I like the high frequency approach. How long did it take you to hit 600 the first time?
Wednesday 11/13
Axle Deadlift
5x225
1x315
1x315
1x405
1x405
7x405
Really compressed for time today (had to be done in 15 minutes or less); so after the usual warmup sequence of 225-315-405, rather than loading more plates for a few more singles, I just did a quick set of reps. Had a few more in the tank but as you may know, I rarely work at or near failure, and didn’t want to blow a gasket today. 7 reps isn’t bad (someday maybe I’ll really test 405 for a true rep max).
Most of it is catalogued here, but I understand it’s a lot to read through.
Cliffs Notes:
Summer 2015 - after several years of doing mostly endurance exercise, rock climbing, and screwing around with kettlebells, I decided to return to the gym for (semi) serious barbell lifting. I did have a history of barbell training in high school and college, mostly training for football and wrestling, though I did enter a few powerlifting meets as a teen - not that I trained specifically for them, just sort of “things I did” because I already knew how to squat, bench, and deadlift.
January, 23, 2016 - hit 405 deadlift for the first time.
July 16, 2016 - hit 500 for the first time.
May 6, 2017 - hit 550 for the first time
August 6, 2017 - hit 600 for the first time (post 840 in the log)
(moved into our house and starting training in my garage)
(had our first child, limiting time for workouts to 15-20 minutes/day)
September 30, 2018 - hit 620 for the first time
Since then, my deadlift hasn’t gone much further because I took a few months off to dabble more with squats, but tbh I felt much better doing the daily deadlifts with one weekly squat, so I’ve gone back to that for the last month or so, and plan to stick with that for the foreseeable future. I’d like to hit at least one 600+ deadlift by the end of this year (555 is the heaviest pull I’ve done in the last few months) and then make a run into the mid-600’s by next summer.
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Good luck man and thanks for the reply! I’ll be following along.
My journey from 400 to 500 was much, much quicker than 300-400 as well. Odd that should be the case in n=2 examples.
I think progress really accelerated for me at that time because I was once again fully into “lifting” as my main modality, had gotten into a really nice rhythm training/life wise at the time, I had an interesting goal to chase (I wanted to hit 500 before my wedding, which was in August 2016) and @T3hPwnisher (I think) once made the point that this is kind of a sweet spot where you’re handling weights that are heavy enough to build strength but not so heavy that progress grinds to a halt. Proportionally, going from 400 to 500 is a little less than 300 to 400, also (which might seem silly, but you’re adding 33% to your max going from 300 to 400 but “only” adding 25% to your max going from 400 to 500). Once you get past 500, I don’t think that holds up for much longer because the weights are just heavy at that point, and most non-genetic-freaks or non-enhanced lifters will not be able to just ride that elevator upward at the same speed from 500 to 600 and beyond (yeah, I know, going from 1000 to 1100 is only a 10% increase!)
Obviously this is also dependent on body size, age, and a host of other factors, but that made some sense to me.
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Yeah, I definitely had the same expreience of 3-4 vs 4-5. Really just seems to be the magic spot.
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I think (for most people) that 400 → 500 journey comes in a spot where they feel pretty well established as a “lifter” but haven’t really approached their true “max” potential yet (this is admittedly tied in with a lot of stuff discussed on that thread from awhile back about whether most able-bodied males are born with the natural ability to reach a 600 pound deadlift without chemical assistance). It’s a good time for progress. Once you’re past 500, IMO you’re moving past the “anyone who works hard and eats enough for awhile can get this” territory, and moving into “it really takes some dedicated and targeted effort to get this” territory.
I think there’s a decent parallel here with distance running. For someone with minimal running experience, or who hates running, it probably takes awhile to get moving and may suck trying to run a mile under 10 minutes at first. Once you get over that newbie hump and comfortably run at 9:00/mile pace regularly, though, I think it’s (relatively) easy to get yourself down to 8:00 miles because now you feel like a runner, you’ve bought all the cool gear, you’ve joined a running club or made your favorite playlists, you actually have started to like running because you feel like you’re pretty good at it. But moving from 7:00 miles down to 6:00 miles is harder than that 9->8 or even the 8->7 journey because you’ve exhausted that “anyone who works for a little while can do this” and you’re getting into the territory where you need some real dedicated work to make continued progress, either increasing total volume, using targeted speed workouts, or both; by then, it’s not really enough to just “get out there and run a couple miles every day” like it was at first.
Other opinions may vary.
3 Likes
Nice to know there’s an easy stretch coming then.
1 Like
Thursday 11/14
Deadlift
5x225
1x315
1x315
1x405
1x405
1x495
1x495
Ooh just hit 4 so that means I am a wizard now !!
Friday 11/15
Deadlift
5x225
1x315
1x315
1x405
1x405
1x495
1x565
Not winning any prizes for a pretty pull tonight, but the bar started on the floor and came up, so it counts.
6 Likes
You also held the lockout for about 3 years, so it definitely counts. I thought the video had frozen.
3 Likes
Saturday 11/16
Back Squat
5x135
2x165
2x195
2x225
2x255
2x325
2x325
2x325
Sunday 11/17
Back Squat
5x135
2x165
2x195
2x225
2x255
2x325
2x325
2x325
Normally would have done kettlebell snatches today, but I tore a callus on Thursday deadlifting. While I can still pull with straps no problem, I think it would have been very challenging to hold a kettlebell properly for high-rep snatches, so decided to just bang out some nice light back squats.
1 Like
Monday 11/18
Axle Deadlift
5x225
1x315
1x315
1x405
1x405
1x405
1x495
1x495
Back was a little wonky (something funky in the mid-lower back, on my left side) during warmups, so I took a third rep at 405. Felt better on that one so I still went to 495 and did a pair of easy singles. Should be fine.
1 Like
Tuesday 11/19
Axle Deadlift
5x225
1x315
1x315
1x405
1x405
1x495
1x495
1 Like
Wednesday 11/20
Axle Deadlift
5x225
1x315
1x315
1x405
1x405
1x405
1x405
1x405
1x405
1x405
Thursday 11/21
Deadlift
5x135
5x225
1x315
1x405
1x495
1x515
Stiff Leg Deadlift
8x225
8x225
Quick session at the university gym with my departmental colleague. He’s pretty happy with this workout - 515 is a relatively recent PR for him, and he looks to be getting more confident with it. The stiff legged pulls afterwards felt great - why don’t I do those more?
2 Likes