Deadlift
Training
As told to
Powerlifting USA
by Louie Simmons
“One must train
the deadlift in a multiyear plan. An
8 or 12 week cycle won’t work.
For example, it may take 6 months to
raise your hamstrings up to
acceptable levels.”
Deadlift records have made little
progress in recent years. I believe
it is easy to add pounds to a squat
or bench press due to more
progressive equipment. The supportive
gear, in Westside’s opinion,
pushes one to gain bodyweight to
increase the squat and bench press,
but anyone, including myself, can
tell you, if you’re too heavy,
your pull is destroyed.
With all that said, how do you train
the deadlift for a meet? You
don’t. One must train the
deadlift in a multiyear plan. An 8-
or 12 week cycle won’t work. For
example, it may take 6 months to
raise your hamstrings up to
acceptable levels. If not, you will
never reach your potential.
Let’s look at Matt Smith’s
progress in a 30 month period. Matt
had a 633 deadlift meet PR. Two and a
half years later it is 825. This
deadlift completed a 9 for 9 day and
gave Matt a 2445 total at SHW.
Matt used the conjugate method. This
system links special exercises that
will increase awareness and
coordination. Its purpose is to raise
the classical lifts. First used for
the Olympic lifting team at the
Dynamo Club in the old USSR, this
method was tested on 70 top lifters.
It consisted of 25 to 40 special
exercises. At the end of the first
study, only one lifter was satisfied
with the number of exercises. The
rest wanted more.
Westside Barbell also began using
this system in the early 1970s. If I
put $1 million under a rock in the
parking lot and told you to find it,
chances are the first rock you pick
up will have nothing under it. I bet
that million that you would keep,
looking until you struck it rich.
It’s the same with exercises. If
you look long enough, you will find
methods and exercises that work best
for you while realizing that many are
worthless in comparison.
Now let’s look at a constantly
revolving system of exercises that
are used on max effort day, always
trying a PR. For the advanced lifter,
do 3 lifts, all singles: one at
roughly 90% and then a PR, and if it
is truly a max, stop, if not, try one
more. It is much better to break new
ground as often as possible. Lifting
weights of 90% or more for more than
3 weeks will stop progress, but by
rotating the core special exercises
each week, one can max out all year
long. This system is the supermaximal
method.
Here are several workouts for the
deadlift that can be coupled any way
you want.
Workout 1. Safety squat bar squats on
a 12-inch box. Work up to max. Next,
glute/ham raises, the Reverse Hyper,
and abs.
Workout 2. Bent-over good mornings to
a max single or a 3-rep max. Then
sled pulling for 8 trips of 200 feet
with moderate weight, the Reverse
Hyper, lat rows on a chest-supported
machine, and abs.
Workout 3. Deadlift using the
lightened method by placing the
Jump-Stretch bands at 5 feet 6 inches
off the floor to lighten the load by
65, 110, or 150 pounds. Work up to a
max. Next, do pull-throughs, dumbbell
rows, the Reverse Hyper machine, and
leg raises.
Workout 4. Front squat on a parallel
box. Try a new max, a single or a
3-rep max. Next do glute/ham raises,
sled pulling with ankle straps, the
Reverse Hyper machine, and standing
ab work.
Workout 5. Rack pulls with the plates
2 inches off the floor for a max
single, pull-throughs, incline sit
ups, barbell rows, and the Reverse
Hyper.
Workout 6. Heavy sled pulls with a
belt around the waist for six pulls
at 200 feet a pull. Then glute/ham
raises, dumbbell rows, Janda sit-ups,
and the Reverse Hyper. Janda sit-ups,
named for Prof. Vladimir Janda, are
done by hooking a band underneath the
bench with the feet not anchored to
eliminate hip flexor involvement.
Hold on to the band, press your heels
downward, push out on the abs, and
pull up on the band.
Workout 7. Cambered bar good
mornings. First bend over close to
parallel; now squat as low as
comfortable; then raise up. Work up
to a single or a 3-rep max. Then do
pull-throughs, snatch grip rows,
standing abs, side rows for obliques,
and the Reverse Hyper.
Workout 8. Arched-back good mornings.
Remember, when doing a good morning,
the bar must be in front of the
knees. If not, it is a quarter squat.
Work up to a max single or a triple.
Pull a sled backward for 6 trips of
200 feet each. Barbell rows with a
close grip, Janda situps, and the
Reverse Hyper machine.
Workout 9. Concentric safety squat
bar good mornings. Crawl under a bar
that is suspended 3 feet off the
floor and do good mornings. Do max
single. Then glute/ham raises,
chest-supported rows, standing abs,
and the Reverse Hyper.
Workout 10. Band deadlifts on
platform. Here, you can use one or
two mini-bands, or purple, green, or
blue bands. This is workout 10-14 if
you use a different strength band
each of these weeks. Work up to a max
single. Then chest-supported rows,
glute/ham raises, standing abs, and
the Reverse Hyper machine.
Workout 15. Suspend the Buffalo bar
or 14-inch cambered bar or do Zercher
squats with a suspended bar. This is
workout 15-17. Then pull a sled with
a power belt for 4 trips for 200 feet
backward. Then dumbbell rows, Janda
sit-ups, and the Reverse Hyper.
Workout 18. Box deadlifts off a
4-inch box for conventional
dead-lifts.
Workout 19 is sumo deadlifts off a
2-inch box. Then do hanging leg
raises, pull-throughs, and the
Reverse Hyper machine.
Workout 20. Belt squats off a low
box.
Workout 21 is off a parallel box.
Workout 22 is off a high box. For
these workouts use a very wide
stance. If you use the same boxes but
with a very close stance, you now
have workouts 23-25. Follow with
glute/ham raises, incline situps, and
the Reverse Hyper machine
Workout 26. One-legged squats with a
straddle stance. Support the back
foot on a box while the front foot is
far out in front. This will build the
entire leg while increasing
flexibility in the hip and groin.
Then do Janda sit-ups, backward sled
pulling for 6 trips of 200 feet each,
side-bends, and the Reverse Hyper
machine.
Here you have 26 workouts, which is
not even close to the amount we do.
There are many methods combined in
our workouts (concentric, eccentric,
accommodating resistance,
flexibility, awareness, and
coordination) by doing a new task
each week and maxing out continuously
with exercises that build strength
speed.
Matt does the dynamic method on
Friday. The maximal effort work outs
discussed above are roughly 72 hours
later, on Monday. The more exercises
you master, the better you are at any
related exercise
Does this really work? Westside has
had two female lifters do 470 and 484
deadlifts at 132 bodyweight and two
female 165’s do 534 and 556. As
for the men, we have a 165 who has
done 640, two 181’s with 670 and
677, at 198 three over 700 and one at
750, two 220’s with 722 and 795,
a 242 with a 793, a 275 with an 804,
a 308 with an 800, and three SHWs
with 810, 821, and Matt’s 825.
I know the greatest deadlifters are
built to deadlift. At Westside we
have never had the luxury of such a
specimen. We had to develop the
deadlift, just like Matt’s
increase from 633 to 825 in 30
months.
Westside Barbell- 614-276-0923
