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Barbell Deadlift program review

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Tom87

Level 4 Valued Member
Male, 75kg, 181cm.

TLDR :

Began the program below on april 29th with a sumo deadlift PR of 95, and got to 150kg by july 9th. About a 55kg increase in 70 days.
Deadlift Singles Success Story: A Fitness article

Which I found here :

INCREDIBLE Deadlift Singles Program Resullts

I was so inspired and motivated to try after reading the above post, that I figured I would add mine.


Here's the log.
April 16th :
Test sumo deadlift = 95kg max. Didn't try more because my form was clearly slipping.

At the time I was doing squat, and only deadlifted once in a while, but started to have knee pain due to squat. Thus I dropped squat and began this program (and had no knee pain since)

I did not really follow the program but used the basic structure : I just went about everyday whenever I could, had some shorts breaks due to badminton tournaments and traveling. Also I tested myself more regularly than advised.

I didn't use the planned deloads as I felt good, I just used my traveling breaks as deload.

Also, when I started, I didn't care about going 7 weeks or 20, I just thought I'm going until it starts getting too hard. My goal was to use this calm period (badminton wise) the best I could to build strength for the next season, and I was hoping to get to about 140-150kg PR by the end of july (before badminton boot camp).

April 29th : 15*60kg (15 singles at 60kg).
30th : 12*65kg

Mai :
2nd : 10*70
3 : 8*75
5 : 6*80
6 : 5*3 65
7 : 4*3 70
8 : 5*2 75
9 : Tested myself a bit, using the opportunity as I had a couple of days where I couldn't lift after that : 7 reps at 80kg, 1*85kg, 1*90kg, 1*95kg. Same weight as my april PR, quite a lot easier and form felt clean. Did not try to PR.

14 : 15*70
15 : 12*75
16 : 10*80
17 : 8*85
18 19th off for badminton tournament
20 : 6*90
21: 15*75
22 : 12*80
23 : 10*85
24 : 8*90kg. Super easy, which made me want to test myself on the following day
25 : TEST : 2*90, 1*100, 1*110, 1*120, 1*125 PR.
My hands slipped a little on the last one but it held. Very happy after this session :). 30kg in 30 days. I can't wait to be lifting 1125kg in 1000 days from now.

26 : 15*80
27 : 12*90 I decided to add 5kg as a result of my new PR. My 1RM was technically 5kg ahead of the program and everything felt easy.

28 : 10*95
29 : 8*100
30 : 6*105
31 : 15*90

JUNE
1st : 12*95
2nd : 10*100
3rd : 8*105
4 : TEST : 5*60, 3*80, 100, 120, 140 MISSED, 130, 135 PR. Overestimated how much I could lift, but still a PR.
5 : 10 singles at 115 (kinda wanted to wait to come back from holidays before beginning a new cycle, which I ended up not doing)
6 : off, traveling.
7 : 15*95 + 12*100 (before holidays)
12 : 20*105
15 : 8*110
16 : 6*115
17 : 15*100
18 : 12*105
19 : 10*110
20 : 8*115
21 : TEST : 5*60, 1* 90, 110, 130, 140, 145, 147.5 PR.
off, traveling.
27 : 15*105
28 : 12*110
29-30 : Off, badminton tournament.

July 1st : 10*115
2 : 8*120
4 : 6*125
5 : 15*110
7 : 12*115
8 : 10*120

9 : TEST : 5*60, 2*100, 2*125, 135, 145, 150 !

Today I feel like I reached my goal. I obviously want to go higher in the next months, but I'll be forced to train less in the following weeks, thus I stop here my review.
I will probably progress quite a lot slower, especially because my grip is becoming a problem on PRs, but I haven't found a likable solution to replace the pronated grip, so I'll go with this slower way for now.


On top of deadlifting, I did about everyday :
5*2 KT press and weighted chins.
Besides that, I played badminton about twice a week, not including competition (but I had only two competitions planned during that time, which is why I used the opportunity to really focus on building strength).
I did not gain weight, I ate as usual.


