Should I Be Disappointed? Deadlift Strength

Not at all… it is important.

Every worthwhile mountain looks insurmountable while standing at the base, once you get to the top you’ll have forgotten what that felt like.

What I mean is, don’t focus on what you can’t do right now, Just work hard and keep it up for years.

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How tall are you?

5 foot 8

I wholeheartedly disagree with this statement, ESPECIALLY on deadlift. Improving efficiency comes from many many repetitions, yes, but I’d say 20 sets of 3 or 10 sets of 5 would be much better for a beginner. Form easily can be compromised on a new technical lift in that rep range. They won’t need as much rest as the loads aren’t that intensive yet, and fewer reps per set will guarantee a higher percentage of quality reps that will really groove the movement pattern sans muscular fatigue and the cheating that inevitably comes with higher rep deads.

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I should have been more specific. With the 10 reps I am talking about nothing near a 10 rep PR. I’m talking about an easy 10 reps. Any number of reps could be too heavy to learn form, as the final rep(s) could cause the form to degrade. I tell the guys I help to stop when the weight is so heavy that it causes their back to hump over for the next rep.

IMO, correct form is best learned in the deadlift when the weight is relatively light. I believe I learned good deadlifting form doing hanging power cleans. For shoulders I always started with overhead press and then went to cleans. My lower back and hips got targeted training because I also used the Nautilus Hip and Back Machine on leg day.

I was bodybuilding at the time for contests and my workout partner was previously a powerlifter who wanted to compete in bodybuilding. He would from time to time comment that bodybuilders were weak compared to powerlifters. After a couple years training together we decided to powerlift for a while. The deadlift was not an exercise in my bodybuilding routine. The first time I tried deadlifting for weight I pulled over 400lbs (I don’t recall how much over 400, but it wasn’t near 500).