The deadlift is the most stressful lift. As such, it is the most sensitive to volume. The deadlift is usually programmed for a single heavy set of 5 for men, while women do well with 2x3.
But what happens when 5 reps are no longer enough? Many try backoff sets. The following scheme is typical.
1x1
3x3 @ 80%
There are two problems with this.
(1) Moving from 5 reps to 10 reps represents a doubling of total volume. Given the brutality of the deadlift, this is too aggressive a jump.
(2) At the same time, only 1 rep is actually heavy. If we are used to doing 5 heavy reps, only one big single is a drastic decrease in the amount of quality work.
The solution is to use power cleans instead of regular deadlifts for backoff sets. After a heavy set of 5 deadlifts, the trainee can do 3x3 or 5x2 power cleans for some extra pulling volume. We keep all of the effective reps but also introduce a manageable amount of extra work. Rather than lifting a grindy 80% weight, the trainee moves a 40% weight *explosively*. This much lighter load can be recovered from, but its dynamic nature still makes it challenging.