Most Common Individual Difference In Deadlift Programming

While there are an infinite number of minute differences in programming from person to person, something I wanted to touch on is the most common difference I see in deadlift programming. In my experience, deadlifts seem to be the most drastically different person to person. Fairly universally, people tend to respond better to lower comparative intensities and volume on deadlifts than for squats and bench press. But within that I have found some major differences, and to get more precise, I find people fit into 1 of 3 categories when it comes to deadlifts.

1.) There is the average person that responds to middle of the road deadlift programming. Which for my programming style would be somewhere around twice a week frequency, one main day and one variation day, at reasonable volumes and relative intensities ranging from 4-8 RPE in the 70-85% range, with most of the work being done in the 5-7 RPE range. I’d say 70% fall into this category. The other 30% are complete opposites though.

2.) 20% will require extremely low intensities, doing most of the work in the 2-5 RPE range around 65-75% while handling fairly high volumes of work. They can handle the volume, they just can’t handle the intensity. You might ask, “Why not just decrease the volume and increase the intensity then?”, but for these people it doesn’t work like that. Any high relative or absolute intensity works just seems to beat them down. I fall into this category myself as well as one of my athletes Joe. Give us one week of heavy deadlift work, and the following week our 1RM goes down 40-50lbs., no exaggeration.

3.) The final 10% are the exact opposite. They get immediately beat down by any type of higher deadlift volumes, but give them a bunch of singles and doubles and they feel great. While I don’t have a great idea of the lifter prototype that fits into numbers 1 and 2, number 3 is typically short arm lifters who have to go through a significant range of motion. Which that makes sense. When you track total work completed, the true calculation would also include distance traveled, so a set of 5 for a short arm lifter is in reality more volume than for a long arm lifter due to more distance traveled.

So what I hope this information helps you with is if your deadlift is stalled and you are not sure why, take a look at your programming and possibly see if you may fall into a different category than you think. I can say in my experience I have never had someone with deadlift respond to high volume and high intensity, so most likely you are going to be in 1 of these 3 categories.

What Percentages Of Your 1RM To Use On Variations

I know a big question I had when I first started powerlifting was what percentage of my 1RM should I be able to do on different variations, and I don’t think I am alone in that. As powerlifters we know our 1RM competition squat, bench, and deadlift, but for all the variations and bar placements changes, it’s usually just a guess. But over my course of coaching experience, I’ve programmed for enough athletes now that I’ve started to see general trends on what percentage 1RM most athletes can perform these variations at. These are not universal and there will 100% be outliers above and below what I recommend, so it always comes down to finding your own individual differences and programming based off that. But I hope the below information can at least give you a starting point, because as far as I know, there is not another article online that breaks this down in this manner. If you would like to dive deeper into how to program these variations, make sure to check out my YouTube video detailing exactly how to implement these within your training: How To Program Variations

Squat (assuming you are a low bar squatter):	% of Competition Squat 1RM	Notes
High Bar	90.0 – 97.5%	The biggest thing that will dictate where you will fall within this range is femur length. Shorter femurs equals a higher % of 1RM on high bar, longer femurs equals a lower %.
Safety Bar	87.5 – 90.0%	This seems to be fairly universal, but there is a learning curve. Most athletes will have to start lighter but as they build up they should be able to tolerate around 90.0% of their 1 RM.
Buffalo Bar	97.5 – 100%	Buffalo bar could very well equal 100% of your 1RM comp squat, but just because it has a slightly different feel, I will typically stay conservative and go with 97.5%.
Cambered Bar	90 – 92.5%	This seems to be fairly universal, but there is a learning curve. Most athletes will have to start lighter but as they build up they should be able to tolerate around 92.5% of their 1 RM.
Tempo Squat	87.5 – 92.5%	This range will be based on how many reps you are performing. 5 Reps or less it will fall more towards 90-92.5%, and anything over 5 reps will be around 87.5%
Pause Squat	92.0 – 94.0%	This seems to be fairly universal.
Pin Squat	87.5% – 90%	If someone can perform these correctly, athletes usually can do around 90% of their 1RM, but the fact is most people cannot do these correctly and will use more weight than they should. Typically long femur lifters have a harder time with pin squats and short femur lifters will have an easier time.
Front Squat	80.0 – 87.5%	I do not program these often, so I would say I am less confident on the accuracy of this, but generally this is where I have found front squats to be.

