First off, I'm a 37 year old police officer that finally got tired of saying "I used to bench over 300" so I started lifting again about six months ago using an eight day cycle. I lift a basic powerlifting routine.
Day 1- Deadlifts 5x5, bent rows, shrugs
Day 2-rest
Day 3-Bench Presses 5x5, lying extensions, side laterals, bent laterals
Day 4-rest
Day 5-Squats 5x5, leg presses, calf raises
Day 6- rest
Day 7-accessories, ie. close grip benches, curls, pull ups, overhead presses, situps and whatever I feel like doing.
Day 8- rest
Everything is coming along very well, except deadlifts. I can't see much improvement. I pull about 400lbs and it has not really improved much in almost six months. I get a really good pump and a good muscle soreness from everything except deadlifts. It's almost like it just hurts my back without actually building strength. I'm keeping good form, sumo style lifts but I don't feel like I'm getting a good workout from the deads. Any suggestions? Where do you normally get muscle soreness from doing them right. I've tried more reps, heavy singles and everything in between with the same result.
My end of year goals are bench-300, squat-400 and deadlift 500. That's at 181 if I could cut some weight.