Deadlifting 4 Times/Wk? 75 Pound PR in 5 Months?

Low intensity, high volume/high frequency deadlifting?

At my last meet, I got 420/295/525 and I weighed 216. Most of my training months before the meet consisted of lifting 3 days a week and going super intense on each exercise once a week with a little assistance work thrown in here and there. I am determined to pull a 600 deadlift at my next meet. I have great speed off the floor but I struggle when my hips come into play. I plan to work a lot of hips and hamstrings by hitting high frequency deadlifts at different variations and submaximal loads or low intensity’s 4 days a week. Im a little skeptical of deadlifting 4 times a week for obvious reasons, but ive also learned that a lot of low intensity high frequency work is used by a lot of the top powerlifters to gain strength. I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts they could share about the program layout I threw together for myself?

Monday- Low Bar Squat (4x5 at 70-80%) , Sumo deadlifts (3x6 at 50-60%), Biceps
Tuesday- Bench (4x5 at 75-85%), Weighted Dips, RDLs 2x8 (low intensity), Core
Wednesday-Rest
Thursday- Conventional Deadlifts (3x3 at 80-85%), Anderson Squats
Friday- Bench (3x8), Rack pulls (3x6 at low intensity), Tricep/shoulder hypertrophy, Core

I would do this program for 2-3 months depending on how things progressed. I would also slowly increase volume and/or increase intensity’s a little week by week. I plan to give myself a “light” week or “deload” week between weeks 4-6 most likely.

My next meet is in July which gives me a little less than 5 months to tack on 75 pounds to my deadlift. Does this seem like a possible and reasonable goal assuming I stay healthy and follow my frequency plan, or am I hoping for a little too much?

Also does anyone have any thoughts on my program layout they could share? It would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

I don’t think you could keep it up. My back would kill me in the first week. Though if you work it in gradually it might have decent gains. Like one heavy day and one or two days of sets with 135 for reps and slowly up it from there. That’s what I did for squat and worked up to squatting 500+ 4-5 days a week and squat went up about 50 lbs in 3 months. Then I got sick and lost it but easy come easy go.

If I’ve learned one thing about deadlifting it is that less is more. I’ve had my best results pulling heavy once every 9-14 days and in between pulling opposite stance below 70% once at most. Apart from that, row a bunch and hit the GHR and reverse hyper a ton. I also think of you have access to one, SSB squats and below parallel box squats are a great option.

How long did it take you to go from 450 to 525? And are you using steroids? You don’t need to answer the second question, but it would be useful in assessing how well you can recover from workouts, and how much strength you can expect to gain in a short period of time.

I’m not using steroids. I never actually did any really good singles or max efforts for a while. Last October was when I truly started powerlifting and signed up for my meet I competed in in February. I started by pulling 405 for sets of 4 or so. Within 2 months I was pulling 425 for 5x5s. In December I increased the intensity. Started hitting things like 455 for 3x3 or 470 for 3x2. In early January I pulled 510. 2 weeks out from the meet I pulled 520 easy. At the meet I had a grind with 525 as my final attempt.

So long story short, I went from a rough estimated max of 450 to 525 in 5 months or so. And that was with training deadlift once a week going super hard each workout.

I have a history of working in a cabinet warehouse carrying heavy boxes around all day. Its been a couple years since working there, but I feel like my spinal erectors can take a lot of work and be okay as long as im careful and take care of myself. That is why I believe if I up my frequency while drastically decreasing the intensity, Ill get more practice and overall volume without straining myself. That way when I get back into high intensities in 2-3 months Ill have an even greater base to work with.

Thanks for the response, that was a good, detailed answer.

I don’t think you’ll accomplish what you would like to do, but it’s possible. I don’t know anybody, whether on gear or not, who can deadlift 4 times a week and make huge improvements in their 1rm.

However, as a guy who is new to powerlifting, I believe this is something worth trying for you. The worst case scenario would be that you don’t make the improvements that you want, but you learn a lot about what type of training works for you. Best case scenario would be that it DOES work for you, and you continue to train that way moving forward. Either way, you win. So give it a shot and let us know how it turns out!

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That what I was originally going to start doing. But then I attended a Barbell Medicine seminar ran by Jordan Feigenbaum. One of the biggest things he preached was frequency and overall volume. He said some of his clients were squatting over 6 times a week at super low intensity’s and different variations. So that got me thinking about upping the frequency on everything. I now bench twice a week (one heavy, one light), Squat twice a week (one heavy, one light), but I deadlift 4 times. Each session being a moderate-light intensity with the exception of some days where ill take some time off so I can come in a move a lot of weight. Im hoping the drastic change in frequency will give me time to develop an even more solid base for the high intensities I hit in a few months or so

keep in mind that squatting frequently and deadlifting frequently are VERY different things. I do know many people who squat frequently with great success. I know none who can do it with deadlifts.

Im anxious to see how it works out but I definitely plan to ease into it and gauge how I feel and go from there. But your right, its going to be a learning experience for sure whether it works or not. I appreciate the replies and I’ll let you know how it goes!

Right I agree. Very different things. But I do know that some of the best dead lifters out there have gone through periods of high frequency deadlifting. So im guna give it a shot. If it doesn’t work out and I end up feeling terrible, then im guna let myself recover and try high frequency again with more squats instead of deads. I have the most room for improvement on squat, but something about that 600 pound pull really stand out to me. haha