Okay, so I just started 5/3/1 and I’m doing it Monday OHP/Wednesday Deadlift/Friday Bench/Saturday Squat. Monday went really well and I was nice and sore even this morning. My workout today also went well however I ran into a bit of trouble on my last set of deadlifts (the 5+ set). My max deadlift is 405 so going by the program I multiplied it by .9 and then calculated the weights by the prescribed percentages.
So today I cranked out 5 reps with 235 (65%) no problem. Then I did 275 (75%) and again, not much trouble. Then I seemed to suddenly hit a wall at 310 (85%) and had trouble getting just one rep out. I took a couple of minutes to rest and then tried again. The same as last time, I could only get a single. It wasn’t so much that it was too heavy; the issue I was having was that on the way up I felt really nauseous, which normally doesn’t happen. I haven’t been to the gym much for about 2 weeks just because of other stuff and when I got 405 it was like 2 and a half months ago. I’ve lost about 3 or 4 pounds so is it just a thing where I need to get used to it again?
I think I may not have been taking big enough breaths and I also wasn’t wearing a belt today (I wore a belt + used chalk when I did 405), so could that be it? I’ve also incorporated extra hamstring and core work into my deadlift day to help with imbalances.
The nauseous feeling may be attributed to losing some of your conditioning for heavy lifting - just a guess. Your max for the deadlift has probably gone down temporarily because of all of those factors you stated: losing weight, not using a belt, and taking a couple weeks off (although that probably has the least effect). It also depends on what you have been doing since the 405 deadlift max. If you have been maintaining heavy deadlifting at about the same body weight (or more) then I would say using 405 for the training max would be okay.
Otherwise, if you have consistently been pushing too hard too often on the deadlift, cutting weight or anything besides what I previously stated then you should probably drop your training max, which I suggest you do. If I asked you to go for a max attempt in a week or two, what do you think you could hit? Be honest, it’s likely not 405. Drop down your training max to 90% of a number you can for sure hit. Don’t worry because your strength will come back quick. I don’t know your training history but regardless, I would only be worried if I truly felt I lost strength after a couple months of running the new program. Keep in mind that your true max doesn’t necessarily have to be the same as your training max. It took me a long time to figure this out.
For example, you could use a training max of 335 (while being capable of pulling 400+) this month, increase your training max by 10 lbs next month, and still get stronger. Also, if your numbers are based on a belted deadlift then make sure to wear the belt or adjust the numbers accordingly for an unbelted deadlift.
I used a very low training max when I converted from conventional to sumo deadlift. My conventional PR was 405. I wanted to switch to a sumo stance so I dropped down to a training max of 300 and did the 5/3/1 BBB Challenge and then switched to the normal 5/3/1 after. In 8 months I easily pulled 425 sumo. I went heavy to check progress but didn’t go for a true PR. I was probably capable of pulling 455.
I’m doing the BBB assistance work with the 5/3/1 so to find my weight to use on romanian deadlifts I had to go for about a max today on the romanian deadlift (doing it standing on a 100 lb plate) and the most I could pull was 275. I felt like I could maybe go higher but with romanians being a relatively new exercise to me, doing it with a deficit, and not having very strong hamstrings or hips it didn’t feel very safe to go heavier on it.
Next week I’m going to try the 335 lb percentages as you suggested and see how that goes. Wanted to order a good belt but for one the site I’m ordering off of’s currently out of stock (emailed them to see when it will be back) and also the belt can take a few weeks to be delivered. I’ll definitely post in this thread again though on Sunday and update on how the first week went in regards to the other main lifts.
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