Squat/Deadlift Max the Same?

Ran a 12 week of Madcow, deloaded one week, took a second week off, starting anew on Monday.
I one repped on my last Friday, like a powerlifting meet for a 1000lb club thing we had on base.
i hit 335 on bench, 500 on squat and 500 on dead at 210 BW. my one reps i started the program with were 285/435/455. all PR’s.

My goal for the end of the year is 600/550/375. if I hit those in a local meet in December, or come close to them, ill probably pay somebody to actually write me a competitive plan/diet plan who knows way more s*** than me.

For me, I feel like the squat is easily attainable and the bench is going to be more difficult, as the 335 wasn’t really competition standard by any means but I still got it up.

But my deadlift just seems to suck. I’m trying out semi-sumo, as conventional is really irritating my back, and I always seem to round. on my deload week the slightly wider stance/hands inside my knees felt really comfortable.

TL;DR: My deads aren’t progressing how i want them too, yet I see people 30+ lbs lighter than me DL like 700+.
Is there a way to switch up the program a little and instead of bent over rows, add in some other accessory work to help me out? its S/B/R on Monday, S/Incline/Dead on Wednesday, and S/B/R for the 3 set on Friday.

Thanks for all the help. starting back up on another 12 weeks on Monday and could really use the advice.

Either you suck at deadlifting or you squat way too high.

tomorrow’s my first day back. its 10pm over here in japan time on sunday. i’ll take a squat video of my top 5 rep set which is at 174KG and post it. I’ve never had a problem hitting depth, but that’s not to say i go ass to grass. usually just below parallel… i’ll post a deadlift video on Wednesday for a form check on both.

been reading your replies to everybody on this forum and you seem super knowledgeable. appreciate the response.

Or power belly or SHW

neither, really. I’m 6 1, 95kgish, depending on the day/time. I’m not shredded or anything like when i was playing football but i can still see the outline of my abs. i don’t really record much of my workouts but I’ll be doing that this week to get a check from ya’ll.

Aside from squat depth, another possible issue is that you just aren’t training the deadlift appropriately. I don’t know the exact details of madcow but from what you say you are squatting 3x as much as you deadlift, plus deadlift is the last lift of the day the one time you do it. You might be better off switching to a different program.

As far as switching out rows, you could switch them for RDLs or SLDLs (only do SLDL if you can maintain a neutral spine, otherwise RDLs do basically the same thing) but it wouldn’t hurt to do some chin ups or lat pulldowns for some lighter upper back/lat work.

Just so you know, the way you listed your maxes and goal weights is all mixed up (285/435/455) and it’s hard to tell what is what. The standard format for that is squat/bench/deadlift, anything else will only confuse people.

At 210 that wouldn’t be an issue unless he is like 5’. 242s and under can normally pull more than they squat unless they are just fat as hell or squatting in wraps.

my fault on the max’s.
when i started the first 5x5 run i was at 197.7kg/129.5/206.8 at about 88KG and I hadn’t been in the gym in roughly 3months.
did a base 1000 pound club event the last Friday of the 12 weeks, which was 2 weeks ago, and totaled 227(missed at 231.8)/152/227(missed 243) at 95KG.

the program is just a basic 5x5 template.
I don’t know much else about cookie-cutter programs, really. I liked the way my bench/squat progressed healthily, but seeing as how my deads are the same, its just slightly annoying.
like i said if i could hit a 250/170/272kg by the end of the year I would s*** a brick. I just truly don’t know enough to work out my deadlifting kinks.

edited to put weights in KG

also i just squat in knee sleeves and a belt

5x5 programs often result in decent squat gains and a lagging deadlift. It sounds like you made some good progress with your squat and bench, you could stick with the same program for now and get those up some more and later focus more on building your deadlift. You also mentioned that you always round on the deadlift, switching to sumo can make it much easier to maintain a neutral spine. Seeing as you have a decent squat, you might be stronger pulling in a similar stance (not necessarily the exact same). Post some deadlift videos too.

