Not a peeing contest, I swear

I’m curious as to how much people Squat as opposed to deadlift. I just managed to add a ton more weight to my deads and now they’re equal to what I’m squatting. I could probably add more to the squat now, but with Meltdown training I’ve got more than I can chew as it is. So I’m wondering what kind of balance most people have.

1 rep max on deadlift is about 30lbs greater than squat

THe basic ratios for bench/squat/dead are 3/4/5. For a totally natural hardgainer, you might expect to get to a 300 bench, 400 squat, and 500 deadlift. That said, my squat is about 10% less than my deadlift, rather than the 20% stated above.

my squat and deadlift are almost exactly the same.

I’ve got these monstrously long thighs and arms, so my dead beats my squat by about 100#

I agree with the bench/squat/dead 3/4/5 theory. That’s how it is with me, and I’m a little short guy. (5’7)

but, when people get reallly strong, the squat gets bigger than the deadlift. As for me, i am pretty sure i can d/l more than squat, but something is wrong with my grip right now…

My squat was about the smae to slightly lower than my deadlift when I did competitions. It would be about the same now that I grew bigger. This is with gear on(wraps, suit, and belt). It would be about 10-15% less than my deadlift without the gear.

I’ve entered many powerlifting contests and been to the worlds once, most advanced strength athletes squat more than they dead. squat record is over 1000#s, deadlift is in high 800s I believe… its all a matter of technique. If you’re deadlifting more than you squat, 9 times out of 10 it means you’re rounding you’re back, not going deep enough to use your legs. this means you’re using you’re low back to lift it off the ground, which isn’t a good thing…

Wowey… how in the hell do you guys deadlift so damn much… My deadlift max is about 250 while my 1 rep squat max is about 480. I can only bench 245, but I dumbbell press max at 180. What is the deal?

I just attemted 405lbs on my squat. The problem with this is even though I can do it, the stress on my knees prevents me from going to 90 degrees. Should I lighten the load or just wrap. Since I’ve never wrapped before, I’m not sure how much this helps!

grip out of it (many hand probs.) I can dead WELL over what I can squat, I just think deads are WAY more important (real life, injury prevention, etc…) so maybe I concentrate on them more or maybe its just genes??? who knows?? but the other day (last thursday) I did stiffs with 485 but I do not know if I could squat that now ( maybe, hell sure I could but I could still dead more then I can squat), point is that I think deads are WWAAYY more important than squats. peace

3/4/5, I have heard that ratio, and they are nice goals for the beginner to aspire to, but they are not magic numbers. Someone just made them up. You should not be pleased with a 3/4/5 ratio, instead make your goals higher. However, the Deadlift is naturally higher than the squat. Don’t believe me? Take a newbie and he may very well be able to pull 375 no problem. 375 on the squat rack would crumple him. The squat requires special technique, while everyone has been deadlifting things all their life (“help me move this couch”) Or take Special Olympics powerlifters. Their deadlifts will be way higher, because it is difficult for them to concentrate on the squat, however the deadlift just requires brute force. Eventually the mark of an advanced lifter is the squat exceeding the deadlift. Obviously certain factors which have been mentioned may effect this: specialization, body type, grip, etc. I am not at this point where the squat exceeds the deadlift but I much prefer deadlifting. I expect that within a year my squat will finally be higher.

Can’t give you any numbers, just some rambling…
I have always been wondering why the Westsiders have a higher squat (usually) than the DL. (At least last time I checked.) One factor might be that the DL starts from the bottom, so there is no stretch shortening cycle (“elastic recoil”) effect to be gained, in contrast to the squat. On the other hand I have no idea, if the SSC has a large effect for these heavy squats.
Also I have heard that the DL suits are not nearly as effective as the squat suits, because if they are really tight, its hard to get low enough for the initial pull.
So you have take the gear into account.
Lastly as was mentioned in previous posts the relative length of the thighs and shins have some influence …
Greets,
Marutenho

with no equipment, i can deadlift about 585 and squat about 550. its been a long time since i maxed out with no equipment. with equipment, i’m squatting about 650 and deadlifting about 630. the equipment helps in the squat a lot more than in the deadlift.

This is definitely an interesting thread. My personal record for a triple in the squat(before my acl surgery in april) was 585lbs and my deadlift was 475lbs x 3. At that point in Deads, my grip and my lower back REALLY seemed to go. I realize that that is probably due to the strength and develpment of my posterior chain, which I am working on building up thru reverse hypers and glute/ham raises…the grip issue can be easily solved by using straps, but I just don’t care for them.

My squat max (in meet) is 85% of my DL max.

People have different leverages, so that's going to account for some difference in squat:DL ratios. And like someone else said, as PL'ers get stronger they typically squat more than they DL. One reason why is due to equipment. Squat suits help the squat more than DL suits help the DL. Also, guys who are squatting 900+ are usually in the heavier weight classes, and the extra girth (their gut) helps them out of the hole in the squat.

I am built odd- mostly legs, short upper body, big hips. I can dead a shitload more than I can squat. But I do prefer deeper squats, stopping at 90degrees hurts my knees.

I’ve been out of the gym for 6 weeks and just getting back into it. I’m doing 5x5s. My 5RM for bench and squat is about the same and deadlift is 100 lb. more. I train without a spotter usually so I don’t hit the squat and bench as hard because getting squished under the bar isn’t any fun.

There is a good reason why Westsiders do not have stupendous results on their deadlifts like they do on their squats and benches. This is because they don’t train the deadlift. Now I’m not saying that they should, or that many of them do not have really good pulls. It’s just that they have world record squats and benches and merely excellent deadlifts. Still have great totals. But until they figure out a new training method, they will not have many 900 lb DLs coming out of Columbus. Don’t take this as a criticism, as I follow almost all their methods after going to Dave Tate’s excellent seminar.