***If you squat high bar, the real main thing that changes is that your Safety Bar squat will now be at 95% of your 1RM.

Bench Press:	% of Competition Bench Press 1RM	Notes
Close Grip	96.0 – 98%	This is with the assumption of a standard width bench press for most powerlifters. If an athlete’s grip is already close, this % goes up. If they are a max comp width grip, this could very possibly go down. But for the most part 95-97% of their 1RM on close grip bench press will be fairly accurate.
Wide Grip	92.5 – 97.0%	This is with the assumption of a standard width bench press for most powerlifters. If an athlete’s grip is already wide, this % goes up. If they use a close grip though, I have found that some people really struggle with wide grip and may have to decrease the percentage down to possibly 92.5%
Tempo	90.0 – 97%	This range will be based on how many reps you are performing. 3 Reps or less it will fall more towards 94-97%, 4-6 reps around 92-94%, and anything over 6 reps will be around 90%
3 Second Pause	92.5 – 97.0%	This range will be based on how many reps you are performing. 4 Reps or less it will fall more towards 95-97%, and anything over 4 reps will be around 92.5-95%
Spoto Press	92.5-95.0%	This seems to be fairly universal. Grip width can change this to an extent, but not by much.
Pin Press 1/2-1 inch off chest	92.5 – 95.0%	This seems to be fairly universal. Those who train with a pause consistently in training tend to be better at pin press, and those who touch and go have a harder time with it.
T-Shirt Touch Press	92.5-95.0%	This seems to be fairly universal. If an athlete soft touches they typically will be better with t-shirt touch press, and if they sink they typically will be worse at it.
Feet Up Or Larsen	90.0 – 95.0%	People tend to be able to do a bit more Larsen than Feet Up, so generally ends up somewhere around this ranged dependent on the variation you use.
Slingshot	100.0 – 107.5%	This will be based off the purpose of the movement. If it is to overload, typically people can handle up to a 7.5% increase over their comp bench press 1RM, sometimes even 10%. If it is used for extra volume work though, or to work around a shoulder/pec injury, then I plan it to equal an athlete’s comp bench press 1 RM.
1 or 2 Board	100.0 – 107.5%	This will be based off their proficiency through this range of motion. Typically athletes can handle over their 1RM on board presses, but that is not always the case. Typically on a 1 board I will program based off their 1RM, but for a 2 board I will start to assume a slight increase up to 7.5% over their comp bench press 1 RM.

Deadlift:	% of Competition Deadlift 1RM	Notes
Pause off the floor	90.0 – 95.0%	Depending on your positioning off the floor, some people are just really good at this, and some people are really bad. Find which one you are, then program the percentage range based off that.
Pause just below the knees	92.5 – 95.0 %	Typically a bit easier than pausing just off the floor, so there is less deviation here between athletes.
2″ Deficit	90.0 – 95%	This is for conventional deadlifters. I have never programmed deficit for sumo pullers, nor really would recommend it, so I do not know a % of 1RM for that.
2 Inch Block Pulls	97.5 – 107.5%	If you conventional deadlift, this will be pretty similar to your comp deadlift strength, as 2 inches doesn’t drastically change the movement. Sumo deadlift though you will definitely see a boost, which is the reason for up to 105%. Short arm lifters have the most to gain from those 2 inches, so they possibly could program over their 1RM comp deadlift.
Rack Pulls just below the knee	100-110%	An athlete should be able to rack pull more than they can comp deadlift, but that range is based off of what these are programmed for. I typically do not program these for lock out work, but rather added posterior chain volume, so I usually keep the % of 1RM fairly close to their comp deadlift. This may also change if you are doing these conventional when you typically pull sumo.
Trap Bar	105.0 – 110.0%	Most athletes can trap bar deadlift more than their sumo or conventional deadlift, but typically I have found conventional deadlifters are better with a trap bar, so that is the reason for the percentage range.
Romanian Deadlift	75.0 – 85.0%	This seems to be fairly universal, but if there is a difference, I would say conventional deadlifters tend to be a bit better at RDLs in comparison to their 1RM than sumo pullers

Biggest Misconception About RPE Training

“RPE” is not a training program.

