It all started back in 1968 when a strongman called Bill Starr smashed the world deadlift record without ever having done a deadlift before, which obviously caused havoc amongst the powerlifting community in those days. Bill explained that doing deadlift puts too much strain on your lower back.
He said that heavy deadlifts with 500-600 pounds fatigued the lower back and required longer recovery times. Not many people paid much attention to him. Powerlifters, as a whole, are still over training their deadlifts. Another world champ in the 1970's called Loren Betzer said the same.
He wrote an article "To Deadlift More, Don't Deadlift" where Betzer described himself as a conventional deadlifter. As with most conventional deadlifters, Betzer was blowing the weight off the floor only to have it stall out higher up. By dropping the deadlift from his training program, Betzer ended up putting 40 pounds on it in 5 months.
According to Starr, there were four exercises that carried over to the deadlift and they are power cleans, heavy shrugs, hi-pulls and good mornings. Power cleans and hi-pulls were used to build speed, as well as working the traps. Olympic style shrugs were also performed for development of the traps which are vital in finishing the top part of the deadlift.
