Deadlift reps

KDar1988

Hi everyone. Just wondered your thoughts. I have switched to sumo deadlifts for the past few weeks. I've been able to lift 195lbs so far. (Heavy for me). So when you're lifting at the absolute heaviest you can do, how many reps do you suggest? I have been doing SL 5x5 so I always try for 5 but the heavier it gets, the harder it is to get to 5. I manage but it's hard.

Just curious...maybe I just do what I can even if it's not 5?
Thanks!

cwolfman13

KDar1988 wrote: »

Hi everyone. Just wondered your thoughts. I have switched to sumo deadlifts for the past few weeks. I've been able to lift 195lbs so far. (Heavy for me). So when you're lifting at the absolute heaviest you can do, how many reps do you suggest? I have been doing SL 5x5 so I always try for 5 but the heavier it gets, the harder it is to get to 5. I manage but it's hard.

Just curious...maybe I just do what I can even if it's not 5?
Thanks!

The higher the % of your 1 RM, the less reps you would do. I believe most 5x5 programs would have you at around 80% of your 1RM or so for a set of 5. If you're managing 5 then you're fine...it should be challenging

sammyliftsandeats

KDar1988 wrote: »

Hi everyone. Just wondered your thoughts. I have switched to sumo deadlifts for the past few weeks. I've been able to lift 195lbs so far. (Heavy for me). So when you're lifting at the absolute heaviest you can do, how many reps do you suggest? I have been doing SL 5x5 so I always try for 5 but the heavier it gets, the harder it is to get to 5. I manage but it's hard.

Just curious...maybe I just do what I can even if it's not 5?
Thanks!

Congrats on the progress!

Are you doing them as part of the program? Then I would follow the program and try for the five. You may fail a few times and need to deload, but that's part of the process.

Or are you pulling to see what your one rep max is? If so, then I would probably still try to get the five and once the five are 'easier', increase the weight and try to pull one.

riffraff2112

it takes a bit of time to find the correct weights, especially when starting a new exercise program (or more specifically a particular exercise). Even harder with deadlifts since most people can handle a pretty big number, and SL advises only doing one set, it can be tough to figure out what a good, safe weight is.

canadianlbs

i think the usual idea is to use whatever weight you can do for 5 reps. it should be challenging, but maybe not to the extent where you just can't do it. it does get hard to know what the next step should be, once you're into a range where you're doing it but you're not sure how you even managed to do it. so, a couple of options:

you could repeat the same weight until you do feel comfortable, or you could try progressing but add smaller increases next time. if sumo is a new form pattern for you, repeating is probably not a bad thing. you're grooving a new pattern as well as trying to raise your lift weight.

sl says 10 pounds for lower-body lifts like the deadlift, but no-one has completely unlimited growth potential. so that rate of increase is not meant to be written in stone for the rest of your life. you progress at that rate until it's not working or you can't do it anymore. and then you start using whatever you can do instead.

you could also switch over to an intermediate programme like wendler 5/3/1 if you want to sez me, who made that change this year and still think it was a great move.

DopeItUp

I would just stick with the program for now until you run into problems - then follow the suggest Stronglifts deload procedure (I think if you fail to get 5 reps for two workouts in a row you deload 10% or something? Look it up I'm probably wrong). The whole point to progressive overload is that it gets harder and harder over time but you adapt and get stronger. So it sounds like you're doing it right.

At a certain point this will become impossible to keep up the pace with the weight increases, in which case I'd switch to a more advanced program. Madcow 5x5 is good or 5/3/1.

If you just WANT to switch to a program where you do as many reps as you can, pick a program that includes AMRAP (as many reps as possible) sets. 5/3/1 is an example of this, your final set of every day is AMRAP. Personally I love this style of training as I'm not just going through the motions every workout, I'm trying to hit a new rep max nearly constantly. This sort of training will carry you a lot further (I did 5x5 for about a year, 5/3/1 for about 4 years since)

galgenstrick

Don't forget your diet. I'm not a big fan of stronglifts 5x5 for that reason; they have you eating at maintenance and you'll stall pretty quick on some of your lifts. If you're serious about wanting to add a lot more weight to the bar, then I would suggest eating in a surplus while doing the program, and possibly switch to Starting Strength to make some real linear progression. Everyone's a bit different though, just my experience with it.

SonyaCele

when i get to my heavy pulls, i pull in the single rep range. Each heavy deadlift takes a major effort to set up and uses all my strength, i could not do another rep. When i'm warming up , i do 8 or 3. but once i'm at around 50% of max, i'm doing only singles.

Willbenchforcupcakes

I have a crazy volume tolerance. And deadlifts are supposed to be hard. The hard reps, the challenging reps are what build you up. Follow your programming including protocol for stalls.

sgt1372

KDar1988 wrote: »

So when you're lifting at the absolute heaviest you can do, how many reps do you suggest?

If you're doing your "absolute heaviest", you should only be able to do one rep. However, few people train doing just their 1RM max.

There are a variety of programs that utilize varying reps and weights at a percentage of your 1RM over time in order to continue to increase your strength.

It's too complicated to get into them here but you can Google "deadlift programs" to get some ideas. You should also look into Wendler's 5/3/1 and the Texas Method as examples of intermediate programs that you can use for your DLs.

KDar1988 wrote: »

I have been doing SL 5x5 so I always try for 5 but the heavier it gets, the harder it is to get to 5. I manage but it's hard.

One problem w/SL is that Medhi never really tells you what to do when you get to heavier weights (other than to deload and continue doing what you were doing b4) and how to transition to a more effective intermediate program when you plateau.

The other problem is that SL (as well as SS) only requires you to only do 1x5 for DL, once a week, which really is not enough work to fully engage and develop your glutes, hip flexors and other muscles instrunental to doing the DL.

The amount of DL work is severely limited in (and SS) because they are mainly based on doing SQTs, which use many of the same muscles, and they don't want to negatively effect the SQT work by doing too many DLs.

However, once you've developed sufficient strength and have topped out doing DLs in SL, there's really no reason why you can't start to doing DLs differently, as long as it's done in a way to allow sufficient recovery to also do the other parts of your lifting program.

IMO, you should be doing as much work doing DLs as you are doing SQTs which should be enough work to promote hypertrophy which is normally considered to be in the range of 24-50 total reps in a workout typically at 80% of your 1RM max.

How you go about doing these reps is subject to a lot of debate and variation. 4x6 at 80% of your 1RM is commonly mentioned as a starting point but if you do more or fewer reps and/or sets, you would need to lower or raise the weight accordingly.

You just need to choose the combination of sets, reps and weight that works best for you and I suggest that you use established internediate programs, like Wendlers and the Texas Method, as a guide in oidifying your DL workouts in a way that suits you best.

Good luck!

KDar1988

Thank you all for your thoughts! I really appreciate the time taken to reply. I've been having so much fun doing the DL's that I have been doing them every time I workout. I like the idea of mastering the weight and form before adding more. For me SL is too aggressive with adding weight each time. Thanks again