FT Questions....

[Scott Stevenson]

WOW! I just finished reading through this entire thread trying to take it all in. By the end I felt like I was able to answer 95% of the questions asked on my own. I have to say that reading this thread all the way through has given me a much better understanding of the program and helped me with how I will address many of the scenarios I will likely run into.

Scott, I know that you do not typically recommend Dead Lifts due to the extreme taxation it puts on the CNS. However for specificity sake I still want and need some dead lifting in my program. I am not sure if you remember my introduction thread last week. I posted it just before I got deep into this thread but I plan to do a PL meet in the Spring. However I am only going to do PL type loads and intensity the last 4-5 weeks before the meet to bring my CNS up a bit, but have no intention of doing a major peaking process. I will be doing this with my 13 year old daughter who wants to compete in her first PL Meet then. So I am just doing it for the experience of doing it with her and not trying to beat numbers from my previous meet other than deadlifts that is.

Basically I will be bulking trying to get ready for a Classic BB show late next year. This meets "prep" will just be a quick interruption of the Hypertrophy specific training, and is for personal life experience reasons more than being for bodybuilding purposes. I still feel that it won't hinder my progress to spend one Blast focusing on lower repetitions for the loading sets just to get the CNS more efficient at heavier loads before the meet. It may even allow increased volume afterwards simply due to the increase in strength from a more strength focused blast.

Anyway enough about that. Since one of the reasons you do not include DL's in the program is that they are CNS intensive then if one were going to put them in anyway for specificity would it be better to go to say an RPE9 for dead lifts on load days instead of to failure?

If so on later Volume Tiers where there are more sets would this be a scenario where you might:
Option 1) actually do deadlifts for the first set to an RPE9 then perhaps do Back Width movement, and then follow up with a failure on a supported row to save lower back for squatting movements
Pros = Still get to do failure set for back thickness, increased volume from additional warm ups.
Cons = takes longer in the gym due to setting up and warming up for an extra exercise.... inconvenient as far as holding or setting up 3 stations.


Option 2) Simply do a second set @ RPE9 on deads"
Pros = More Specificity in training since DL's will be important for the meet, much easier to only have 2 work stations to alternate between in a busy gym, less time intensive due to less warm up sets than if using a 3rd exercise.
Cons = No failure set gets done for back thickness, not sure that 2 sets of DL at an RPE9 is not still going to be more taxing on the CNS than just doing one set than failing on a supported row...

Do you think those adjustments might be wise, and if so which out of the two options, which seems more prudent or effective as an adjustment for the inclusion of deadlifting.

I have already taken into account the amount of use of the lower back in surrounding workouts and planned the DL to be in the blast with hack squats for thigh movement to try and keep the lower back fresh. Although contemplating perhaps using the Leg Press there, I feel either option is suitable there.

Kudos on reading this entire thread!!! Glad you got a lot out of it.

I'm sorry you typed out this long post, though, b/c it's not true that I outright don't recommend deadlifts.

They are not an exercise I'd suggest someone use of Muscle Rounds (talking Barbell deads, whereas SLDL's can be used for hammies and are a great one if the low back is fresh and the hams previously fatigued from a compound exercise like a leg press, for instance).

The reason for not doing full BB deads with MR's is not b/c of how CNS intensive they are per se, but that with the low back stress, they can be asking for an injury when going to failure in a fatigued and winded (cardiovascularly stressed) state. It's just kind of an accident waiting to happen.

Full Deads are a GREAT back builder for a lot of guys. For me, they end up being much more of an overall stress (legs, low back, etc.) such that they don't fit as well into a FT regime as simply doing rack deads (which I do regularly).

For LOADING sets, full deads are thus great.

There have been several PL'ers who have used the big 3 for their loading set exercises, rotating among variations by using bands, chains, etc. and also doing deficit deads and partial (rack) deads, too.

So, there's no real reason to modify much as far as the deads go (or use an RPE scale vs. simply stopping 1-2 reps before failure). Depending on Tier, of course, I'd just go with making sure for back that you include 2 sets of deads (making back thickness a priority).

There are of course some other modifications you could do and break away from the system, but the simplest answer to your question is to tell you that doing deads is OK without any special modifications to the program.

-S