Thread: Giving up deadlifting

nothing wrong with it at all. you do whatever the hell you want to do. if it doesn't fit in with your current goals, then don't worry about it. of course, you're probably going to get the customary replies of how its a necessity to deadlift, and how you're going to be missing out on huge gains by not doing them, yadda, yadda.

i am currently doing a 5/3/1 program, and I am not including squats as a 5/3/1 exercise. Why? Because I don't care about my squat numbers right now, I am choosing to focus my lower body work on deadlifts. I feel that it is very difficult to put numbers on both your squat and deadlift at the same time, doing both heavy in the same week. on this program if you follow it to the letter, you would do squats for a rep max and then 2 or 3 days later hit deads for a rep max, and then 2 or 3 days later hit squats again. I don't think that's optimal, so I do one lower body day with deads as my main focus and squats as an accessory and I do it every 5 days. much better recovery I feel, and I am hitting some crazy (for me) deadlift rep maxes.

so basically, do whatever suits your needs and don't worry about missing out on anything cause chances are, you probably won't so long as you keep doing everything else right.

If you are going to focus on Olympic lifting, I think it can be a challenge to incorporate all the powerlifting movements as well. I think this is one of the main reasons why it is so remarkable when lifters cross over and compete in both powerlifting and Olympic lifting. You can always come back to deadlifts again later if you choose to do so.

If your focus is on Oly lifting, things like RDL's can be used and will keep your Lower back, upper back, hammys and hip flexors strong. I swear by the DL, and do keep power snatched and power cleans in my training, but mainly on the light side to aid in explosiveness for strongman.

ST

Originally Posted by gtbmed

So lately I've been thinking about eliminating deadlifting from my training. The main reasons for this are that I'm more concerned about my numbers on the O lifts and full squats and that deadlifting seems to require a ton of recovery time for me.

Is this wrong? One of the things I've always noticed is that as my squat max increases, my deadlift weight increases similarly. When my deadlift max increases, my squat max doesn't always noticeably increase.

Just because their isn't always noticeably increase your squat max when your deadilft max increases doesn't mean that the deadlifts don't help your squats. I think the two exercises are fantastic complements of each other. A lot of plateaus are caused by weak secondary muscles. Doing deadlifts will ensure that the secondary muscles used in the squat won't become a problem since it's the deadlifts primary muscles. I would try changing the frequency/type of deadlift(I'm in love with SLD)/intensity(no need to max) before eliminating them eniterly.

Cleans and snatches exercise many of the same muscles that deadlifts exercise. I understand your point P & P, but IMO the extra recovery needed from deadlifts prevents me from working the lifts that I want to improve. IMO it's more a question of training economy than anything else.

Basically I want to eliminate everything that doesn't really help me in O lifting. I figured my next program would be heavy snatches, cleans, jerks, front squats, and back squats. I might do some pressing and/or chinups as well.

have you tried replacing deads with rack deads?

Originally Posted by irish_2003

have you tried replacing deads with rack deads?

Why would I do that?

All rack lifts would do for you(depending on what hight you put your rack) would be work just that part of your pull... Deads are very draining, physically. Not sure what your schedule is like but when we are training for events we dead on Monday and squat on Friday, this seems to give us that rest that we need.. Deads are a great overall body workout.

it does take a huge amount of recovery time. i just started re-incoperating them into my regime and this last time i did them it took me two full days off to go back to it and I'm running a low dosage of dbol. its not a lot but damn, i didn't think doing them on sunday meant i wouldn't be back in until wed!

You can do bodyweight single leg deadlifts as part of a warmup before you do your oly lifts

I think it's fine. Personally i love deadlifting and can do it a lot without too much trouble. If something in your program is interfering with what you really want to achieve, just cut it out - so long as there is a real reason for it.

Because you're doing this because you want to concentrate on OLY lifting, i think thats a great idea. You will still get lots of hip complex involvement in those lifts, because the start of those movements is essentially the same as a deadlift, with the added bonus of being an explosive contraction.

I would add some other exercise primarily for the hamstrings however, just in case. Some hyperextensions or pullthroughs will do the trick nicely.

I cant live without deadlifting! It's like a drug!
Did you ever think you might not be getting enough food in for recovery? I'm just thinking.

It's strange because I can squat 4 times per week without any problem. Though it's entirely different, I could probably O lift 6 days per week. But deadlifts always seem to cause a lot of soreness and fatigue that interferes with subsequent workouts.

Jugg, part of the reason I'm cutting stuff out is that I'm not getting enough food. Right now I'm trying to drop a bit of weight.

Originally Posted by gtbmed

It's strange because I can squat 4 times per week without any problem. Though it's entirely different, I could probably O lift 6 days per week. But deadlifts always seem to cause a lot of soreness and fatigue that interferes with subsequent workouts.

Jugg, part of the reason I'm cutting stuff out is that I'm not getting enough food. Right now I'm trying to drop a bit of weight.

Gt, just because you're cutting doesnt mean you need to starve! Pick intelligently. Use fats for support and added test production.

Originally Posted by gtbmed

But deadlifts always seem to cause a lot of soreness and fatigue that interferes with subsequent workouts.

Jugg, part of the reason I'm cutting stuff out is that I'm not getting enough food.

granted I only did them for the first time in months sunday but damn. they still had me just a touch sore this morning (wenesday). I said eff' it im going to the gym anyways and did my squats but I'm with ya.

When I was doing them regularly last time I was really in shape though I dont remember taking that long to recover. Just adding my experiance...