Strength: Deadlift vs. dips | The Big 7 | Forum

We've discussed this before, but since then, I've refined my specific peformance for each lift.  I have concluded that I am only slightly stronger in deep, trap-bar deadlifts than in dips (absolute strength).

I weighed in immediately prior to this workout and weighed 148 lbs with my workout uniform on.

I'm on a routine, full body, three days per week.  Basically, I do two, big-seven-type lifts per session; some unilateral work; some weak-area work; and lots of flexibility work each session.  On day two, I start with deadlifts and then go to dips, so there is no other work that exhausts me prior to these specific movements like has been in the past.  For this reason, I now have a good concept of how I fair comparing my five-rep. strength in these two basic movements.

After two minutes of cadio, dynamic stretching, and some progressive, low-rep warmups, I start with trap-bar deadlifts with the bar upside down and twenty-five pound plates.  This configuration puts my upper legs almost as deep as parallel to the floor and my low back slightly arched.  I did one set of five @ 195 lbs, two sets of five @ 240 lbs., and one set of four @240 lbs. (form failure).  I took about 2 min, 15 sec. break between sets.  This is absolutely all I can pull up in good form for five reps, even on the first set.  I decided to quit after four sets.

On to dips.  After a five-minute rest, I did some low-rep progressive sets then one set @ 70 lbs (218 lbs total) for a five count easily, so I moved on an 82 lb dumbell (230 lbs total).  I then did three sets of five and one set of four with 90 sec. breaks.  On the first two sets, I could have done at least one more rep.  My form was nearly flawless, and I went so deep that my upper arms were parallel to the floor.

The verdict:  I can do 240 lbs full deadlifts with a trap bar for 5 reps for only two sets, and even after four sets of gruling deadlifts, I can still do 230 lbs on dips for at least six reps on the first set.  I may be slightly stronger on deadlifts than dips but not by much.

My question:  How is this possible?  How can a person be even close to as strong pushing with only his upper musculature and arms, as pulling with his entire posterior chain + hips and legs?

Sorry.  No YouTube experience, except watching.  This forum is as digitally competent as I get.

All I know to do is to keep working on deads; keep eating alot; keep working on other leg exercises that might improve my overall leg strength; keep working on flexibility; and hopefully one day find a personal coach in my area that can examine my situation. 

The strange thing is I absolutely love doing deadlifts.  They make me feel strong, even though I can't move much weight.  Maybe because I can feel nearly all my muscles working hard and they feel like real work.

Anyway, the only reason I brought this topic back up is because, last time, you said that I was much stronger in deadlift than dips based on my previous results.  I knew those results were somewhat off, because my dip weight was after other chest exercises.  This time, I was fresh for both lifts and they are close.