Sudden Strength Loss in DL

hey this just came to me and reminded me of something i read in westside barbells book and in some russian texts i have read about cns stagnation and the conjugate method. basically since you went back in week 5 you were flat and 6 went backwards shows you will progress for 4 weeks then on week 5 you should start over but with a different variation of. so if you pulled conventional for 4 weeks then switch to sumo or some other pull that works the same muscles then you should progress for the next four weeks again then change the movement back or to a different one. this also much like how bodybuilders change there exercises regularly to keep growing.

[quote]ironeater wrote:
Ive been doing strength training for about 19 months. For most of that time I deadlifted sumo-style, and worked my way up to 355x10 about a year ago, then stagnated for many months after that. About 4 months ago I decided I hated sumo deadlifting and changed to conventional.

I was only able to pull 420x1 on my first day, but I made some pretty newbtastic gains and last month pulled 385x10 (I am following 5/3/1 and so using the formula Wendler provides to judge progress, 385x10 translates to 513lb, ie 93lb of progress). That was my last PR. The week after that I made 410x6 and then the week after 440x3 and then deloaded the week after. That was when I suddenly lost deadlift strength.

The next week (i.e last week) the last warm up was hard and it should not have been. I was attempting 410x8 and I made 0. Couldnt even break it off the floor. WTF? Same thing today. I was reattempting the same weight and couldnt break it off the floor. Two weeks in a row my deadlift has been in the gutter. What gives? All my other lifts have been doing fine. I just lost 100lb on my deadlift out of goddamn nowhere.

I apologize for giving you my life story, I wasnt sure how much was relevant. Anyway, my question is how should I approach this sudden strength loss, given that I have no idea what is causing it? As far as I know I am not injured. The only other thing that might be relevant is that the week I pulled 440x3 (ie the last time I pulled anything respectably close to my best calculated 1RM) I tried out the snatch grip deadlift as a new assist exercise.

I only worked up to 315 since my hook grip blows and I dont own straps, but my lower back was pretty sore and stiff for a few days after, which I figured was normal since Id never done the lift before, but I wasnt in any pain.

As of right now, my only plan for approaching this sudden strength loss is to start back at a weight I know I can handle now for at least 5 reps, like 360 lb, and keep adding 10lb a week until I get back to where I was. At that rate I would be back to where I was in 8 weeks.

Other information if it is useful:
-My sticking point is breaking the bar off the floor. If I fail a rep, it will be in breaking the bar off the floor. I have never missed a lockout once the bar is above my knees.
-5’8, 192lb, 20yo
-Other lifts/ current PRs: SOHP: 170x6, Push press: 190x6, Oly Squat: 335x7
-Natural deadlifters build. Long arms, short torso, long femurs. [/quote]
same shit happened to me 2day. i tried 405 and couldnt get it off even though ive done it before. most likely from cns fatigue

[quote]al1492 wrote:
OP the same thing used to happen to me when I would pull heavy every week. I could add weight like clockwork for a couple weeks then suddenly one week it would be a dogfight just to make it through warm-ups.

On thing that has helped me was only pulling heavy every other week, since you said you are doing 5/3/1 on way to set this up would be:

Week 1: 3x3 - do extra reps on the last set
Week 2: 3x5 - just do the minimum reps
Week 3: 5/3/1 - do extra reps on the last set
Week 4: deload week

Also it is recommended to stop 1-2 reps short of failure[/quote]

Yeah I might do that. I put a decent amount of weight on my deadlift very quickly once I changed to conventional. I figured it would slow or stop or regress eventually. Thing is, the deadlift is the only exercise I do which is very taxing on the CNS. I think that’s why everything else is doing fine, and the other exercises shouldn’t affect it very much.

are you leaving a few reps in the tank? you shouldn’t be doing all out sets. on your 5 day if you got 8, and thats all you could get, and then did as many as you could each successive week, that could be your answer right
there. start at the last 5 week you did after your break, and just do 5. then just do 3. just 1. gauge yourself based on how you feel. don’t do a killer amount of reps on the deadlift.

[quote]matsm21 wrote:
are you leaving a few reps in the tank? you shouldn’t be doing all out sets. on your 5 day if you got 8, and thats all you could get, and then did as many as you could each successive week, that could be your answer right
there. start at the last 5 week you did after your break, and just do 5. then just do 3. just 1. gauge yourself based on how you feel. don’t do a killer amount of reps on the deadlift. [/quote]

That sounds like a good idea. I usually leave nothing in the tank on the deadlift. So then I would start on my previous cycle but hit only prescribed reps. So that would be

385x5

410x3

440x1

Deload

And if that feels OK then I could change to the setup where I’m going for prescribed reps once and trying to hit rep PRs twice, so I’m attempting a new rep PR twice a month, like the setup proposed above.

well it is important to change up exercises regularly even if you ain’t going super heavy. for one it keeps boredom from happening and recharges you mentally not only physically. like the russians would take atheletes like say volleyball players and to get this same affect would have them just play games of pick up basketball instead of volleyball. plus you can tap into different muscles and keep you from adapting to one way allowing continous progress. this of coarse doesn’t mean doing something as extreme as change your program every two weeks it can mean juust changeing your military press grip two inches closer or useing a different intensity technigue like drop sets or giant sets and stuff like that. you seem to like doing repitions and just want overall strength you should look into something derek poundstone does that he calls pain-tolerence training.