3 Unconventional Methods To A Big Deadlift
Deadlift Justa Method, Dense Strength Method, Even Easier Strength.
Chances are you haven’t heard of them. Even if you have you probably haven’t used them. I have and each of them helped me lift a bigger weight than ever before.
Here’s the secret: you should deadlift everyday, or at least every second.
If you’re like most strength enthusiasts your blood pressure probably just went through the roof. You may even be on your way over to try to set me straight right now. Before you soil yourself lets look at some facts.
Steve Justa rack pulled 2000lb in the old style hand-thigh lift.
Have I got your attention about using Justa Method yet?
What if I said Mr Deadlift, the greatest deadlifter of all time Bob Peoples deadlifted with high frequency?
Let’s leave the text book at home and start thinking about bending bars.
In late 2012 I attended a John Broz 2 day weightlifting workshop with Joseph Coyne, just before joining the Sydney Roosters. Broz is one of America’s biggest names in weightlifting who sites his biggest influence as the Bulgarian Weightlifting System, which says squat to max twice a day, deadlift to max twice a year.
To emphasise his point about lifting heavy often he used 2 scenarios. One you’re on a tropical island with all the food and coconuts you need, how many times per week will you squat? 1-2 sessions per week should be enough right? Scenario 2 your family will be killed if you don’t squat 30kg above your current maximum in 30 days; what would you do? Squat once to twice a week and take it easy in between?? No way, you will be at that barbell whenever you’re not sleeping. And you would be right.
I recently did this experiment for 6 days, fortunately my family wasn’t involved - but squatting to max 3 times per day for 6 days actually lead to a 20kg improvement in my 3RM in 6 days! See more about that onSquat Holiday.
So what about the deadlift?
Same scenario, what do you do.
I’d hope that you’ve read Justa’s “Rock, Iron, Steel.” It’s a great book that is forged in the gym, not in the laboratory or double blind studies on lost and poisoned college student rats.
Lift at 70%, often. I have used this method to add 30kg to my deadlift. I’m using it again at the moment with the plan to pass 220kg before mid year.
How does it work?
There are few methods outlined in Rock, Iron, Steel. The first and most commonly used is:
Monday - 3 x 1
Tuesday - 5 x 1
Wednesday - 7 x 1
Thursday - 9 x 1
Friday - 11 x 1
Saturday - 13 x 1
Sunday - 15 x 1
All lifts are at 70% and should be executed fast. Justa recommends 1-2 minutes rest between reps but I have completed it rest pause on 20 seconds with great results. Add 2.5-5kg / week until you reach 80% of your previous max then retest. I went from 180-210kg with this method at 81kg body weight.
I’m currently using modified method 2 which is 15x1 every second day with 2.5 kg jumps each session and a retest every 2 weeks. The retest method is to jump in 20kg increments on the minute until you reach the weight you can’t dominate. This is therefore not a true max but a training max. Restart the cycle at 70% based on your new max.
Sacrilege? Maybe so. The other 2 methods that I used to reach personal bests of 205kg and 210kg were: Even Easier Strength and Dense Strength Method.
Even Easier Strength is 40 sessions of completing the same lifts every session. The kicker is that they should be done most days and at 40% intensity! 40%. 40%!
It’s hard to train with such low intensity. 1-2 times per week you can work a little harder but the idea is never to work hard. Which becomes very tempting as the weights start to feel super light. Surely it can’t work!? Most people report personal bests before session 20.
With this method I achieved a bodyweight standing press and 70kg x 5 reps, I also managed a 205kg deadlift personal best.
Next was Dense Strength. I used this to take a 10kg personal best on the front squat, a lifetime best back squat, a 100kg snatch and then a 210kg deadlift.
What was the method. Dense Strength15 starts from 70%, 3 reps each minute for 5 minutes. I did this 2 times per week all the way up to 170kg. I then used Dense Strength5 at 175kg and 180kg I then maxed out at 210kg. Very simple. Better than I had managed before.
For those of you who are deep into the iron game you might realise that the overall tonnage for the week and total number of repetitions is not extreme. This is where the magic lies. Consistently using moderate intensity will take you to places that most people will never go.
While my numbers aren’t massive in powerlifting circles these have been short periods of barbell focus between building acrobatic and gymnastics skills. If I was to specialise in these lifts I have no doubt that I could take them a lot further but probably not without suffering the curses of the specialist (see Generalists Vs Specialists)
While many people say you only need to squat more to get your deadlift numbers up... this hasn’t been my experience. If you’re built for squats then you might get deadlift gains without deadlifting. If you’ve got long limbs and squats aren’t your foundation then these methods will help you to the next level.