Waves towards a 1RM for DL: 3-2-1 4-1-4-1-4 or 6-1-6-1-6 ?

[Espi]

So I've set my mind on beating my previous 1RMs for several lifts, actually all of them: db press, pullups, front squats as well as deadlifts.
Since I can move the most weight for deadlifts this particular question deals with them.

I'd love to get past my previous 1RM for DL which is 105kg and have set my mind on 110kg.

Started working my way up to 95 kg for 2 reps. In 10 workouts I've used the following pattern:

WO 1-2 8-7-6 reps till 70-72.5kg @ 6r
WO 3-7: 7-6-5 reps till 75-87.5kg @ 5r
WO 8-9: 5-4-3 reps till 90-92.5kg @ 3r
WO 10: 4-3-2 reps till 95kg @ 2r
All workouts were 4 days apart as I work out every other day and alternate between UB/LB.

So with 4 workouts to go my thoughts are/were to do another wave of 4-3-2 if possible till 97.5 kg. If not, drop to 3-2-1 already and do 97.5 - 100-105-110 kg.. if I can pull it off.

Would it be a good idea to try another wave pattern like 4-1-4-1-4 or 6-1-6-1-6 or should I just continue as I do?

[Mahler]

Hey, dear lady, good luck.

I left you some suggestions on my training log.
I would go for a 6,1,6,1 wave loading.
Take a look.

[Espi]

I just did. Was wondering what the merits are for/against waves of
3-2-1
4-1-4-1
6-1-6-1

If I understand you correctly, the 3-2-1 pattern would wear me out before I get to the 1RM?

Looking back at the 5 workouts I did before the 1RM of 105kg:
7-4-1 (95)-5-5
5-3-1 (97,5) - 4-4
7-3-1 (100) - 5-4
5-3-1 (102,5) - 3-3
6-5-3-1 (105)
Very simple actually with just one warm up set. The main difference: deadlifting every single workout = every other day.

Sometimes I feel as if I'm getting weaker by just doing the DL once every 4 days.

[PowerManDL]

Espi when it comes to a 1RM, I wouldn't do anything more than singles. Really.

The DL is not forgiving when it comes to fatigue, esp. at maximal intensities.

When I warm up for a 500+ pull, it looks like this:

135x8-10
225x6-8
315x1-3
405x1
495x1
then whatever for the max set

anything over 315, 60% or less basically, is relegated to singles.

The waves you've outlined are something I'd do more for hypertrophy or for "general strength building", not so much to work up to a max.

[Alcoholiday]

Originally Posted by PowerManDL

Espi when it comes to a 1RM, I wouldn't do anything more than singles. Really.

The DL is not forgiving when it comes to fatigue, esp. at maximal intensities.

When I warm up for a 500+ pull, it looks like this:

135x8-10
225x6-8
315x1-3
405x1
495x1
then whatever for the max set

anything over 315, 60% or less basically, is relegated to singles.

The waves you've outlined are something I'd do more for hypertrophy or for "general strength building", not so much to work up to a max.

i agree

[Espi]

I see.. yep, what PMDL says makes a lot of sense. However...now I'm looking at it from that point of view, I'm going for 2 different approaches.
This month I'll continue with the wave pattern and go to the 3-2-1 setup, perhaps with larger gaps in between than the measly 5kg that I use now.

And then next month I can try out another approach like the 6-1-6-1 or perhaps just that one where PMDL is talking about: starting to do singles from 70% of the goal 1RM.

If I can manage 110 kg or even 105 kg this month, I should be able to get to 115kg next month if I only do singles...right?

[McCarley]

I know when I was pushing for my 3rm I used the 10x3 method to build up, starting with a warmup set and then moving the weight up to my max and it worked well.

Can I ask what type of rest your going to use inbetween with the waves since your going for a 1rm?

[Espi]

I'm going by feeling. It can be as much as 6 minutes.
Right now I'm slowly supersetting the deadlifts with front squats. The front squats are a bit 'easier' since I'm only adding 1 kg at the time by using the body pump mini-disks of 0.5 kg, whereas the minimum extra wt for DL is 2.5 kg.

That's actually getting ridiculous for the front squats now I'm into the lower rep range. But I'll probably do better to just let it at this 'low' weight and focus on the deadlift and perhaps drop the front squat for my final DL attempt. And then do another squatting session with more weight and no DLs on that day?

[Mahler]

One thing that we need to do here is see that there is a difference between going for a 1RM and doing the training that leads up to that. Not every workout is a 1RM. PMDLs plan for preparing for a big lift is a good one. There are a variety of training plans that will take you to that point.

[Espi]

Yes I've realized that. That's why I decided to keep using the 3-2-1 wave as it's a logical progress from what I've done in the past 10 workouts. Even though it won't lead to a huge 1RM when I get finished, it will lead to a very good overall average strength.

Next month I wanna play with other concepts. Not yet sure which ones, but I'm sure the 6-1-6-1 will come into view and then finally doing singles only for finding out how far I can go for a true 1RM.

[Espi]

Originally I'd planned to do the same waves as before, like:
90x3 92,5x3
92,5x2 95x2
95x1 97,5x1
But I'd already noticed how hard these are, once you go too far up: increments of only 2,5 kg are just insanely small.

So, I changed this to using 5kg increments. Amazingly easy they felt.

A1 DL
WU: 50x5 – 60x4 – 70x3 – 80x3

Wave 1 + 2:
85x3 (-1) – 87,5x3 (-1)
90x2 (-2) – 92,5x2 (-1)
95x1 (-1) – 100x1

Compare this to what I did 2 workouts ago
85x5 - 87,5x5
87,5x4 - 90x4
90x3 - 92,5x3
That was *hard* really really hard!

I'm now fairly convinced I'll be able to get to the 110kg. Not sure yet when, I'm actually thinking that it would be better to make 5 kg jumps every time now as so many taxing workouts in a row might be too much.

[Espi]

Yesterday I've started doing the same wave pattern (3-2-1) for db presses as well, where I'd been doing stuff like 5-4-3 before. Phew.. so much easier!
I'm hoping to get to do presses with dumbbells I've never used before. Yesterday I've done 25kg db presses with a 24kg db (plus 1kg wrist weight) so that didn't really count. In 3 days I'll be doing 26 kg presses. Wish me luck.

In the meantime Mahler has helped me out with a new schedule. It's not one I will be doing right away though. First I want to toy with something like this:

20-1-20-1-20
18-1-18-1-18
15-1-15-1-15
12-1-12-1-12
10-1-10-1-10
8-1-8-1-8
6-1-6-1-6
5-1-5-1-5
4-1-4-1-4
3-1-3-1-3

How krazy is that as a set-up?

[Steve-O-68]

Originally Posted by Alcoholiday

i agree

Me too.

[Espi]

Um. Nothing else to add.. anyone who ever did a contrast schedule with very high & low reps like this one?