2014/04/25

deadlifting frequency

There seem to be two main approaches when it comes to deadlifting. Pulling infrequently and pulling very frequently.

I never understood the logic of pulling every other week or even every third week. In my opinion the pulling muscles get weak, there is not enough motor learning and the form practice is minimal.

If you check many deadlift injuries, you can easily see it's exactly this group of lifters - infrequent pullers.

You can, and should, pull more than once a week provided you can manage three things:

1/ impecable form
2/ intensity vs. volume correlation
3/ including several forms of pulling

Impecable form is crucial. Any deviation from YOUR perfect technique and the demands on your CNS and pulling muscles are much higher. And that is another reason for pulling more frequently. More sets and reps will dial in your technique. You can pull several times a week, provided some pulls are at lower intensities. Most of the pulling should be in the 60-80% range anyway. That way you can improve for weeks and you will not tax your CNS too much. Not all pulling has to be just one type of deadlift. Changing the pulling exercises will make you a more efficient puller because most of the pulls complement one another: conventional pull, sumo, deficit pulls, block pulls, Romanian deadlifts, etc.

Some examples of multiple pulling a week below:

Day 1: conventional 60-85% over several weeks
Day 2 (three days later in the same week): sumo 60-70% over several weeks

... actually, that is what I do and it delivers solid results.

Or you could do:

Day 1: medium-heavy deficit pulls
Day 2: heavy block pulls

Or you could pull on the same day but do the two mini sessions with some other lift in between.

Sheiko boys train like that: you start with a medium heavy deadlift up to knees, then continue with some benches or inclines and finish with some pretty heavy block pulls.

Or you might try what the pulling master Konstantin Konstantinovs does:

1/ conventional deadlift or low block pulls
2/ close-grip bench press
3/ trap-bar deadlift

Or if you are really nuts, you can do high-volume low-intensity pulling on Day 1 and the "Deadlift Extravaganza" on Day 2. Maybe like this:

Day 1: sumo 6x5 @ 60%

Day 2: conventional 6x5 @ 60-65%
           block pulls 3x3 @ 80-90%
           Romanian DL 4x8 @ 50% or 2x20 @ 40%

You'll be fried but your body gets used to such trainings after a few sessions.

And speaking about the pulling machine Konstantinovs, here is a pretty cool vid: