Question about deadlifts

Emtabo01

I posted this in the general fitness forum earlier today:

"I'm newer to lifting and workout at home. I've been dead lifting between 75-90 pounds for the last 3-4 months. I just can not seem to ever get past 90, some times I have to back off back down to 75 or 80 pounds. Whenever I try to increase the weight I seem to hurt my lower back, nothing too crazy, just more achy than normal, needing a heating pad and bengay, but then it's fine a day or so later. I also am doing around 12 reps in the program I'm doing too. I'm a 5'7 33yo female, around 140 pounds eating 1900-2100 cals a day if any of that matters. How can I increase weight and make progress with this specific exercise without hurting myself!"

Here's a link to the thread:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/991400-can-t-seem-to-progress-w-deadlifts

It seemed a lot of responses were that it's crazy to do that many reps. What do you guys think? Do any of you struggle with this issue too?

Btw, I just started NROL4Abs, after finishing NROL4W.

laccy40

I'm no expert (as you can see from my profile pic) but in NROLFW you start off at 15 reps but drop reps as you add weight. So you might want to reduce to 10 or even 8 reps until you feel you can handle 90lb then work on building up the reps. I'm only on stage 2 though where we stick to 10 reps of everything, I'm not sure if the reps stay at that level or increase through the stages.

MyOwnSunshine

I think the answer is, "It depends..."

If you want to be a power lifter and lift incredible amounts of weight, it is ridiculous to do as many reps as most NROL plans require.

NROL are generally focused on building overall fitness, not just strength. I like NROL because they develop my strength, endurance, power, speed, coordination and balance.

If I just wanted to squat and deadlift massive amounts of weight, I'd do Stronglifts or Wendler's 5-3-1.

I'm not sure about Abs, but I know in Supercharged, the reps are varied based on the Phase and Stage. In Basic Training, the sets/reps are high because the focus is fat loss and building fitness. In Hypertrophy, the sets/reps undulate to build mass and increase fitness. In Strength, the sets/reps are decreased to build strength.

Not every program is going to be the best for everyone.

I would also add that if you are hurting your lower back deadlifting, your form is probably not great and you should work on that before you attempt to increase. Most people who deadlift (and squat) huge amounts of weight are able to do it because they have perfected the form and they squat and deadlift big amounts several times a week. One of my friends at the gym deadlifts 485, and he deadlifts for over an hour at least once a week. If you want to be a powerlifter, you should focus on your big lifts. If you are looking for overall fitness, I would stick with the NROL workouts.

MyOwnSunshine

One of the things that I do to work on lifting heavier is to do 2 NROL workouts a week and then do a Stronglifts 5x5-type of workout for my 3rd workout that week, if that makes sense. Supercharged starts out with a "Basic Training" Phase that is four Stages long and it is all high-rep like Stage 7 in ...for Women. My favorite stage was Stage 6 in ...for Women because I liked lifting heavy.

I totally understand wanting to increase weight on DLs and squats -- I would like to squat my body weight and DL 205 pounds.

I can't wait to hit the "Strength" phase of Supercharged, but I also need to lose a bit more body fat, so I'm content with the high reps of Basic Training for now.

Beeps2011

I really like MyOwnSunshine's advice to OP. It's good advice!

Emtabo01

Thanks for opinions, I agree I just need to lower the weight if I'm doing that many reps, and if I want to increase weight, decrease reps. I just kind of "do what I'm told" as far as the book recommends, so I try to always be increasing weights and always do the recommended reps, which just isn't working past a certain weight for me, so I need to change things up, veer a little from the program, I'm a by the book person, so I just need to get used to modifying a little I guess, trust myself.

BarbellCowgirl

What Sunshine said. It depends on your goals. Perfect your form before you increase (I am struggling with this part!).