TacticalBarbell.com

Hello,
I'm new to the forum and have been running TB for almost a year now, mostly Operator. I love back squats but have had some of the typical issues mentioned by others, i.e. longer warm up times and frequent low back tightness. I've always had good luck with Sumo deadlifts and am now running my second OP block with them in place of squats. This is with a cluster that includes pendlay rows and OHP and I must say it's been great. Not only do I not have back pain but my back feels better and I sleep better.

Anyways, I've read all over the internet that deadlifting should be done only 2 times per week max and usually less than that for most people. As far as conventional DL's go, I too have never felt good going more than once a week but with Sumo DL's it feels like I can train them just as frequently as squats and not have any real fatigue issues.... Sidenote, my quads are getting visibly larger than with squats too, but I'm pretty sure that's because I can do all my work at 50lb heavier loads.

I was just wondering if anyone else has tried something similar and what the results were? How/if they progressed in strength? My last 6 week block I saw a 30lb increase on DL and 20lb increase on BS.

Age: 36
Height: 5'11
Weight: 200lb

Bench: 295
DL(Sumo): 385
BS: 335
OHP: 175
WPU: 80
ROW: 215

Goal: overall strength/500lb DL or BS

Last fall I did a block of Operator where I was doing both back squats and sumo DL 3 times a week. 3rd lift was OHP. I was using minimum sets for both squats and pulls. I only did 1 block and tbh I'm not really looking to add strength--I did it as an experiment as much as anything. But I remember feeling fine.

It will be in my training log from last fall if you want to see specifics.

Dang, back squats and sumo's? Impressive! I think that would push me into over-train mode but I am doing some conditioning 3 other days too. I too am running the minimal 3 sets.
I think something that has been really helpful is doing my rows before DL's because it gets my posterior chain primed and ready for pulling.

Thanks for the reply