In conclusion, I am obviously very happy with the program : My progress was good, I liked lifting everyday, the routine was great for my mood, and it was unpainful to train that way. Also, it was nice to be able to trust the process and just follow it easily.
 
Last edited:
I have taken this program, converted the +10 lb. and +5 lb. increments into percentages of 500 lbs., and created a spreadsheet from it. It will work for kg or lbs., and you can adjust the rounding factor.

7 Week DL Singles Program

I believe everyone can view the spreadsheet but cannot edit it, however you should be able to copy to your own media or Google Drive and edit for yourself.

Please let me know if it works for you. In my example, I put in my DL 1RM in kg, 162.5, and made the rounding factor 5, which means my weights will require nothing smaller than 2.5 kg plates.

-S-
 
Great work! What is a pronated grip? Overhand? I usually use mixed grip on working weights but change the side on every set to keep balance in back muscles. On sub max weights I keep my stronger hold.
 
@Timo Keskitalo I prefer to use a pronated grip until it becomes too heavy, then I use a mixed grip (alternating between sets). So for the deadlift singles program, I find that I can use the pronated grip during the first workout (15 reps) and the second workout (12 reps) of the program.

The beauty is that every week (minus the deload week) you will be adding weight gradually and if you continue to use the pronated grip on those first couple of "light" days, you will actually be strengthing your grip.

Ideally, you would want to use a pronated grip on ALL your sets but that's very difficult... perhaps even impossible. So my advice is to use it as much as possible and switch to a mixed grip only when needed.
 
Hook grip to the rescue!!

I started using hook grip on all my deadlifts and could not be happier that I did. Yes my hands hurt initially, I got blisters and my thumbs ached for ages! But now I can hook grip without any discomfort at all with maximal deadlift weights without the wondering what to do if I want to do an odd number of sets or when to switch during warm up sets.
 
My friend pulled 347,5 kg with mixed grip so i'll try to manage my weights without hook grip. Or maybe it was 342,5
 
@Simply strong thanks for the suggestion. I never heard of the hook grip before but after some research, it seems like a "better" alternative to the mixed grip. I'm going to use it for my warm-up sets and slowly progress.

@Timo Keskitalo It's probably not a great idea to do something solely because we know someone that does it. I'm at the point where the mixed grip is what I need to use in order to pull heavy but I definitely want to give the hook grip a try.

Mixed grip == shoulder asymmetry.
 
I'm going to use it for my warm-up sets and slowly progress.

That’s how I did it. A great tip that I discovered is to try bend the bar so that the middle of the bar would bend towards you. This makes the bar contact the middle of your thumb rather than the inside, which makes it more comfortable. Might not work for you but it worked for me
 
@SuperGirevik one could also think that your grip is like a fuse. I read a comparison somewhere: like when you fall on your face your teeth will break before your neck breaks. Talk was about using straps. And with hook grip you have the pain, so who knows.

I'm just saying there should be no need to use hook grip for most of us. Flip sides == shoulder symmetry
 
I find other downsides to hook grip, e.g., I can’t grip the bar as tightly and feel like I lose some of the irradiation effect because of that.

-S-
 
Did anyone try this program with squats instead of deadlifts? Can't deadlift due to a hand injury but I squat a little bit more these days.

So, same structure, only singles, but squats. Anyone?
 
Hmm interested and What programom for someone who pull 2,2 BW ?

does this easy strenght program transfer to gpp?

Thanks
 
Did anyone try this program with squats instead of deadlifts? Can't deadlift due to a hand injury but I squat a little bit more these days.

So, same structure, only singles, but squats. Anyone?

Hey :).
Have you tried it for squat?
I may try at some point...If I do I'll post a review.
 
Finally I just tried for about 2 cycles before coming back to deadlifting...It seemed to be working fine at least...
 
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