Paused deadlift percentage
The deadlift already starts from a dead stop, so a pause here is not about losing the bounce. It is about holding a position that wants to collapse.
A range, not a number — because the same variation costs one lifter 4% and another 14%. The app turns it into a single weight and remembers your coefficient. How the model works.
Want the exact number?Set the pauses, the descent and the ascent, pick reps and RPE, get one weight — and the app learns your own coefficient.
Get the free appWhat percentage should you use for paused deadlifts?
A 2-second paused deadlift just off the floor is typically 87 to 94% of your competition deadlift. Where you stop matters as much as how long: a pause below the knee is the most expensive position for most lifters, because that is where leverage is worst, while a pause above the knee costs very little.
Where you stop, and what it costs
| Variation | Typical range | What moves it |
|---|---|---|
| No pause | 100% | The reference |
| 1s just off the floor | 90-96% | The classic paused deadlift |
| 2s just off the floor | 87-94% | The common programming choice |
| 3s just off the floor | 84-92% | Position work more than strength work |
| 1s below the knee | 89-95% | Worst leverage for most lifters |
| 1s above the knee | 94-99% | Past the hard part, costs little |
Why a deadlift pause is a different animal
In a squat or a bench, the pause is expensive mostly because it throws away the stretch reflex, the energy your tendons gave back on the way down. The deadlift has none of that to lose: it already starts from a dead stop on the floor. So if that were the only mechanism, a paused deadlift would be the cheapest of the three. It is not.
What you are paying for instead is positional. A pause two to five centimetres off the floor puts you mid-pull under a maximal load with nothing supporting the bar and every joint angle wanting to give: the hips shoot, the bar drifts forward, the lats give up. Holding that is a different kind of hard, and for most lifters it is a more expensive kind.
This is also why the position matters more here than anywhere else. Below the knee is where leverage is worst for a conventional puller, and a stop there is the most brutal version of the exercise. Above the knee, past the hard part, the same second costs almost nothing: you are simply standing there with a heavy bar.
What moves your number
- Conventional or sumo: sumo pullers usually find just off the floor the hardest, conventional pullers find below the knee harder.
- Where your own sticking point is. A pause at your sticking point costs far more than a pause anywhere else.
- Whether you reset your air between the stop and the finish. Holding the brace through the pause is most of the skill.
- Grip. On long pauses the set often ends because your hands opened, not because your back gave, and that is a different limit.
How to find your own number
Three sessions and a bit of honesty are enough to replace the range with your own coefficient.
- Work up to a set of 3 on the paused deadlift and stop at RPE 8 — two reps left in the tank, honestly judged.
- Divide the weight you used by the weight you would have used for 3 reps @ RPE 8 on your competition deadlift. That ratio is your coefficient.
- Repeat it once or twice over a training block. If the number holds within a couple of percent, that is your number — use it instead of the range.
PRO What the app does with it
- Applies the pauses, the descent and the ascent on top of the variation, second by second — the first second costs the most, the following ones progressively less. A slow ascent is charged more per second than a slow descent.
- Crosses it with the RPE chart, so you get the weight for 3 reps @ RPE 8 on that variation, not just a max.
- Learns your personal coefficient from a set you actually did, then remembers it for every future session.
- Works offline, in the gym, with the plates already worked out.
Stop guessing on your variation days
RPE Calculator is free on iPhone and Android. The variation calculator — pause, tempo, deficit, boards — comes with RPE Pro, an annual subscription you can cancel any time.
Get the free app Launching on Google Play — final testingFree download · Pro is an annual subscription · Cancel any time
Frequently asked questions
How much lighter is a 2 second paused deadlift?
Usually 6 to 13% lighter than your competition deadlift, so 87 to 94% of it. The spread is wide because it depends heavily on where your weak point is.
Should I pause off the floor or below the knee?
Off the floor if you are slow to break the ground; below the knee if that is where the bar stalls. The two are different exercises and cost different amounts.
Why does a paused deadlift cost anything, if the deadlift already starts from a stop?
Because you are not paying for a lost rebound, you are paying to hold a maximal load mid-pull in a position that wants to collapse. It is a positional cost, not an elastic one.
Do paused deadlifts help my normal deadlift?
They build the position you fail in and force you to keep tension where most people lose it. They are a supplementary lift, not a replacement for pulling heavy from the floor.