Why your deadlift stalls at 100 kg, and what to change

Almost every man I coach hits a wall somewhere around 100 kg on the deadlift. It is rarely strength. It is usually setup, grip or how often they practise.

A 100 kg deadlift is a lovely milestone. It is also where self-taught lifters usually get stuck for six months, adding plates for one session and taking them off the next. When I watch them lift, the same three things come up.

Setup first

Bar over the middle of the foot, not over your toes. Shins come forward to touch the bar, hips go only as low as they need to, and you pull the slack out of the bar before it leaves the floor. If you hear the plates click as you start, the slack was still there and your back took the hit.

Grip is the second culprit. Many lifters lose the bar at 100 to 110 kg with a double overhand grip. Use chalk, use a mixed or hook grip for the heavy sets, and train grip separately with farmer carries at the end of two sessions a week.

The third is frequency. Deadlifting heavy once a week with five sets of five is too much fatigue and too little practice. I prefer two exposures: one heavier day of three sets of three at around 85 percent, and one lighter day of Romanian deadlifts or paused deadlifts for technique.

A simple eight-week block

Week one, three sets of three at 85 kg if your best is 100. Add 2.5 kg a week for six weeks. Week eight, work up to a single at 102.5 or 105. Clients who run this block, with the setup fixed, break the plateau about four times out of five.

If they do not, the problem is usually outside the gym: sleep under six hours, or a calorie deficit that has gone on too long. Strength is built in the kitchen and in bed as much as under the bar.