The other day after finishing my deadlifts a young guy (about 20 y.o.), who usually works out at a different time than I do, came over and helped me strip off the plates. He commented that other than him I was the only person at this gym he ever saw doing squats and deadlifts. We talked about the benefits for a few minutes, and then he mentioned that he knew he should be able to deadlift more than he can squat but his squat was 50 lbs. more than his deadlift. Now, whenever I hear or read this on one of the forums I´m 99% sure of what the cause is. We still had 135 on the bar so I asked him to do a couple of pulls. His form was spot on - right out of Starting Strength: BBT. Then we moved over to the power rack and I asked him to do a couple of squats, and my suspicions were immediately confirmed.
So, here IMHO are my top 3 reasons why a person is able to squat more than he can deadlift..
#3 - You´re an elite power lifter with an 800 lb. raw squat, but you just can´t seem to pull more than 750 because your grip gives out.
#2 – The deadlift is a new exercise for you or it´s an old exercise that you´ve neglected. After all, if you did deadlifts you wouldn´t have enough time left to do your triceps kick-backs. In either case once you start to do them regularly the strength gains will come surprisingly fast and you´ll soon be pulling more than you squat.
#1 - YOU AIN´T DOING A PROPER SQUAT! You are doing some kind of ½ or even ¼ squat. “Wait just a minute, you old coot,” you say, “I´m doing PARALLEL squats.” Well, I´m very sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you aren´t even coming close to parallel. You may think you are, but you are not. If it makes you feel any better, most of us perceive that we´re squatting much deeper than we actually are.
Try this. Stand next to a full length mirror. Put your heels about shoulder width apart with your feet turned out about 30 degrees. Hold your arms out in front of you for balance and sit back into a squat. Look over at the mirror, and when the crease of your hip is lower than the top of your knee STOP. Don´t get up yet. Take a look around. That´s pretty damn deep, isn´t it? Now be honest. You ain´t never been that deep with a load on your back, have you? Do 5 or 6 squats to that depth and get that position burned into your brain. Now do 5 reps with an empty bar. Add some weight and do 5 more reps. Do a couple more warm up sets working up to HALF the weight you were (partially) squatting with before and do 3 sets of 5 across. On your way home from the gym don´t forget to stop off and buy some ibuprophen and be prepared to have trouble walking for the next few days.
Violá, you can now deadlift more than you squat!
Sorry for the rant, but I’m just an old man and had to get that off my chest.
So, here IMHO are my top 3 reasons why a person is able to squat more than he can deadlift..
#3 - You´re an elite power lifter with an 800 lb. raw squat, but you just can´t seem to pull more than 750 because your grip gives out.
#2 – The deadlift is a new exercise for you or it´s an old exercise that you´ve neglected. After all, if you did deadlifts you wouldn´t have enough time left to do your triceps kick-backs. In either case once you start to do them regularly the strength gains will come surprisingly fast and you´ll soon be pulling more than you squat.
#1 - YOU AIN´T DOING A PROPER SQUAT! You are doing some kind of ½ or even ¼ squat. “Wait just a minute, you old coot,” you say, “I´m doing PARALLEL squats.” Well, I´m very sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you aren´t even coming close to parallel. You may think you are, but you are not. If it makes you feel any better, most of us perceive that we´re squatting much deeper than we actually are.
Try this. Stand next to a full length mirror. Put your heels about shoulder width apart with your feet turned out about 30 degrees. Hold your arms out in front of you for balance and sit back into a squat. Look over at the mirror, and when the crease of your hip is lower than the top of your knee STOP. Don´t get up yet. Take a look around. That´s pretty damn deep, isn´t it? Now be honest. You ain´t never been that deep with a load on your back, have you? Do 5 or 6 squats to that depth and get that position burned into your brain. Now do 5 reps with an empty bar. Add some weight and do 5 more reps. Do a couple more warm up sets working up to HALF the weight you were (partially) squatting with before and do 3 sets of 5 across. On your way home from the gym don´t forget to stop off and buy some ibuprophen and be prepared to have trouble walking for the next few days.
Violá, you can now deadlift more than you squat!
Sorry for the rant, but I’m just an old man and had to get that off my chest.
