Today was the first time I’ve maxed out deadlifts, bench and Squats. My RDL max was 415lb, my bench was 270lb and my squat was 350lb. Is it normal for my deadlift max to be so much higher than my squat? Or does this represent an imbalance in my training? Currently I’m following Chad Waterbury’s Quattro Dynamo program. Thanks for the help gentleman.
If you just started lifting than your deadlift may be quite a bit more than your squat. You may not have the form that you’ll need to squat more, while a bit more man strength can give you more strength in the dead.
A lot depends on your body’s mechanics. For instance, I weigh 186 at 5-10 and I cannot deadlift very well because I am taller and do not have gorilla arms. There is a guy who I lift with who is 6-4 225 and he can deadlift all day, but cant squat for, well squat because of his ROM.
[quote]geoffsherman wrote:
A lot depends on your body’s mechanics. For instance, I weigh 186 at 5-10 and I cannot deadlift very well because I am taller and do not have gorilla arms. [/quote]
I disagree with this. I’m also tall, over 5’11, and don’t have a problem with deadlifts. The taller you are, the lower you have to get. This has more to do with flexibility.
I’m 5’8", don’t have particularly long arms, but my DL is 50% higher than my squat.
I’m talking high-bar, ATG squats. But still, I think my squat is still too small compared to my DL.
What are your proportions? Are you more stubby or lanky? I find that I need to be heavier for my height to have a decent squat, while having long arms with fairly large legs and a short torso makes deadlifting easy.
[quote]sic wrote:
geoffsherman wrote:
A lot depends on your body’s mechanics. For instance, I weigh 186 at 5-10 and I cannot deadlift very well because I am taller and do not have gorilla arms.
I disagree with this. I’m also tall, over 5’11, and don’t have a problem with deadlifts. The taller you are, the lower you have to get. This has more to do with flexibility.[/quote]
This is funny, my short brother is 6’2". He wears cowboy boots (for the heels), drives a jacked up truck, and likes to pick fights (Napoleon.) We keep telling him he’s tall…
Anyways, I’m 6’6" my arms & legs are longer than my 6’8" brother’s. I can deadlift 600#, squat 500#, and only bench 300#. The difference in your squat and DL can easily be explained by mechanics. If you have long limbs, you’ll have a better DL than squat.
I found the following articles to be helpful in overcoming my own lousy leverages. I am 5’9" with a 6 foot wingspan. Having these long simian-like arms may not be the most attractive feature for a female, but I can DL like hell!!
http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=739197
http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=740326