Deadlift and Pulling Development
Mark Brown
December 28, 2022
Entering 2022, I would have said the deadlift was my best lift. It was my most consistent lift. It was the lift I was doing for more weight week to week than anything else. Development slowed in 2022 for it when I subconsciously started to push squat improvement. Deadlifts and other pulls started to become supplemental lifts. This happened because I have always programmed squats and deadlifts on the same day since I started doing them again in 2020. It feels more natural to me to do them both on the same day since both muscle groups are being used for both lifts. In 2021, that favored the deadlift because of the gap between my leg and back strength. I hadn’t done a lot of back training in my years in the gym. My legs kept developing because they just get more use than back muscles do from walking, especially at my weight. My max deadlift is still 405 pounds, nothing added from 2021, but there was development in it worth discussing.
First, I recognize part of lack of development was that I didn’t do a lot of helpful supplemental or accessory lifts for them in the first half of the year. That helped the squat pull ahead of my deadlift. I did a lot of pulls from the floor in the first 2 months of 2022, either in the form of a traditional hands outside the feet deadlift or narrow grip sumo deadlift. Both of those lifts are quad dominant with a back finish, so they really develop the technical and leg strength side of things more than anything else. I didn’t do much with upper and middle back development until the late spring/summer when I forced myself to start doing barbell rows and good mornings. I already stated I didn’t do good mornings because I sucked at them. I didn’t do barbell rows for the same reason. I could never feel them at lower weights and never felt any control when doing them at higher weights. I could never find the bed that was just right, so to speak. I now have a good grip on those lifts. Squatting with the yoke bar only does so much when it comes to upper back development. I needed to be doing more for my back specifically.
Second, I brought more variety into the fold this year and got stronger at ost parts of it. It also showed me some deficiencies I need to address. I did the most volume of heavy pulling work with the deadlift mats. I did block pulls a lot this year, always working in sets of 3. I found those were helpful in 2021. I took a break from them in January because I didn’t feel like using the gym’s bumper plates to act as blocks to pull from. That’s just the team player in me coming out at the gym. Pulling from the blocks made it 12 inch pull. That made it easier to pull more weight at the top end. I’ve pulled 415 pounds for sets of 3 multiple times throughout the year. The block pulls allow me to get more of my hamstring and glutei into the lift because of those 3 extra inches. Doing that on a standard deadlift is still quite difficult for me, especially with a belt on. More on that in a bit. Although good, I recognized in April that if I did block pulls like I was doing I would destroy myself fairly quickly. That’s when the 3 week waves came in picture.
I found banded rack pulls back in 2020 when lifting with Pete and found they were really useful to have in the program. By the time I got to garage primarily in 2021, it was a bit late for them to have much of an impact on everything. This year they were major wave until Pete’s old powerlifting bar fell apart for probably the last time about 2 months ago now. I thought about doing them on pressing days because how effective they are for lats, but ultimately kept them on leg days. I set up the bar on the bottom part of the knee and pulled as hard as I could with the loaded bar. It is a really difficult lift. The placement of the bar just below the knees takes the quads mostly out of the lift so the back, hamstrings and glutei are responsible for getting it done. This lift really helps the technical aspects of the lockout because in order to actually achieve it, the lift has to be done perfectly. There’s no real muscling my way through it. No amount of hitching will help. Being able to increase my weight on it throughout the year indicated progress in pulling.
I added banded floor pulls, aka banded deadlifts, to the program as a way to force technical improvement like I did with the rack pulls. I found this variation of the deadlift to be quite difficult because the lockout was that much harder to achieve. The legs also got a bit more development because my quads had to activate harder and faster than on non-banded pulls. I could feel the difference when I did just a regular pull after doing my sets with bands on. It’s really quite stark. I can see why powerlifters and strongmen use these in training to help speed up the movement. I didn’t start this until the fall. It helped me rediscover some things I already was aware of. The 70 pound Monster bands are my ideal bands so far, anything higher will rip out of my hands. I’ve pulled up to 315 pounds with bands so far. The other is that I need to re-find my leverage point when using my powerlifting belt. It’s supremely difficult to get into proper position on this lift with the belt on, something that doesn’t surprise me because the belt also hinders on non-banded pulls from the floor. It will be a major piece of my 2023 program.
I started doing sumo deadlifts in January because I wasn’t doing my RDLs from blocks for at least 2 months. It ended up being about 3. It was the first time using them as part of my program. I’d known about them but never done them. They had the effect of raising the bar a few inches off the ground by bring me closer to the bar. It’s not quite the same effect but I did notice I was using more of my back in the pull than I had other pulls. That kept my weight done. I have heard and read about the disdain some in the lifting community have the lift because of a very limited range of motion, which is accurate. I’m built to pull more traditionally than sumo, I’ve learned. I do find is a worthwhile training lift because of that back focus and the value learning how to lift a heavy load from a hands inside the feet position. We, as humans, do that a lot. In that way, it is a practical lift strengthen. I have also done straight leg deadlifts recently and found that there is very little difference between sumos and them.
Gone are 2 other variants I have done in the past. Non-banded rack pulls disappeared from the program when my deadlift blocks arrived. There is value in doing them if I ever decided to commit to a Strongman competition because the sheer amount of variety of pulls done at competitions. However, there is more value in doing the block pulls, which requires me break the floor while doing a pull, than non-banded rack pulls. The other is trap bar deadlifts. I looked into rackable trap bars, as Pete acquired a non-rackable one in 2021, this past year but never had the funds to get it. The movement is different than deadlift with a straight barbell because the weight is in line with the body. That makes it feel like much more of a front squat, which while useful for quad development isn’t what I am looking for. Now, this is completely different, if I was a member of the US Army, as it is part of their new fitness requirement test. If I get a rackable trap bar, it would get back into program likely. There are other lifts that can be done with it.
I have felt much more back strength develop over the last 6-7 months when I started putting the barbell rows and good mornings into the plan. The upper back is one of the most important muscle groups for lifters to improve on I learned this year. The more I thought about it the easier that got to understand. I got over my hate for them and just started doing them, especially since the bar was already loaded to do them. The barbell rows have had a bit more impact than good mornings I feel because I have made a bit more progress on them. I can barely feel them at 135. My current set and rep scheme has right in the sweet spot. I do 6-8 sets of 3 reps at 225 pounds as a supplemental lift. There’s still a bit of a hard pull on it but I don’t feel out of control anymore. I haven’t added pounds to my traditional deadlift in this time but I’m more primed for it in 2023.
I did experiment this year with splitting up my squat and deadlift, in part to see how the squat effected the deadlift. It really didn’t help me pull more. I know I am in the minority of lifters by squatting and deadlifting on the same day. It may well be what is helping my squat rise above my deadlift. I think location might alway play a factor. The gym I am a member of has a number of isolation machines made for pulls. I rarely used the gym, however. My deadlift hasn’t regressed, but it hasn’t shown progress at the top end. That is also likely due to being more more committed to building raw repeatable strength than high top end single reps. I have made progress in that regard as well as building up more resistance to everyday wear and tear.
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