Squat and Deadlift Workout on the Same Day or Not?

Squat and Deadlift Workout on the Same Day – Or Not?

Should you do a squat and deadlift workout on the same day or not? Some people say to never squat and deadlift on the same day. The reason is that once you have done squats, your legs are exhausted. Tired legs will prevent you from having a good deadlift workout.

Others say that you should squat and deadlift on the same day. Who is right?

As with all advice, you need to try things out for yourself to see how your body reacts. Whether this be in nutrition or in exercise, everyone is different. Having said that, here is my experience with squats and deadlifts on the same day.

For several months, I was doing my squat and deadlift workout on different days. For example, I had two main workouts every week, which I did on alternating days. I modeled this after my favorite strength training book, Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe, which has an A and B weight training workout.

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Starting Strength Basic Barbell Training

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Workout A – Squat Workout

Squat – 5 working sets of 5 squats
Clean and Overhead press – 5 working sets of 5 clean and Overhead presses
Superset with
Barbell Rows – 5 work sets of 5 Barbell Rows

Superset means to do the barbell rows immediately after the clean and overhead press set is done. In this case, clean the weight, lift the weight from the floor to shoulder height, then do 5 overhead presses. When you have completed the overhead presses, drop the weight to hip level and keeping your back straight, lean over and do your barbell rows.

Lateral raises with dumbbells – 3 sets of 8 lateral raises
Dumbbell curls – 3 sets of 8 dumbbell curls

As you can see, workout A has five strength training exercises:

Squats
Clean and Overhead Press
Barbell Rows
Lateral raises with dumbbells
Curls with dumbbells

Workout B – Deadlift Workout

Deadlift – 5 sets of 5 deadlifts
Bench Press – 5 sets of 5 bench presses
Chin-ups – 5 sets of 5 chin-ups – Use the chin-up assist machine or resistance bands if you cannot yet do chin-ups without a spot.
Superset chin-ups with parallel bar dips.
Dips – 5 sets of 10 dips. Immediately after completing your chin-up set, do a set of dips.

As you can see, workout B has four strength training exercises:

Deadlift
Bench Press
Chin-ups
Dips

Squat and Deadlift Workout Schedule – Previous

The squat and deadlift workout schedule I did previously looked like this:

Sunday – Workout A – Squat Workout
Monday – Workout B – Deadlift Workout
Tuesday – A
Wednesday – B
Thursday – A
Friday – B

Each workout starts with the hardest compound exercise, either squats or deadlifts. The squat workout starts with a 3 joint exercise, squats. Then, once warmed up, you move to clean and press, where the major effort is your shoulders. After overhead presses, you superset barbell rows to hit your back. Last, you superset lateral raises and curls using dumbbells, which are single-joint exercises.

Whatever workout you design for yourself, a good rule of thumb is to start with a multi-joint compound exercise.

Ed Coan’s Favorite Squat and Deadlift Assistance Exercises

The Squat and Deadlift Workout Problem

I did the above deadlift and squat workout schedule for about three months. I think it worked out pretty well. Workout A and Workout B both can be done in about one hour. In order to keep your workout within an hour, you need to up your intensity. The easiest way to increase your intensity is to rest for less time between sets. Take one minute to a minute and a half between sets.

What is the problem doing squats and deadlifts on alternating consecutive days as in the above schedule? My experience is that my body was not getting enough rest. Instead of getting stronger on my squats and deadlifts, I was maintaining and even feeling burned out and weaker.

You can alternate A and B workout with a full rest day in between. I have not tried that yet. If you have, please leave a comment on how that is working for you. I might move to that workout schedule at some point, and it would look like this:

Sunday – Squats – Workout A
Monday – Complete rest except for walking/elliptical/cardio/swimming
Tuesday – Deadlifts – Workout B
Wednesday – Complete rest except for walking/elliptical/cardio/swimming
Thursday – Squats – Workout A
Friday – Complete rest except for walking/elliptical/cardio/swimming
Saturday – Full rest, no strength training or cardio

The following week starts with Workout B for deadlifts.

