Bigger difference than mine but my DL has a solid 165 on my squat
When I had my best combined total between deadlift and squat, I was sitting at about a 560 squat and a tad over 600 deadlift. so within 50-60 lbs.
This?
Yes. Thatās it my legs have grown an inch in 6 weeks. It works. I hit workout 7 on Friday.
How are you structuring the rest of your training week?
I was doing a 4 day a week back training while my shoulder was rehabbing. Did that for 5 weeks.
Now I am pressing on Sun, deadlift Mon, press Wed, squat program on Friday. Iām setting up to move to a conjugate based system after Iām done with this squat program. It is a killer leg program and my legs are often crushed for 2-3 days after the volume sessions. So one day a week is enough for squats. My last DL session I just kept light (60-70%) and low volume to get some blood flow and work on form. So I balance with how recovered I am going in
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holy crap, thatās a sexy looking program
My best lifts are a 420 back squat and 620 deadlift, but itās no secret in these parts that I simply work a lot harder on my deadlift than I do on my squat. I got to >500 deadlift while doing virtually zero squats. Iāve added (a few) squats on the road from 500 up to >600 deadlift, but honestly I canāt say if the squats contributed significantly to the ongoing deadlift progress or if it wouldāve happened anyway.
So, with all due respectā¦
ā¦I think this has to carry an āit depends, weāre all different, and your mileage may vary.ā
I agree that folks who are training the squat hard probably cannot train the deadlift the same way that I do, and as a recipe for powerlifting success one is probably better off training the squat hard, poking around with some maintenance work on the deadlift, and letting that big squat carry over to a big deadlift.
Iād just be careful with absolute statements like āsquats are the key to a big deadliftā because itās not always so simple.
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In my personal experience, training for a big squat will equal a big deadlift, but training for a big deadlift wonāt directly equal a big squat.
If you were to ONLY DEADLIFT and got to 500lbs, it will take a while before you are able to hit a 500lb squat.
But if you were to ONLY SQUAT and got it to 500lbs, you will be able to pull (grip might be the only limiting factor, so gotta use straps) a 500lb deadlift easy.
For me personally as long as my back squat and front squat were going up (and chin-ups and bb rows lol), deadlift numbers went up easily.
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not for everyone. I donāt know how familiar you are with Reed, but heās squatted 800 and never deadlifted more than 650. Iām not actually sure if heās even gotten that much on his DL.
Itās crazy how different weāre all built, and how our bodies adapt to training stimulus. I think for most people, a big squat carries over well to the deadlift, but itās not universal. Itās all about the weakest link in the chain on any lift.
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Id totally rather train for a big squat than go all in on a big deadlift
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And Iām the opposite! Iām within 35lbs of a 600lb squat and within 25lbs of a 700lb deadlift, and am wayyy more excited to hit that 700lb deadlift than the 600lb squat.
Unfortunately, I canāt really comment much as far as the carryover discussion goes as I have always squatted AND deadlifted.
Different strokes for different folks.
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I LOVE watching Reed deadlift. He passes out mid lift while still putting down the weight like a sleeping baby and getting three lights. Wild.
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All good. Maybe is should say for meā¦blah, blah, blah.
Never intended to be an authority on the subject. Just in my current stage of lifting my squat transfers to my deadlift very well.
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Same here, much more excited for a 700 deadlift (35lb to go) than any squat record I want to aim for. This might be because I only just about squat 500, though.
I can add an n=1 anecdote here though, in that my deadlift stalled hard at 550-575 ish, up and down for years, until I started training squats, then went 560-675 over 1 year.
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For anyone interested, I saw on his IG that heās got 3 open spots for his online coaching starting 2/9.
I know this is old. But i have been training seriously for just over 4 years. I squat twice a week, deadlift twice a week and bench twice a week. My squat sucks. 365 is all i can do. Cant improve.
My bench at a bench only powerlifting meet was 450 in dec 2024. After a year of training i hit 300. 2 years 385. 3 years 425. And 4 years 450.
Benching seems easy for me. And i have a long rom and narrow grip. All fingers/hand inside the rings.
But now i wanna try and work on deadlift. I have only got up to 435. That is narrow foot conventional without any straps and totally raw.
I see others my size doing 600 and smaller doing 550.
I am 6ft 230lbs. Last dexa scan i had was 11% bf.
I am good at benching and can 1 arm row 200kb dumbells. Can farmer carry 600lbs. I feel like i have certain things i am good at and other things i suck at no matter how much i train.
I am dying to hit 500 on the bench and would love to at least hit 600 deadlifting so i dont look like a total weakling at my next full power meet.
I just wish i could advance at deadlifting finally. And will take any advice. Thanks
Post video of squat and deadsā¦ sounds like a form issue.
This thread is old but really interesting lol
I would say no simply because if you go to local powerlifting meets there a lot of guys who obviously take training seriously that canāt deadlift 600
Are some of these guys not training optimally? Most likely, but I would think if it really was attainable for every male, then you would see pretty much everyone doing 600 or at least 550+ other than newer guys or guys in much lower weight classes.
I think there is a selection bias because there are some guys that just donāt really have good genetics for putting on muscle but they are unlikely to stick with it so weāre not thinking of them
I did have a buddy in high school who was like this - he could barely bench press the bar when we started in 9th grade PE but just enjoyed lifting despite other guys sometimes making smart-Alec remarks and kept pushing himself but by senior year was still having trouble repoing 135-lbs. wasnāt a tiny guy either, it just wasnāt his forte
There were other guys at his level or slightly higher but they didnāt keep lifting. I doubt they would have ended up much stronger than him had they kept training though
Itās definitely not an elite number but i donāt think 100% of guys could do it.
405 possiblyā¦
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This is where I was at in the start and still at here: the solution is weight gain. I imagine anyone willing to Bruce Randall their way there will get there.
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