Everything I've read says to do 1 set of 5 deadlifts or you risk injury. Is this true?
He is suggesting that I start at 115 lbs and move up to 175 by my 5th set, which is near my max. Would this be ok to do since I'm starting at such a low weight?
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This is standard barbell weight training as it has more or less always been. Your first four sets are just warm ups for your one heavy set. If we take my own program as an example I start even lower and end up higher. I calculate my warm up sets by ramping up from 20% (or the weight of the empty bar), 40%, 60% and 80% of my final pull. Even though I ramp up more slowly I don't think your program will be detrimental in any way. This is variations of more or less the same concept. However as your pulls get bigger, you necessarily don't want to start higher with your warm up sets. |
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I don't think a single set of deadlifts would be enough volume to grow in my opinion. If I skimp on the deadlift sets (do only 2 sets) I notice I don't gain strength over the next week (assuming you are deadlifting once per week). @DaveLeipmann is right. Don't confuse things and count warm up sets. You shouldn't have to do huge extended warmups that are going to tire you from your performance during your working sets - especially if the first set is as low as 65% of your max. If you pyramid up the weight (and drop the reps) a 65%, 75%, 85%, 95%, is a good 4 set structure. You could divide the 65-95 range into 5 sets, but remember you don't really want to bother training under 65% of your max (the reps get too high to be of much affect). Notice I'm not talking reps - just % of max because I'm assuming you are going more or less to failure in your WORKING sets. If you are doing it right,the first sets are the HARDEST because high reps on deadlifts close to or to failure are VERY HARD (20+reps). 5 reps (about the 90% mark), even if hard, are all over and done with before you know it. A warmup 'warms' up the muscles. You shouldn't be 'training' your muscles as part of your warmup. If my first set was greater than 65% of max, I would do 2 or 3 warmups with graduations of weights going up with reps looking like 10,3,1. If your first set is 65% then you could almost get away with a bit of light stretching or light pumping at a low weight to practice the movement. There is NO point 'warming up' with the weight you are going to use on your first set!! You could be wasting precious reps and not meet your performance targets for that workout. If you are attempting a new 1 rep max, the warmup regime will be more aggressive. I'd start at 10 reps at 50%, 6 reps at 65%, 4 reps at 80%, 1 rep at 90%, 1 rep at 95%, go for gold! I try do these once per month to gauge how I'm doing. If you are doing these once per week, chances are you will be wrecked after the PB attempt and then will skimp on the VOLUME required for the strength increases & hypotrophy to achieve your goals. |
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What you need to determine is how many work sets you're doing, not how many total sets. For me, anything south of 250 is more of a warm-up set. I'll do 3 to 5 at 135 or 145, 215 or 225, and in the upper 200s before doing a set (or two) in the 300s. Only that last one is what I consider a work set, which is the one that matters. Doing five sets from 115 to 175 (which is near your max) is a little odd, however. It may be fine--maybe the idea is to pyramid up--but it couldn't hurt to ask which ones are warm-ups, which ones are meant to be heavy, and how the programming works. But don't get married to the "one set of five for deadlifts" idea. That's common for novice programming, but not necessarily the One True Way. |
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