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Kentucky Strong: Add 100 Pounds to Your Pull

The following program is basic. Ive used this and similar setups with clients and myself, and had great successit works. This exact program has been used to take a clients max deadlift from 315 to 415 in 24 weeks. Theres nothing revolutionary about this. Its just a smart, simple program that works. This works exceptionally well for beginner and intermediate lifters.

Long story short, I had a high school wrestler who began training with me last f all, six weeks bef ore the season started. Once wrestling began, he was unable to make it in to train with me. During the season he injured his shoulder and required surgery. Once he healed up f rom surgery, he gave me a call to get back into the gym. Finally, we resumed training together on May 29th. T his time around, his goals were a bit dif f erent. For example, instead of training f or wrestling, he wanted to get as big and strong as possible. Training with our strongman crew, he also decided hed like to compete. Hes a natural, athletic kid who has pretty good genetics. T he f irst session back in, I worked him up to a 1RM on his deadlif t. Because hes been lif ting consistently f or a f ew years, has great body awareness and natural athleticism, I wasnt worried about working him up to a 1RM. T his gave me a baseline of where he was. We worked him up to 315 pounds f or a solid, but dif f icult rep. Af ter one more jump up in weight, he missed 335. (Note: I dont always test a 1RM with clients. Sometimes Ill use a 3RM or 5RM. T here are special situations where I wont even test them f or a long time. Instead, we will just progress f rom session to session. T his really does vary f rom individual to individual.) While we also wanted to bring up his squat and get him accustomed to the strongman events, my main goal was to bring up his deadlif t and rehab his shoulder to allow him to press pain-f ree. Not knowing how the squat would af f ect his shoulder, the deadlif t became the main f ocus. Adjustments to this setup would be based on his f eedback. He is only able to train with me once a week so I set his program up as f ollows: Monday: Full Body (train alone) Wednesday: Full Body (train with me) Saturday: Strongman Event Day (train with the strongman crew) Im only going to show the programming f or his lower body, as the deadlif t was our main f ocus. On Mondays when he trained alone, I limited his reps to f ive on the squat and deadlif t, and used a simple 55 progression. He was instructed to perf orm each rep as explosively as possible and work on perf ecting technique. T he f irst f ew weeks are pretty light, but progress overtime. T his is by design. He squatted and deadlif ted every week. When working him up to his training 5, 3 or 1RMs, we avoided missing reps. He was instructed to always leave at least one rep in the tank.

Accessory work: Im not going to get into what he did because everyone has dif f erent weaknesses. Just do what YOU suck at. Train YOUR weak points. I wont be detailing the event days below, but typically it looked like: Week A: Log Clean & Press Farmers Carry Atlas Stones Week B: Log Clean & Press Yoke Walk Carry or Medley For those who dont train strongman events, organize the template slightly dif f erent. Id like to see another day or two of rest between squat/deadlif t days, with the strongman events removed f rom the program: Example #1: Monday: Full Body (Squat/Deadlif t) Wednesday: Full Body (Single leg work) Friday: Full Body (Squat/Deadlif t) Example #2: Monday: Lower (Squat/Deadlif t)

Tuesday: Upper Body T hursday: Lower Body (Squat/Deadlif t) Friday: Upper Body Example #3: Monday: Lower Body (Squat/Deadlif t) Tuesday: Upper Body T hursday: Full Body (Squat/Deadlif t)

24 Week Deadlift
Phase 1
Deadlift: All percentages below are based on a training max. His training max was 85% of his true 1RM. Squat: All percentages below are based on a training max. His training max was based on 85% of his estimated 1RM. Since his squat technique wasnt as prof icient as his deadlif t, I worked him to a 5RM instead of a 1RM. T his was used to establish his estimated 1RM. T he training max or everyday max is a very important part of this program. Using a true max f or this program will not work properly.

Monday- Alternate A and B f or six weeks

Week A- Squat

Week B- Deadlif t Week 1: Squat: 65%x5, 75%x5, 85%x5, 75%x5, 65%x5 Week 2: Deadlif t: 65%x5, 75%x5, 85%x5, 75%x5, 65%x5 Week 3: Squat: 70%x5, 80%x5, 90%x5, 80%x5, 70%x5 Week 4: Deadlif t: 70%x5, 80%x5, 90%x5, 80%x5, 70%x5 Week 5: Squat: 75%x5, 85%x5, 95%x5, 85%x5, 75%x5 Week 6: Deadlif t: 75%x5, 85%x5, 95%x5, 85%x5, 75%x5

Wednesday: Alternate Week A and Week B f or six weeks

Week A- Deadlif t Week B- Squat Week 1: Deadlif t: 5 reps @ 60%, 5 reps @ 65%, 5 reps @ 75%, 5 reps @ 85% (Continue making 5% jumps until a 5RM is met.) Week 2: Squat: 5 reps @ 55%, 5 reps @ 65%, 5 reps @ 75%, 5 reps @ 85% (Continue working up making 5% jumps until a 5RM is met.) Week 3: Deadlif t: 3 reps @ 60%, 3 reps @ 70%, 3 reps @ 80%, 3 reps @ 90% (Continue working up making 5% jumps until a 3RM is met.) Week 4: Squat: 3 reps @ 60%, 3 reps @ 70%, 3 reps @ 80%, 3 reps @ 90% (Continue working up making 5% jumps until a 3RM is met.)

