Written by Brandon Lilly
In the deadlift every lifter has strong points, and weak points. Some, like myself seem to generate maximum speed from the floor that carries through the top, and others that are very slow off the floor seem to find all the speed/strength in the world at the lock out. Ideally we find a way to marry these two and build a massive storm of a perfect deadlift. I kept looking at routines, and so many had deficit pulls, block pulls, pause pulls, etc. What each of those did were to put the body in some sort of position to build “new” strength within a specified area.
Also people who look at you and say if you are slow you can never be fast then I assure you that you are wrong. In April of 2012 I pulled 725 lbs. unequipped excruciatingly slow, and just over 6 months later I managed to pull 727/777/804 lbs. at the Backyard Meet of the Century, and all of them were considered “fast”.
How can a lifter increase floor speed specifically? There is a lot of great information out there on the subject, but one thing I have noticed is that while powerlifters will use high boxes to overload the squat, boards to overload the bench, and blocks/racks to overload the deadlift, but we are looking for maximum floor speed, so we need to specifically train the weight off the floor. Think about using a block to overload the lockout, we have to forget about the lockout for a bit to focus on floor speed.
KNEE PULLS
Knee pulls are an exercise used by some old time strongmen/powerlifters that was designated not just specifically for the deadlift, but also some of the more unique strongman lifts of the day. What you do is overload the bar and pull it as hard as possible to the knee, have a slight pause (not even a one count, just enough to show control) then reverse the weight to the floor. These eliminate the lockout portion (which is worked in other exercises) and allows the lifter to pull heavy, and for repetitions in the desired area of improvement. This sounds crazy, at first, but when you see how they are implemented, and used you will see why this works. It is not something I think you should try full time, but rotated in from time to time, or a cycle specifically designed for floor speed, this should have you smoking weight off the floor in rapid order. I am going to lay out a cycle that I have successfully used with numerous lifters that has seen improvement without fail, and numerous lifters adding 5-10% to their max in just ten weeks.
These can be implemented as a secondary movement into any program, but I will give you a Cube Rotation as this is how I prefer to train, and I have much success with my athletes using this layout:
Deadlift Cycle for Maximum Floor Speed
Based off a 500 lbs. Deadlift Training Max, 525 Comp Max x .95% for Trainining is 498+/- so round up to 500.
WEEK 1
Rep Week
Deadlift Standing on 1” Mat or Plate
Work up to 400 lbs (80%) x 3 x 3 sets
Knee Pulls (Pull to the Knee then return to the floor)
450 (90%) x 2 x 4 sets
Olympic Squat
300 (60%) x 6 x 3 sets
Lat Pulldowns (Heavy as Possible with good form)
4 x 15
Back Raises
50 reps
WEEK 2
Speed Week
Deadlifts
350 (70%) x 2 x 5 sets
4” Block Snatch Grip Deadlifts (For Lockout)
300 (60%) x 12x 3 sets
Knee Pulls
400 (80%) x 5 x 5 sets
Shrugs (Actually use your traps and squeeze them, don’t move the bar an inch and call it a rep)
3 x 15
Lat Pulldowns
5 x 12
Band Goodmornings
50 reps
WEEK 3
Heavy Week
Deadlift Standing on 1” Mat or Plate
135 x 8, 185 x 5, 225 x 3, 275 x 3, 315 x 2, 365 x 2, 400 (80%) x 2, 425 (85%) x 2, 450 (90%) x 1 x 2 sets.
Knee Pulls
500 x 1, 530 x 1 x 3 sets
Dumbbell Rows
3 x 12
Goodmornings w/Moderate Weight
3 x 10
Planks
3 x 30 secs
(As you can see on Heavy Days we get in then get out)
WEEK 4
Rep Week
Deadlift Standing on 1” Mat or Plate
135 x 8, 185 x 5, 225 x 3, 275 x 3, 315 x 3, 365 x 3, 405 x 3, 425 (85%) x 3 x 3 sets
Knee Pulls
450 x 1 x 5 sets
4” Block Snatch Grip Dead Lifts
275 (55%) x 8 x 3 sets
OLY Squat
300 (60%) x 8 x 3 sets
Lat Pulldowns (Heavy as Possible with good form)
4 x 15
Back Raises
50 reps
WEEK 5
Speed Week
Deadlifts 375 (75%) x 2 x 5 sets
4” Block Snatch Grip Deadlifts
300 (60%) x 8 x 3 sets
Knee Pulls
85% x 3 x 3 sets
OLY Squat
300 (60%) x 8 x 2 sets
UpRight Rows
3 x 15
Lat Pulldowns
5 x 12
Band Goodmornings
50 reps
WEEK 6
Heavy Week
Deadlift Standing on 1” Mat or Plate
135 x 8, 185 x 5, 225 x 3, 275 x 3, 315 x 2, 365 x 2, 400 (80%) x 2, 425 (85%) x 2, 450 (90%) x 1 x 2 sets, 475 (95%) x 1
Knee Pulls
530 x 1 x 2 sets, 550 x 1
Barbell Rows
3 x 12
Goodmornings w/Moderate Weight
3 x 10
Planks
3 x 1 minute
WEEK 7
Rep Week
Deadlift Standing on 1” Mat or Plate
135 x 8, 185 x 5, 225 x 3, 275 x 3, 315 x 3, 365 x 3, 405 x 3, 425 (85%) x 3, 450 (90%) x 2
Knee Pull
75% x 5 x 3 sets
4” Block Snatch Grip Dead Lifts
325 (65%) x 10 x 3 sets
OLY Squat
350 (70%) x 8 x 3 sets
Lat Pulldowns (Heavy as Possible with good form)
4 x 15
Back Raises
50 reps
WEEK 8
Speed Week
Deadlifts
400 (80%) x 2 x 5 sets
Knee Pull
75% x 6 x 3 sets
OLY Squat
400 (80%) x 5x 3 sets
Shrugs
3 x 15
Lat Pulldowns
5 x 12
Band Goodmornings
50 reps
WEEK 9
Heavy Week
Deadlift Standing on 1” Mat
135 x 8, 185 x 5, 225 x 3, 275 x 3, 315 x 2, 365 x 2, 400 (80%) x 2, 425 (85%) x 2, 450 (90%) x 1, 480 x 1 (Planned Opener)
Knee Pull
530 x 1 x 3 sets
Lat Pulldowns
3 x 12
Goodmornings w/Moderate Weight
3 x 10
WEEK 10 MEET WEEK
Rest, eat lots of clean food, and rest!!
Meet
As far as the meet goes, according to your training you know that 480 will be your opener, and based on your training your attempts should look like this:
1st: 480
2nd: 530
3rd: 550
Now if your opener feels heavy for some reason, split the difference, and plan for a PR on your 3rd, but if you follow this ten week program you should have no problem exploding off the floor, and powering through to the lockout. You have worked for 10 weeks to improve your speed, and now its time to put some smoke on the bar!