If you were deadlifting in a non-fatigued state (not the last exercise of the day) then I’m sure you would make better progress on it.

will post.
i was pulling conventional, and then i started reading about semi-sumo. read that it was nice for dudes who squat with a wider stance. pulled that way for my deload deadlift day and it felt awesome.
truly i have never pulled sumo, not even to just try for no reason. bro science got me early, i suppose.

I don’t think it’s a huge deal honestly. I’ve heard that when Shaq competed in powerlifting, his squat bench and deadlift were almost all the same.

I think it could be that there’s not enough volume/intensity with your current program. What are current sets/reps and typical/recent working weight for each lift?

its madcows 5x5. the methodology is hard to explain. if youd just do a quick google itll pull it all up. Friday/s top heavy squat is a 3 set 2.5% higher than your top set of Monday was. then on Monday your top set of 5 is what you did on Friday for 3. work out mon/wed/fri and its 5x5 for squat/bench/row, Wednesday is light squat 4x5, medium weight incline 4x5, and heavy deadlift 4x5, then Friday is 4x5/1x3/1x8 for squat/bench/row.

i know i did a trash job at explaining that, but its all on a spreadsheet that’s pre calculated and its easy to track. you just have to use micro plates because it doesn’t go by 5/10 it sometime is by 3 pounds or 4 pounds, etc.

Oh okay, that all makes sense actually. I wasn’t too familiar with madcow. But it looks like you definitely get more time with Squat than Deadlift, but then again, most people do.

Why dont you try lowering the reps and see if that helps? If you can’t hit a full set of a certain weight, but can do it for a triple or double, why not do a 8/10x3 or 10x2 for a few weeks (keeping the volume as close to 20/25ish reps)? Maybe also swap out a row workout for RDL?

Another thing that could help is maybe some technique work. Maybe set aside 2-3 sets before or after ahead of time for a variation like a deficit or pause, offstance deadlift, or block/rackpulls (I’d do these after)? Or if you really don’t want to deviate from your program, during your warmup?

Im not a qualified coach or trainer, but I think all of the above would be worth a try.

that makes sense. I think like @chris_ottawa said above, that if i deadlift when its not the last workout of the day i’ll have a better time. even thought its a light squat day i think that makes sense.

also, i think you’re right. i’m probably going to change the rep ranges, to where i do 3 ‘easy work’ sets of 5 deficit deadlifts, cause my sticking point is off the ground, and then 6 triples as high as i can get them, like a 80% of my 1rep.

i posted in another thread videos of my lifts. noted i changed from pulling conventional to semi-sumo. i also been watching a bunch of youtube about squat mobility and i have a ton of issues. i hit either exactly parallel or just a shade above/below it but its not concrete. so i got some major work to do lol

Not as bad as people who have bench = squat, but basically it just looks like you have a relatively decent squat and bench, with a weak deadlift so focus on that and your total will shoot up.

i posted a separate form check thread. if you aren’t busy i’d really appreciate the 3 minutes of your time for some critiques. after videotaping my workout for the first time like, ever its pretty apparent i got some hardcore squat mobility issues, so i doubt i’d hit 500 in a real competition.

if you do go an check it out, id love some deadlift focus tips on it. ive neither read up on or been taught previously how to actually program into increasing my deadlift.

A lot of lifters, even the very best, have deadlifts and squats that are similar in weight. Mine are within 10lbs of each other. Take the recent meet in Syracuse NY where Mike lackey went top 3 ever for 275. Both his squat and his deadlift were in the 800 range.

my competition squat and dead are really similar. Even my best deadlift in training is only 25lbs higher than my best squat in training. I have pretty short femurs and a long torso, which is really unfavorable leverage for deadlifting, but very favorable for squatting. This body type is going to put your squat and deadlift closer together.

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