The single biggest misconception about RPE training is that it is a training program, and it 100% is not. Just like Conjugate or DUP, it is a training principle, not a program. And in reality you could have a Conjugate DUP program that is RPE based. They are all just tools within programming.

So what is RPE? It is a subjective loading parameter. Percentages and weight on the bar are objective loading parameters, meaning exact numbers, but RPE is a subjective way to rate the load on the bar. 3×3 at 80% and 3×3 @ 6 RPE are essentially stating the same thing, so let me explain further. (If you are unfamiliar with RPE training in general, make sure to read What is RPE training? before reading on)

To go deeper into this, let’s say you have a 3×3 at 80%. You are stating the objective load at 80%. Going further, if your 1RM is 400lbs., then you are performing a 3×3 at 320lbs. Both of these mean the same exact thing, and when written in an “Instagram post”, they are relaying the objective difficulty and/or load of the set(s) being performed. There is one big issue in my opinion with that first example though of stating 3×3 at 80%. That issue is that 80% for a set of 3 is not the same for everyone, so it really isn’t stating the difficulty of that loading parameter in relation to you. There was actually a study done recently where trained participants performed an AMRAP with 70% of their 1RM on squats. The average number of reps completed was 15, but there was a range of 8 reps all the way to 25! The main correlating factor? Femur length. Shorter femurs tended to get more reps, longer femurs less reps. So at any given percentages, each individual will have a deviation in how many reps they can perform.

So how does this relate to RPE? If we use the example of 3×3 at 80%, the majority of people can get about 7 to 8 reps with 80% of their 1RM. So this could very well be written as 3×3 @ 6 RPE. It means in sense the same thing. But the difference with those two programming methods is that if I give you 3×3 at 80%, that gives you a set number that I am using based on the average person and the average difficulty of 80%. But what if you don’t fit into that category? What if you could perform 10 to 12 reps with 80% of your 1RM, or maybe you are on the opposite end of the spectrum and you could only get 5 reps with 80%? Then that 80% means something different than what was intended.

That is where RPE is used as a subjective loading parameter. For the average person, 3×3 at a 6 RPE will be 3×3 at 80%. But for the examples of those outliers, or maybe on a day where you may feel weaker or stronger than normal, the 3×3 at a 6 RPE allows for variable loading parameters to adjust for individual differences and is why it has become a popular tool in modern day programming. Even if you haven’t used RPE intentionally as a tool in your programming, the fact is unintentionally you have. Let’s say you performed that 3×3 at 80% and you wrote in your “Instagram post” that you smoked it and it was super easy. With that thought process you are subjectively rating the difficulty of that set. The only difference between that and RPE, is that RPE is giving a set subjective parameter to describe the difficulty.

What it comes down to is whether you have 3×3 at 80%, 3×3 at 320lbs., or 3×3 @ 6 RPE, all 3 are in reality the same and all 3 are just different ways of writing the same loading parameter. 2 of those being objective and set, 1 being subjective and variable. There is a time and place for both. All of these principles are just tools for progression in strength and the application is based on individual preference and need.

Sumo or Conventional: Which Deadlift Is Right For Me?

A question I know a lot of people have is how do you decide if you should pull sumo or conventional? And the answer is…..there is no real good answer.

Why Do I Program Heavy Top Singles?

If you follow any of my athletes or have generally just followed my posts, you probably notice a lot of top singles, so why is that? It’s not just an excuse to lift some heavy weight, but instead has some very distinct purposes within training.

I originally started having people do these top singles almost 4 years ago before it was even the popular thing to do, with the thought that they gave a potentiation effect that would improve performance on back down sets. While I still think that was a decent application in theory, it didn’t work out like that. 88% or more for a single is fatiguing, so I believe that fatigue masked any potentiation effect, and something like preceding squats with box jumps would be a better application of the PAP principle. With that being said, I still saw benefit but at the time couldn’t explain completely why. But after seeing these implemented for the past 4 years and gaining understanding of the sport and its demands, I think I can dive into a better reasoning of why these top singles can be of value for most lifters. While there are more, I see 3 main reasons that these top singles are beneficial and that I keep programming them for the majority of my athletes.

