Laddering the Deadlift

If you've never trained the deadlift before, or it's been a while, use a reserved approach by laddering your way up to a 10-rep effort.

Don't immediately hit up 4 sets of 10 deadlifts with a moderate weight because you may give the body a shock you weren't expecting, especially if you've got a history of injury or weakness in the lower back. Instead, do this:

1. Using a conventional stance and a fair estimate of your 10-rep max, perform just 2 reps for your first set.
2. Rest around 2 minutes and then do 3 reps for your second set.
3. Rest again and then do 5 reps for your third set.
4. Finish off by doing a fourth set of 10 reps.

On subsequent workouts, substitute out the lowest number of reps and replace it with another set of 10. It should look like this:

• Workout 1:  2 reps, 3 reps, 5 reps, 10 reps
• Workout 2:  3 reps, 5 reps, 10 reps, 10 reps
• Workout 3:  5 reps, 10 reps, 10 reps, 10 reps
• Workout 4:  10 reps, 10 reps, 10 reps, 10 reps

This is a simple way to adapt to the movement. Properly learning an exercise is just as important as incorporating it into your training, so take your time.