Hey guys,
I’m on week 8 of the low fatigue template and I’ve been really enjoying the program. My squat and bench have gone up consistently over the course of the program, but my deadlift’s been staying fairly stagnant. I read through the trouble shooting section of the ebook and I’m not sure if either case applies to me (too much fatigue or too low fatigue), as I don’t feel beat up from my training sessions and I haven’t been overshooting my RPE targets, but I still need more than 2-3 minutes of rest between sets because I don’t find the work particularly easy, so I don’t believe I have too little stress. I’ve also been eating at a small surplus, gaining 1 pound in the last 8 weeks.
Currently my deadlift movements are:
Main: Conventional with belt
Supplemental: 2" deficit deadlift
Accessesory: Cable row
My deadlift’s always been hard to budge, given my experience from past programs, but my squat’s pretty much always gone up no matter what I do. My best deadlift is 355lbs and my best squat is 350lbs if that helps at all. I’m just confused because I feel like I’m following the program to a tee and my squat progression has been great, but my deadlift’s just super stubborn. Is 8 weeks too soon to make any judgements? And would you guys suggest that I change anything right now?
Alwin,
With your squat and bench moving up, it would certainly seem like you’re in a good place to get stronger and at least some of the programming is properly dosed. I don’t think the rest period length or weight gain are necessarily indicative one way or another. How has your deficit DL been doing? Do you have a video of your conventional deadlift?
-Jordan
Deficit deadlift’s been going up pretty good… I think it’s relatively strong compared to my conventional, my e1RM is a little over 90% and on most days the movement feels more comfortable than conventional too, is that out of the ordinary? I don’t have a video of my conventional, but I’ll try to get one sometime next week when I do it. Thanks Jordan!
In the case of your regular deadlift being a bit stagnant and deficit pulls going great, I think that fatigue might be the issue here if you’re regularly feeling fresher, stronger, etc. on days you’re doing deficit pulls, thus resulting in better performance. Does that seem reasonable to you?
Hmm, I’ve always thought that fatigue means feeling beat up or tired, which I haven’t been feeling on the program, but your explanation makes sense. Would you change anything with the volume or intensity then?
Here’s my conventional deadlift with belt for 3 reps of 300 lbs. @ 7
I don’t think I’d change anything necessarily from what I know here, but you can add quite a bit of weight to the bar and still likely be @ 7.
Take care to not kick the bar forward when you’re setting up to pull, as your hips get a bit low on the 2nd and 3rd reps.
