Do I need more pulling?

I am a 70 year old “powerlifter” who aspires to compete in the Raw Nationals next year. My best lifts in 2016 were S, 300; Bench 225, DL, 385, press 150. I am 5’9’’ 185. Lifts are down since hernia surgery in 2017 and a L-5 flattened disc. Emaxs now are squat 280, bench 225, DL 370. Squat is moving up but continue to struggle with dead. Only pulling once a week on Wed, a top single and then a 5-10 % load drop, for 5-8 singles. I am a little concerned that more volume is going to aggravate my back issue, plus my recovery from deads is not what it use to be. I would like to pull around 400 my October 2019. What would you recommend?

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What is your actual back issue? A “flattened disk” is not particularly concerning.

If you adjust the intensity appropriately, you can indeed tolerate and adapt to increased pulling volume. You don’t have special “deadlift recovery” that’s separate from “squat recovery”. Training more, with the correct dose of stress, gets you better at recovering more :slight_smile:

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