deadlifts

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+Time-stamp: <2025-08-23 15h00 UTC>
+
+# Maybe there are different kinds of lifters
+
+For a while now i've been confronting what i thought was an inherent deficiency on my part when it came to the deadlift:
+* One rep at ~2x body-weight --- feels great, readily achievable
+* Several sets of 5 reps at ~1.33x --- feels bad, very difficult
+
+Am i somehow very tired every time i work on deadlifts? Have i hit my "natural limit"? Am i not working "hard enough"?
+
+## Is there such a thing as "burst"?
+
+This was the question i finally asked myself today, and i'm both delighted and surprised to report that the answer appears to be "yes".
+
+In fact, not only are there two "sorts" of lifters⁰ but there appears to be a significant amount of genetic control expressed over this form of "specialisation". There are twin and family studies¹ which appear to show that muscular strength and power phenotypes are anywhere from 30% to 85% heritable! It seems reasonable then to think that this genetic contribution explains why some lifters excel at single-rep, high-force efforts ("burst") while others tolerate repeated sub-maximal efforts ("sustain") more effectively.
+
+## A weight lifted
+
+On a more personal note this information i think has finally set me free. Given where i am on the strength chart², i believe that i've past neural and physiological adaptions and i'm now operating in regime of genetic predispositions. And that's fine! Strength means different things to different people.
+
+This knowledge has finally set me free. The reason that my lifts are the way they are is not because of any of the concerns which used to dog me; rather i have a preferred (inherited!) lifting style and that's normal. If anything, i'm looking forward to restructuring my deadlifts around heavy doubles and triples³ so that i can really lean into my natural predisposition and continue to grow and enjoy my workouts.
+
+---
+
+⁰ this may not be surprising to runners: sprint vs marathon is clear physiological distinction
+¹ the following two studies for example
+=> https://www.researchgate.net/publication/310791032_Heritability_estimates_of_muscle_strength-related_phenotypes_A_systematic_review_and_meta-analysis
+=> https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8775245/
+² somewhere between intermediate and advanced according to the following, using my body-weight
+=> https://strengthlevel.com/strength-standards/deadlift/kg
+=> https://www.strengthlog.com/deadlift-strength-standards-kg/
+³ with occasional recovery periods of low effort high repetition work