. 3 x 3, 3 x 5, 8 x 3, 10 x 2, 15 x 1OTM, Russian Bear, Ladders, depends on your needs at the time.

 

[Trever]

Thank you very much everyone, that’s very helpful.

 

[mikhael]

I would stick to 185 most of the time since it is your 75%RM. Like @Steve Freides keep the range 4-8 reps with the weight. Occasionally I would pull 225 and 275.

 

[Kyle Kowalczuk]

I agree with @Steve Freides. The percentages you have you can do a lot with. Don’t forget about ladders. 3-4x1,2,3 and 4-5x2,3,5 could would nicely with varying loads.