My best recent deadlift is 355 x 3. My best Squat is 275 x1 or 270 x 3.
Part of the issue is lack of safety equipment, which causes me to be really conservative with what I try. But 270 x 3 was not far from my real max I believe.
From what I understand, it is not normal for the deadlift to be so far ahead of the squat. Is this something I should focus on, or should I just keep pushing both of these exercises for improvement and figure it will equalize over time?
Thats not really a huge difference. Squatting requires a little bit more mobility, and training the eccentric, concentric, and stretch reflex. So you may be lacking there. Some people are stronger at deadlifts, and some are stronger at squats. Your legs are probably weak, and your probably deadlifting a lot with your back. This will work at that weight, but to get really strong you are going to have to get stronger legs, which means a bigger squat.
You should work to get stronger! That means pushing both squats and deadlifts to the max. (Duh!)
When you get to a really advanced level, however, your squat and deadlift will hardly be equal.
Having said that, make sure that your core is strong, which may in your case be the limiting factor on your squat.
If you don’t do them already, work hard on your front squat and good mornings, that should aid your back squat as well.
You usually see people with deadlifts bigger than squat. My goal is to always keep my deadlift at least 100lbs above squat. It may also depend on your body type, whatever the best body type for good squat numbers I’m probably the opposite. However, if you look at some world record numbers I think squat is like 200lbs more than deadlift which kind of surprised me. At high numbers everything is really hard but for deadlift there may be a huge limiting factor such as grip strength. Whatever the limiting factor for squats is I’m guessing its an area of the body a bit stronger than your hands/grip.
[quote]sufiandy wrote:
You usually see people with deadlifts bigger than squat. My goal is to always keep my deadlift at least 100lbs above squat. It may also depend on your body type, whatever the best body type for good squat numbers I’m probably the opposite. However, if you look at some world record numbers I think squat is like 200lbs more than deadlift which kind of surprised me. At high numbers everything is really hard but for deadlift there may be a huge limiting factor such as grip strength. Whatever the limiting factor for squats is I’m guessing its an area of the body a bit stronger than your hands/grip.[/quote]
At a highly competitive level gear is also a limiting factor. While there are triple-ply squat suits which can literally stand on their own, support from gear on the DL is rather limited. Example would be King Louie (Jeff Lewis) with a 1,200lbs squat and a 770lbs deadlift.
[quote]sufiandy wrote:
You usually see people with deadlifts bigger than squat. My goal is to always keep my deadlift at least 100lbs above squat. It may also depend on your body type, whatever the best body type for good squat numbers I’m probably the opposite. However, if you look at some world record numbers I think squat is like 200lbs more than deadlift which kind of surprised me. At high numbers everything is really hard but for deadlift there may be a huge limiting factor such as grip strength. Whatever the limiting factor for squats is I’m guessing its an area of the body a bit stronger than your hands/grip.[/quote]
As Dre the Hatchet says, the difference in the records is due to the gear. If grip is not an issue, just about everyone can deadlift more than they can squat. If they can’t, then the likely aren’t going deep enough or they have really odd limb lengths.
At those numbers, I wouldn’t sweat it. Keep training. Work on your technique. Both lifts will come up and that gap will close somewhat.
The fact is that the technique issues involved in deadlifting are not as great as those in squatting. We’ve been bending over to pick stuff up our whole lives. Balancing an odd-shaped heavy object on your shoulders while sitting down on an imaginary chair is something new. That’s not to say that you can slack on your technique and expect to pull your best weights, it’s just that it’s a much bigger deal for squatting.
That would explain it too. I don’t know much about gear so I did not comment on it. In my example I guess the gear would be the limiting factor and not a part of the body.
I think its has to do with the way your body and proportions are, which is something you cannot change (really). However, I think its consistency. Personally, I have long arms which make it easier for me to deadlift, but my legs are a little longer, making it a little harder for me to squat as much. This being said, I think its about hard work. Focus on your squat, it can only help your deadlift more.
[quote]sufiandy wrote:
That would explain it too. I don’t know much about gear so I did not comment on it. In my example I guess the gear would be the limiting factor and not a part of the body.[/quote]
Be happy you don’t know much about gear! The world would be a much happier place without it.
But, in an attempt to make you sadder I’ll say the following:
Gear typically helps far more in the squat (and bench) than in the deadlift. IMO sSingle ply gear typically makes the squat rougly equal to the deadlift (sometimes a bit more or less depending on the lifter). Multiply makes it much more (plus many muli-ply federations don’t require lifters to squat as deep).
The exception can be with some of the big guys (super heavyweights). Sometimes they have trouble deadlifting much due to their grip being a limiting factor (grip strength isn’t all that different between weight classes), plus I think the size helps more with the squat than the deadlift due to leverage differences.
OP,
sounds like you’re still a novice lifter, at this stage don’t stres over the dead out pacing your squat #s.
It’s actually kinda common for lots of lifters to have bigger dead than squat, while others vice-versa.
At this stage just learn the lifts well, proper technique, learn the assistance lifts too.
Wow you practically just quoted my exact numbers aswell. Just deadlifted 150kg x 3 reps and done max of 125kg for 1 rep on the squat. I don’t worry about the difference, just trying to work on mobility and flexibility to try bring my squat up closer