Week 5: Deadlif t: 3 reps @ 65%, 3 reps @ 75%, 3 reps @ 85%, 1 rep @ 95% (Continue working up making 5% jumps until a 1RM is met. T his is a training 1 rep max. Not a true 1 rep max. T here is some lef t in the tank, but the bar is approached aggressively.) Week 6: Squat: 3 reps @ 65%, 3 reps @ 75%, 3 reps @ 85%, 1 rep @ 95% (Continue working up making 5% jumps until a 1RM is met. Not a true 1 rep max. T here is some lef t in the tank, but the bar is approached aggressively.)

Phase 2
Deadlif t All percentages below are based on a training max. We have now added 10 pounds to his deadlift training max. Squat All percentages below are based on a training max. We have now added 10 pounds to his squat training max.

Monday- Alternate A and B for six weeks

Week A Squat Week B Deadlif t

Week 1: Squat: 65%x5, 75%x5, 85%x5, 75%x5, 65%x5 Week 2: Deadlif t: 65%x5, 75%x5, 85%x5, 75%x5, 65%x5 Week 3: Squat: 70%x5, 80%x5, 90%x5, 80%x5, 70%x5 Week 4: Deadlif t: 70%x5, 80%x5, 90%x5, 80%x5, 70%x5 Week 5: Squat: 75%x5, 85%x5, 95%x5, 85%x5, 75%x5 Week 6: Deadlif t: 75%x5, 85%x5, 95%x5, 85%x5, 75%x5

Wednesday- Alternate Week A and Week B f or six weeks

Week A- Deadlif t Week B- Squat Week 1: Deadlif t: 5 reps @ 60%, 5 reps @ 65%, 5 reps @ 75%, 5 reps @ 85% (Continue making 5% jumps until a 5RM is met. Go for a 5 rep PR here.) Week 2: Squat: 5 reps @ 55%, 5 reps @ 65%, 5 reps @ 75%, 5 reps @ 85% (Continue working up making 5% jumps until a 5RM is met. Go for a 5 rep PR here.) Week 3: Deadlif t: 3 reps @ 60%, 3 reps @ 70%, 3 reps @ 80%, 3 reps @ 90% (Continue working up making 5% jumps until a 3RM is met. Go for a 3 rep PR here.) Week 4: Squat: 3 reps @ 60%, 3 reps @ 70%, 3 reps @ 80%, 3 reps @ 90% (Continue working up making 5% jumps until a 3RM is met. Go for a 3 rep PR here.) Week 5: Deadlif t: 3 reps @ 75%, 3 reps @ 85%, 1 rep @ 95% (T his is a training 1 rep max. Not a true 1 rep max. T here is some lef t in the tank, but the bar is approached aggressively. Continue working up making 5% jumps until a 1RM is met. Go for a heavier single than phase 1.) Week 6: Squat: 3 reps @ 65%, 3 reps @ 75%, 3 reps @ 85%, 1 rep @ 95% (T his is a training 1 rep max. Not a true 1 rep max. T here is some lef t in the tank, but the bar is approached aggressively. Continue working up making 5% jumps until a 1RM is met. Go for a heavier single than phase 1.)

Phase 3
Back off sets are added after hitting RM for the day. All back off sets are done beltless. Deadlif t All percentages below are based on a training max. We have now added 10 more pounds to his deadlift training max. Squat All percentages below are based on a training max. We have now added 10 more pounds to his squat training max.

Monday- Alternate A and B for six weeks

Week A- Squat Week B- Deadlif t

Week 1: Squat: 65%x5, 75%x5, 85%x5, 75%x5, 65%x5 Week 2: Deadlif t: 65%x5, 75%x5, 85%x5, 75%x5, 65%x5 Week 3: Squat: 70%x5, 80%x5, 90%x5, 80%x5, 70%x5 Week 4: Deadlif t: 70%x5, , 80%x5, 90%x5, 80%x5, 70%x5 Week 5: Squat: 75%x5, 85%x5, 95%x5, 85%x5, 75%x5 Week 6: Deadlif t: 75%x5, 85%x5, 95%x5, 85%x5, 75%x5

Wednesday- Alternate Week A and Week B f or six weeks

Week A- Deadlif t Week B- Squat Week 1: Deadlif t: 5 reps @ 60%, 5 reps @ 65%, 5 reps @ 75%, 5 reps @ 85% (Continue making 5% jumps until a 5RM is met. Go for a 5 rep PR here.) Back of f sets: 3 sets of 5-8 @ 65% Week 2: Squat: 5 reps @ 55%, 5 reps @ 65%, 5 reps @ 75%, 5 reps @ 85% (Continue working up making 5% jumps until a 5RM is met. Go for a 5 rep PR here.) Back of f sets: 3 sets of 5-8 @ 65% Week 3: Deadlif t: 3 reps @ 60%, 3 reps @ 70%, 3 reps @ 80%, 3 reps @ 90% Continue working up making 5% jumps until a 3RM is met. Go for a 3 rep PR here. Back of f sets: 3 sets of 5-8 @ 70%