In the previous scenario, you train twice a week. But, before I try the above schedule which has a squat workout twice a week followed by a deadlift workout twice a week, I am trying the following:

The Solution

I believe the answer to the question is to do a squat and deadlift workout on the same day. If you do the squat and deadlift workouts with a complete rest day in between, you will have some weeks that you only squat or deadlift once a week. That is not terrible for advanced lifters, but for the average guy who wants to get leaner and stronger as fast as possible, that is not a good solution.

I know because I did not start weight training using free weights until I was 55. My experience with body transformation after 50 is that you need three components to transform your physique from fat to fit:

Real food nutrition
Get off the couch and start moving at least 30 minutes a day
Strength Training

The most powerful exercises to change your body are squats and deadlifts. Just try it out yourself. Any guy can walk into a gym and do dumbbell curls. Even if you use a heavier weight for curls, you are not going to be exhausted. I remember the first time I did squats with a 45 pound barbell with no weights. I could barely walk for the following week.

Squats and deadlifts are the best exercises to lose weight and change your body shape.

Watch this Deadlift Body Transformation in Under a Year

Workout A – Squat and Deadlift Workout

Squat and deadlift workout schedule for the same day:

Squat – 5 sets of 5 squats
Clean and Overhead press – 5 sets of 5 clean and Overhead presses
Superset with
Barbell Rows – 5 sets of 5 Barbell Rows
Deadlift – 3 sets of 5 deadlifts

In this workout, we separate the squats and deadlifts with overhead presses and barbell row supersets.

We start off with the squat because that is the hardest exercise. The squat will tax your physical resources. As a result, your body will change to adapt to the demands of your squat workout.

The clean and overhead press and barbell row is a bit easier and lets you recover a bit from the squat. The clean portion of the overhead press also gets you into the movement of bending down to the barbell and then setting up correctly for the clean movement of the barbell to your shoulders. This setup is the same as the deadlift setup.

Your final exercise for the day is the deadlift. You can do one set of five deadlifts or five sets of one deadlift while increasing weight. The point is to get in a deadlift workout three times a week so you get better at deadlifting and get enough rest in between your squat and deadlift workout.

Workout B – Upper Body Workout

Bench Press – 5 sets of 5 bench presses
Chin-ups – 5 sets of 5 chin-ups – Use the chin-up assist machine or resistance bands if you cannot yet do chin-ups without a spot.
Superset chin-ups with parallel bar dips.
Dips – 5 sets of 10 dips. Immediately after completing your chin-up set, do a set of dips.
Lateral raises with dumbbells – 3 sets of 8 lateral raises
Dumbbell curls – 3 sets of 8 dumbbell curls

This upper body workout starts with the bench press compound exercise which is a multijoint movement. We follow up with chin-ups because chin-ups are an excellent exercise for the back and arms. Superset with dips to hit the triceps, your whole arm, and lower chest. Finish off with single-joint dumbbell exercises, lateral raises to hit the middle delts of your shoulder and you can do some isolation curls to cool down.

Workout Summary

Sunday – Workout A – Squat and Deadlift Workout
Monday – Workout B – Upper Body – Bench Press Workout
Tuesday – Workout A – Squat and Deadlift Workout
Wednesday -Workout B – Upper Body – Bench Press Workout
Thursday -Workout A – Squat and Deadlift Workout
Friday -Workout B – Upper Body – Bench Press Workout

Squat and Deadlift Workout on the Same Day – Final Thoughts

The idea behind squats and deadlifts on the same day is threefold:

You want to be able to do squats and deadlifts at least 3 times a week.
Why? Because the more you train with a specific movement, the faster your body will adapt and get better at that movement. Squats or deadlifts once a week are not significant enough for our purposes. We want to lose weight, get leaner and stronger than we ever thought possible, and get in the best shape of our lives, even though we are over 50. We need at least 3 strength training days a week.
Squats and deadlifts on the same day three times a week leaves you enough rest in between each workout for muscle repair and growth. You can do cardio on your rest days, or upper body workout.

What’s Next

See for yourself why squats and deadlifts are so powerful by reading the following two posts: