Stop missing lifts as everyone said. I had good results with adding a second day of deadlift with 50-60% of my 1rm with limited sets and rep.
I’m gonna go ahead and say ROM progression because I am a one trick pony.
George Leeman put out a deadlift program based solely on progressive range of motion. The program itself has a fuckton of stuff to do and deadlift workouts tend to take around 3 hours to complete but apparently it has yielded some insane results with some of his clients.
I’ve heard most of Leeman’s programs run about that long. I’ve never needed to train 3 hours in a session to make ROM progression work, but I’m sure if you have the time it’s pretty cool.
I worked with him for a couple of months and the other workouts didn’t take that long. The deadlift is his precious baby and he slays it with joy. I never felt I was doing something wrong or useless and you really don’t need a 3 hour workout to progress that way.
Personally I would do the PROM work first and then some assistance but I’d be out of the gym in 1,5h MAX. Frequency over once-a-week brutal over 3h fuckton of volume workouts any day.
Seeing as I actually read your blog, I find this quite funny…
Side question, just because I’m interested – without wading into the murky ‘genetic potential’ or ‘natty vs ROIDS’ waters, does anyone think that 3h hour sessions are reasonable/productive for a natural lifter? I mean, I don’t know whether Leeman is assisted or not (he’s strong af either way), but for anyone who isn’t him … Damn. I’m generally spent after 1h15mins. Broken after 1hr30mins. I can’t imagine trying to recover from a 3hr session…
Leeman is absolutely assisted. He has come out and said so on a few occasions.
The thing about talking training sessions in terms of time is that the waters can get somewhat muddy. I know people who “train” for 3 hours, but you find out that they’re resting 7-10 minutes between sets, dicking around with the training partners, and in general the intensity is just low. Meanwhile, you got guys that can train for 30-45 minutes and cram so much volume into that time that it would just flatten other folks.
Typically, when I hear that someone is training for 3 hours, my first thought is that their conditioning is terrible, and that the only way they can get in appreciable volume is through super long training times. However, if they’re getting in short rest periods/supersets/whathaveyou and STILL training for 3 hours, they’re most likely a robot sent from the future to correct our timeline from some sort of tragedy.
Hm, thought so, but didn’t want to start a shitshow by making assumptions. Thanks for clarifying.
Ah, yes, fair enough. Even in my own training, I’ve found that the bulk of the ‘work’ is always done by 45mins in. Any further training is assistance work (like lateral raises or ab work), that probably could be done for 3hrs if one felt so inclined. It’s not even a willingness thing – there just comes a point where you KNOW that any further ‘heavy’ work is beating a dead horse – the point of diminishing returns has passed. I wonder if there are genetic freaks who can give 100% for 2hrs even?
Yes.
Check out the singles scene on ground up strength. It got me a 424 deadlift in 2 mths once.
Lots of singles in the %90+ 1RM range. It works much better then using 5 rep sets for strength. 5 rep sets are like a compromise between pure strength training and bodybuilding. In general its not the best option for either goal but the “middle ground”. I love 5x5 because i like both but if you really want a stronger deadlift now use 1-3 reps.
Long story short - work up to that day’s semi - max with soild form/speed. Then backoff and do 4-10 singles with 0 to 10% less weight. Once every 3-7 days.
Cybernetic organism…
*NERD RAGE *
Update: I got it. One week of semester to spare 
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Just wanted to let you guys know that the advice wasn’t in vain.
Thanks for all of the tips.
I’m on fire with the videos today
Congrats! Naturally there will be a video treat for us of you pulling that 405?
Thanks! Unfortunately not, but I do have a pic at the top. Will post it momentarily.
If you’re training with 4-6 people, sessions can go 3 hours. Adjusting weight, racks, people getting pointers, etc.
Shoot for 385x5 or 355x10 and the 405 will go up easy 
Hey guys, quick related question:
I hit the deadlift PR on Saturday.
I took Sunday off.
Today (Monday), I’m meant to be training shoulders, but I’m getting pinned by weights that I usually find easy (weights I usually get 12 with are now a difficult 8).
Bear in mind that I’m currently also in a finals period at college (supposedly stressful).
Is this some kind of CNS fatigue/stress overload? And if so, best recovery tips? (I cut the volume for today’s session in half – seemed reasonable). Or am I just having an off day and overthinking things?
It could be high cortisol levels. You kind of have a few options: suck it up and push through, deload this week and cut volume, or just completely focus on finals and let your body recover. Finals week can trash you mentally
Thanks for the reply, @Mr_Jacuuu.
Appreciate the thoughts.