Week 4: Squat: 3 reps @ 60%, 3 reps @ 70%, 3 reps @ 80%, 3 reps @ 90% (Continue working up making 5% jumps until a 3RM is met. Go for a 3 rep PR here.) Back of f sets: 3 sets of 5-8 @ 70%

Week 5: Deadlif t: 3 reps @ 65%, 3 reps @ 75%, 3 reps @ 85%, 1 rep @ 95% (T his is a training 1 rep max, not a true 1 rep max. T here is some lef t in the tank, but the bar is approached aggressively. Continue working up, making 5% jumps until a 1RM is met. Go for a heavier single than phase 2.) Back-of f sets: 3 sets of 3-5 @ 75% Week 6: Squat: 3 reps @ 65%, 3 reps @ 75%, 3 reps @ 85%, 1 rep @ 95% (T his is a training 1 rep max, not a true 1 rep max. T here is some lef t in the tank, but the bar is approached aggressively. Continue working up making 5% jumps until a 1RM is met. Go for a heavier single than phase 2.) Back-of f sets: 3 sets of 3-5 @ 75%

Phase 4
Back off sets are added after hitting RM for the day. All back off sets are done beltless. Deadlif t All percentages below are based on a training max. We have now added 10 more pounds to his deadlift training max. Squat All percentages below are based on a training max. We have now added 10 more pounds to his squat training max.

Monday- Alternate A and B for six weeks

Week A Squat Week B Deadlif t

Week 1: Squat: 65%x5, 75%x5, 85%x5, 75%x5, 65%x5 Week 2: Deadlif t: 65%x5, 75%x5, 85%x5, 75%x5, 65%x5 Week 3: Squat: 70%x5, 80%x5, 90%x5, 80%x5, 70%x5 Week 4: Deadlif t: 70%x5, 80%x5, 90%x5, 80%x5, 70%x5 Week 5: Squat: Omit Deadlif t Testing Week Week 6: Deadlif t: 75%x5,85%x5, 95%x5, 85%x5, 75%x5

Wednesday- Alternate Week A and Week B for six weeks

Week A- Deadlif t Week B- Squat Week 1: Deadlif t: 5 reps @ 60%, 5 reps @ 65%, 5 reps @ 75%, 5 reps @ 85% (Continue making 5% jumps until a 5RM is met. Go for a 5 rep PR here.) Back-of f sets: 3 sets of 5-8 @ 65% Week 2: Squat: 5 reps @ 55%, 5 reps @ 65%, 5 reps @ 75%, 5 reps @ 85% (Continue working up making 5% jumps until a 5RM is met. Go for a 5 rep PR here.) Back-of f sets: 3 sets of 5-8 @ 65% Week 3: Deadlif t: 3 reps @ 60%, 3 reps @ 70%, 3 reps @ 80%, 3 reps @ 90% (Continue working up making 5% jumps until a 3RM is met. Go for a 3 rep PR here.)

Back-of f sets: 3 sets of 5-8 @ 70% Week 4: Squat: 3 reps @ 60%, 3 reps @ 70%, 3 reps @ 80%, 3 reps @ 90% (Continue working up making 5% jumps until a 3RM is met. Go for a 3 rep PR here.) Back-of f sets: 3 sets of 5-8 @ 70% Week 5: T EST Deadlift : 1 rep @ 65%, 1 rep @ 75%, 1 rep @ 85%, 1 rep @ 95% (Continue working up making 5-10% jumps until a 1RM is met. Go for an all time PR here.) Week 6: Squat: 3 reps @ 65% T M, 3 reps @ 75% T M, 3 reps @ 85% T M, 1 rep @ 95% T M (T his is a training 1 rep max, not a true 1 rep max. T here is some lef t in the tank, but the bar is approached aggressively. Continue working up, making 5% jumps until a 1RM is met. Go for a heavier single than phase 3.) He f inished this phase with a PR pull of 415 pounds, a f ull 100 pounds heavier than his pull just 24 weeks bef ore. And he had some lef t in the tank. Even on this testing day, I didnt allow him to miss a lif t. So what will we do now? He will continue to f ollow these 6-week phases above, slowly increasing his training max, setting 5 and 3 rep PRs, hitting a heavier training single than the phase bef ore, and progressing on this as long as he can. A lot of people like changing programs, switching things up, etc., but I f irmly believe if its not broke, dont f ix it. T his is working f or him, so theres no need to change a thing. When the weights start becoming too heavy to f inish without missing reps or missing weights, we will reset his training max. Id simply subtract 20 pounds f rom the current training max and progress f rom there. Eventually he will have milked it f or all its worth. T hen, the changes will come. T he only changes we will make bef ore this happens will be his accessory work. T his will be determined by how his heaviest single of the previous phase looks like and what his weak point is at that moment.

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