• Keep up to date with Ausbb via Twitter and Facebook. Please add us!
  • Join the Ausbb - Australian BodyBuilding forum

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact contact us.

    The Ausbb - Australian BodyBuilding forum is dedicated to no nonsense muscle and strength building. If you need advice that works, you have come to the right place. This forum focuses on building strength and muscle using the basics. You will also find that the Ausbb- Australian Bodybuilding Forum stresses encouragement and respect. Trolls and name calling are not allowed here. No matter what your personal goals are, you will be given effective advice that produces results.

    Please consider registering. It takes 30 seconds, and will allow you to get the most out of the forum.

531 discussion - substituting deadlifts

Chisholm

New member
Spending 531 on 9 weeks has confirmed what I already learnt from previous experience, frequently doing DLs for reps does not work well for me - I find them disproportionally hard to recover from, and it affects progress on the rest of my lifts negatively, especially squats.

post-newb gains, I seemed to make the best gains on DL when squatting 2 or 3 times a week, and just throwing in a few DLs for heavy triples, double or singles here or there say once a month - easy PBs everytime. Doing heavy DLs frequently for reps seems to result in my plateauing quickly and/or feeling 'over-trained'.

So I'm going to make my 531 DL day some kind of squat day, the question is, what? I'd rather not just repeat the squat day, that's boring. I was thinking something along the lines of:

a) Speed squats ramping up to a few heavy triples, doubles or singles
b) Front squats, either in the above structure or 531 setup
C) Make it a 'fun day' for oly lifts - probably not going to carry-over much to PL, however?
d) Could try sumo, or some other DL variation like rack pulls?

then assistance work as I see fit.

Btw DL is easily my best lift, 192.5@77kg conventional vs 140 olympic SQ and 100 Paused BP. I'm 5"11" with longish arms so probably built better for DL.

Thoughts? Any other suggestions?

PS: I've never worn a belt, if that has any bearing on the above.
 
Last edited:
I never find it boring, ever.
Especially when I get a little rep here or a kg there, both is a bonus.

Ben fucking polke
You are a savage!
 
You could always just not rep out the last deadlift set

Problem is I can't help myself, in a 531 format I always end up geeing up and wanting to rep out the last set for a PB, even if I decide beforehand not to.

Dropped 2 weeks and my training seems to be back on track, setting rep PBs every session and feeling much better recovered in general, rather than feeling beat up all week from repping deads.


I dumped deads from 5/3/1 early on and usually ran the Magnusson/Ortmayer template for them instead.

Interesting, well give it ago when if/when I feel like running programmed deads again. For now happy to take a break from them, and a second 'free' squat day - I'm enjoying the variety of doing whatever I feel like and incorporating front squats and oly stuff into it.

Will do a few triples, doubles or singles of DL here or there.
 
Last edited:
If you can't control what you do in training then take up stamp collecting
 
ive had a member whom took 6 months off deadlifting due to a lower back injury on the field. His previous best was 140kg.
He was still bringing up his squats in the mean time. High touch and go to box squats.

Last week he pulled 182kg.

Go figure :)
 
ive had a member whom took 6 months off deadlifting due to a lower back injury on the field. His previous best was 140kg.
He was still bringing up his squats in the mean time. High touch and go to box squats.

Last week he pulled 182kg.

Go figure :)
Who was that?
 
Kevin trinh. He hadn't increased bw or anything still 80kg or so. You get those strange ones with deads.

Some can do it every 2nd week and still set pbs. Some work better every week.
 
I'm still a beginner when it comes to deads (170kg is the most i've ever pulled), but so far, they increase well when not trained as my body gets stronger in general.
 
When i first pulled 170 all i was doing was quarter squats on to a bench lol
 
Today's substitute for 531 DL aka "random squat day":

Speed olympic squat
3 x 40, 50, 60, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90

Olympic front squat
1 x 90, 95, 100, 105 - pretty easy PB, just started doing front squats recently

Olympic squat
2 x 110
1 x 120
1 x 130

5 x hanging leg raise

I consider it a kind of semi-deload, focusing on speed, quality reps and working up to couple of somewhat heavy singles - which feel great since on 531 I don't get to do this normally, not yet anyway.

If you can't control what you do in training then take up stamp collecting

Good point, I was being a bit dramatic, of course I can do DLs without repping out all the way. But I don't enjoy doing that, nor does it work well for me, from past experience.

ive had a member whom took 6 months off deadlifting due to a lower back injury on the field. His previous best was 140kg.
He was still bringing up his squats in the mean time. High touch and go to box squats.

Last week he pulled 182kg.

Go figure :)

Similar story here. After I did my L4/L5 last year (from warming up on DLs lol), I did not touch DLs for about 6 months, but slowly built my squat back up to ~100kg oly style for reps without discomfort.

Then pulled 170kg first go, few weeks later 180 (my previous PB), then 190 a couple of months after that. When I regularly do DLs for reps, even if not maxing out, I seem to get no where. The less DL and more squatting I do, the more my DL advances :p
 
Last edited:
Top