re: Number of reps for deadlifts?

There's a difference between keeping your hands on the bar but not trying to control the negative and just dropping it.



Vs

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Is it true that doing heavy deadlifts taxes the CNS more than any other lift?

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I believe it’s true

I personally try to never do less than 5 reps. I don't want to risk hurting myself.

What are your goals? Some context would help

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It's interesting to see the different perspectives. I'm the complete opposite. I never do more than 5 because my form degrades with fatigue.

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I just use lighter weight. I normally start with 1 plate and work my way up to 3. I rarely do more than 3 plates because of risk of injury.

I was always told to do more reps and less weight to avoid injury. Opinions on this theory are welcome.

I’ve tweaked my lower back a few times in the past while doing deadlifts. All injuries were with light weight and high reps. I’m not saying that is the case with everyone, but that is what I’ve experienced. Now I mix up my lifts a lot more incorporating the trap bar, KBs and DBs, rack pulls, etc. instead of just beating the strait bar to death. Back has never felt better.

Heavy deadlifting/Heavy compound movements to failure can be taxing on the CNS. Same with many max Strongman events like Yoke walk. Take a heavy deadlift to failure too many weeks in a row and it will catch up with you, your body will let you know. I would advise against it. The professional Strongmen programming is such that you basically always have one more rep in the tank leading up until the competition day. You can watch some of them on YouTube training, you will always say to yourself "man he made that look easy, he could have done 2-3 more reps". You are probably right, and its by design.

Hypertrophy HAS been linked to time under tension, which tends to lead to more reps, but that does not mean that Hypertrophy does not occur at 5 reps on the deadlift (it does), it just perhaps means that 5 reps is probably not "optimal" for hypertrophy and better for strength. When you watch college football players train at SEC schools, you will see them doing a lot of 5's (and some 3's) on power cleans, compound movements, etc. Once again that is by design, they are focused on explosive power and not winning Mr. Olympia.

I am much like Rep520. When I use a heavy weight and go high reps on deadlift, I lose form when fatigue sets in, and the deadlift is not to be played around with, you can put your lower back in a very compromising position if not careful. When done with proper form the deadlift is one of THE best exercises one can do. I tend to favor 5-6 reps for these reasons.

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Once the bar hits the ground many people lose the tension created on the 1st pull

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Agree 100%. On heavy deads where I am doing more than 1 rep, I always reset like it is my first pull and never do touch and go's. I might warm up with touch and go's with somewhat strict form up to maybe 225 but going past 315, I am starting from scratch with each rep.

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My man over here bragging about his Versace weight belt while the rest of us are just trying to find a power rack

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Haha man damn autocorrect. How the hell brace turned into Versace, I will never know.