Poverty Deadlift

Hello all,

Anyone find their deadlift is NOT significantly ahead of their squat. I keep seeing guys squatting 365 and deadlifting high 400s, meanwhile I can smash fahves at 405 on squat but I’m on the struggle bus to get multiple sets with 4 plates on DL. Is it a form thing, a body measurement thing, or am I just weak? I figure if my back is strong enough for the sqwaats it should be strong enough for the deads…idk…its starting to piss me off. Just curious if I’m in good company or if I’m a freak…

5’11’
215ish
28yr old

I know a guy who trains his deadlift and squat well, and they’re very close in weight. I also know a guy who also trains well, and he’s probably got 50lbs between his squat and deadlift, deadlift being heavier.

So, I think it depends on the person and their attitude towards the lift, but likely more importantly it depends on the amount of training in each lift. As the Dr’s would probably say, if you want to deadlift more you probably need to deadlift more. :slight_smile:

I am same height, about 20 pounds heavier, and 15 years older. My experience is that the deadlift is undertrained. My theory is, most guys and girls who lifted via sports in high school, benched and squatted (at least to 1/2 depth, high bar), but rarely, if ever, deadlifted (because its dangerous—and hard). Also, most people only pull once a week whilst squatting 2-3 times a week. I have always (with zero science to back this up) believed that twice a week pulling (something like a main day and then another 80%ish day) and more than one work set was appropriate for quite a while in one’s lifting career.

But then there is also anthropometry to consider. Leverages etc.

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My squat e1rm is 10lbs heavier than my deadlift e1rm, you’re not alone. I just like to think I’m a strong squatter not a weaker puller :wink:

I have the opposite problem. I squat in the mid 300s, and my DL is almost 500. I used to say that my bad good morning squat form was driving up my DL. haha

My DL is ~85lbs higher for 5 reps @8. Though I’ve found fairly large technique issues in my squat recently. 6’ 2" ~216#

Hey all great info guys thanks. Good to put this stuff in context and keep motivation high, The Bridge can be a grind at times.

My dead is only about 25lbs heavier than my squat. I’ve quit worrying about it for the most part. I do enjoy squatting much more than deadlifting, so I wonder if that is part of the problem. The only thing that bothers me about all this is that I want to hit the big 300/400/500 numbers, and I’m right at the 300/400 part. It’ll be a while before I pull 500 though.

I started LP with 115x5x3 squat, 95x5 deadlift. I ended (an overly drawn out LP) with a 360x5 squat and 385x5 deadlift. Ended the Bridge with 405x1 squat and 425x1 DL. I’m almost halfway through the Press Template, and squatted 415x1@8 and deadlifted 455x1@8 this week.

Not sure what to conclude from this, other than that it took a significant increase in pulling volume for my DL to start to pull away from my squat.

I try to think about each of the lifts on their own terms. Where is it now? How is it trending? What do I need to do to improve it?

You guises problem is just that you are too good at squatting. I used to squat a mere 45 lbs less than my deadlift so I did the only sensible thing. I I plummeted with my squat. Poverty dead no more! It improved my poverty bench a little too.

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There’s just nothing to be done, however, about that poverty press :frowning:

How do y’all fix a poverty deadlift?

Adjust your stance so that your feet are outside your grip width

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By making it a priority, verifying form is on point, and deadlifting more.