Skill Practice

The fact is that we compete in a sport that tests our ability to generate our optimal levels of strength in the form of a 1 rep max squat, bench press, and deadlift. It is also a fact that training specificity is a main factor in the progress of any goal, and it does not get any more specific than a 1 rep max when it comes to powerlifting. The issue is though that a true 1RM is fairly fatiguing and carries a high injury risk, so most people are not programming weekly 1 rep maxes for all their lifts, and many just try to stay away from heavy singles altogether except for close to the meet. I’d rather be somewhere in the middle of those two extremes. A top single programmed in the general range of 88-93% is something that even on someone’s worst day they should be able to hit fairly easy, so it keeps athletes away from grinding through reps and or even worse, failing a rep. 

The fact is that a top single is a different mindset than setting up for a set of 5. The cues we process, the mental strategies, and the knowledge of having only 1 rep to perform to our best is a different approach and something that needs to be practiced. So for this reason, for most of the training year I have a top single programmed once a week for squat, bench press, and deadlift. This helps to continue the skill practice of a 1 rep set to the point that it just becomes second nature. The problem I have found with the “stay away from heavy singles” group is that come meet day those athlete’s will be scared and nervous. They haven’t touched weights in this manner in training, and now going out to hit an opener that maybe they’ve hit 1-2 times this entire training cycle is a bit nerve wracking. But if that athlete instead has been practicing a top single with that opening weight every single week for the past year, it will be second nature, just another day in the gym. Confidence breeds strength, and top singles help to instill confidence in intensity ranges that many are scared of.

Adaptation To Heavy Weights

One of the biggest arguments against heavy top singles is the fatigue they induce. And I agree, if you are not used to doing them and all of a sudden start adding them in, they will be fatiguing. But that is the exact reason to do them. Our body adapts, and as we continually perform these top singles week after week our body starts to become more efficient at recovering from them to the point that they feel just like any other set. This also will translate in being able to recover better once a peaking block comes around. I usually find my athlete’s do not get overly beat up during a peaking block like some do, and I believe one of the main reasons is because that every single week for months they have been hitting a top single in the 88-93% range on all 3 lifts, so that intensity range is nothing new to them.

Use To Gauge Training

Not only can these top singles have a training effect, but I find them to be of great benefit in programming and auto-regulating training. If you are trying to estimate your 1 rep max off a set of 6 that was taken to a 7 RPE, good luck. But if you are trying to gauge your 1RM off a top single at a 7-8 RPE, well that might just actually give a pretty decent estimate. I would probably say 70% of the athlete’s I currently coach are having a top single each week that then is used to calculate their training for the rest of the week. With the benefits of Excel, this is as simple as the athlete rating the RPE of the top single in the document, and the formulas I have programmed then calculate a 1RM based off that top single and automatically recalculate their training for the week based off the projected 1 rep max. As an online coach I cannot be there to adjust training when it needs to be, so this top single instead does this for me and acts as the “coach” when I cannot. While I have some people on percentage based programs, I find autoregulated programming to be far superior because we can account for strength gain and loss. You are not stuck to a training max for weeks on end, but instead this top single can adjust training weekly to each individual’s current strength levels.

And while this is a loose interpretation and application of this, if you are familiar at all with Bondarchuk’s training systems, he had certain exercises that were his gauges/tests for progress. His athletes would perform them weekly to see how training was transferring to the things he really wanted to see improvement on. These top singles are acting in that same way for my athletes. While it matters how they perform on all their movements, the fact is that these top singles are their weekly “tests” to see how the program as a whole is transferring to their ability to output maximal force during a heavy top single.

There are more reasons top singles can be of benefit such being able to see if there is form breakdown at heavier weights, seeing someone’s confidence with at higher intensities, and even just a small ego helper when athlete’s just want to feel something heavy because they are powerlifters. But the main reasons really boil down to the training effect they can induce and the ability to use them to gauge training. I do not thing it is an end all be all to training, but I also wouldn’t have programmed them for the last 4 years if I didn’t think there was a great transfer effect. We are powerlifters and our goal is the achieve the highest 1 rep max squat, bench press, and deadlift, so let’s practice that!