Is a 400 Pound Deadlift Attainable for Most Women?

Mindset straight out of nattyornot. Deadlifts more than me, must be on juice.

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Yes that’s the plan but it’s so freaking long ahah. Two summers ago I started doing pure bodybuilding work with CT and damn my weight had not moved in 2-3 years but I gained 6 pounds of muscle that year (also used to be very low carbs which isn’t ideal for pure muscle growth).

Last summer my first Mountaindog program and it was really great! That was a dark time for me and despite sleeping very little, getting drunk all the time and even some rec drugs I had really great gains! Of course since, the pandemic hit and I’ve been gymless a long time, but I started back two weeks ago with my take on conjugate (classic Max effort day, but dynamic is either French contrast or undulating complexes) and I’ve been bursting PRs every week so I have hope!

Not aiming for a 600 dead though because I’m not interested in pure strength but a blend of qualities (Crossfit) but a nice clean 500 will satisfy me for a lifetime lol

Wonder how long you’ll think this for after you’ve hit it…

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Good for you on getting out the dark time, it sounds to me like if you get nutrition totally dialed in and stressors taken care of you’d pull that 545 no problems :stuck_out_tongue:

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Then I have to prove you right someday. Nutrition is way better, stress also, and will be even better in a few months

Surprised no one has done this yet, but there’s this real cool resource called openpowerlifting.org we can use to get some data behind the ā€œ400 lbs DL for womenā€ question rather than making ā€œI’m a man so clearly I am an expert of the physiological limits of the female bodyā€ type claims.

So for this analysis, I’m going to just look at the USPA tested division. I’m not including USAPL/IPF because the international nature of that fed might raise the ā€œare the top lifters really nattyā€ question. I feel that the likelihood of top USPA female lifters trying to cheat tests is significantly lower. I’m also just looking at 2019 so that the data are recent, skipping 2020 due to pandemic shutdown stuff.

So by weight class… Total lifters, lifters pulling 400+, percentage

97 lb
10 / 0 0%

105 lb
23/0 0%

114 lb
64/0 0%

123 lb
137/0 0% *top pull was 391 lbs

132 lb
182/4 2.1%

148 lb
306/7 2.2%

165 lb
269/20 7.4%

181 lb
162/14 8.6%

198 lb
116/12 10.3%

198+ lb
178/40 22.4%

So basically… once you are in the 132 lbs and above range AT MINIMUM you’re looking at more than 1 in 50 competitive female lifters pulling 400+. At 198 lbs, it’s 1 in 10.

Would I call this ā€œmostā€? Based on the statistics… no. But you have to keep in mind, some of these numbers are lifters who have been seriously focused on powerlifting for years, some are lifters who have competed once or twice and don’t push too seriously (and may later go on to lift 400+). Basically, the data are not just serious lifters, they are significantly watered down with ā€œrecreationalā€ powerlifters.

Based on this, and based on my personal experience coaching powerlifters, I would say that if you randomly picked an average side/stature female off the street and said ā€œhey, if you can deadlift 400 lbs 5 years from now (without PEDs), we’ll give you 10 million dollarsā€, I would bet heavily on them accomplishing it.

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Hey dude, I totally grabbed numbers from there, settle down Mr PHD in polynomials!

But basically what you said. When I hear ā€œcan mostā€ my brains says ā€œcan most that really want to and dedicate themselves to itā€

Because MOST people can do a lot of things, they just don’t

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Ha! Sorry I missed that! 86 replies is apparently too much for me to effectively process…

If most people were competing in Bodybuilding contests, I’d have never won anything.
Most people are too lazy to attain anything in the gym.

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I think it’s not. Considering I work in healthcare and estimate there are only about two dozen male workers and about 200 female workers, with some jogging of the mind, I can only come up with two women who even have the phenotype to put up that kind of weight. I think 200 is a good sample size and I’ve worked in places with double to triple the amount of nearly all female staff.

Which brings me to the similar thread about 600 lb deadlifts in which I think I stated I believe many gym people don’t open up their eyes to how an average man is mentally and physically put together and instead focus on the amount of consistent and hard work needed. I also think I stated that perhaps one can go to a crowded place, a shopping mall perhaps, and see how the average man is put together, his gait, how he moves, his stature, and consider him someone who can deadlift 600 just with consistent work and effort.

So I think no.

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Now we’re muddying the already muddy waters further by not just asking can they do it with whatever variables, but could they have done it had they gone back in time and had all the appropriate carrots and sticks line up appropriately.

I think I see what you mean. But as I’ve said several times, my premise is simple. I get outside my house, see people, and don’t see many who can accomplish these lifts with consistency and effort. And when I make this observation, I don’t go by whether the person appears to be trained. There are several people I know who likely could have a 600 lb deadlift but they’re not into hardcore lifting, or lifting at all.

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I’ve done it. 185 kg which is something like 405. I don’t have video just a bunch of witnesses. Same for a 425lb squat. No I was not polluted, was natural at that point and just a year after having a baby. 148lb weight class. I ate pancakes and donuts before training. Good ole days.

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I’m not knocking how you’ve answered the question, I think you’re probably right.

What I’m saying is that the original question is so vague there’s a million ways to answer it. I think we all agree that 99% of women currently can’t deadlift 400lbs, so the question then becomes how much do we need to tip the scales for 50% to be able to do it? A years dedicated training? PEDs? Three generations lining up all the cultural carrots and sticks in an appropriate way for that one goal to be reached?

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That’s why I always put the qualifier that we have to factor out personality.

I think, with only the severely disabled as an exception, that every human on Earth, throughout their lifetimes, are capable of achieving several things that they did not think they were capable of. That’s always been my biggest motivation in training - to see what I think I can do, and to outdo that.

I like the 400 and 600 numbers because they’re fringe numbers - you don’t see them that often and so they seem unachievable for most. But you hear stories of people who were genetically fucked doing incredible things, and the limiting factor always seems to be mindset, not genetic lottery.

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What if mindset is genetic? :exploding_head:

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This is still answering the question WILL most women, rather than CAN most women.

Could the women competing at 123, given 10 years and the desire to do so, move up a whole bunch of weight classes and pull 400? Well while we don’t know its a completely different conversation to whether they can pull 400 while remaining 123lb.

The fact it hasn’t been done more, in my opinion, says more about the fact that few people really want to deadlift that much enough to throw all other considerations to hell. Ask all 137 of the 123lb women from your sample, how many of them would be willing to gain 100lb if it meant they would be able to pull 400, make it easier a genie wish immediately grants you a 400+ pull that comes with 100lb weight gain. I think the % that would take up the offer probably matches the % that have already pulled 400.

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Great clarification, this is more or less what I was trying to communicate. 100% agree.

What does the normal curve look like if all their best deadlifts were displayed?
Mean
Median
Standard Deviation
Is data skewed left or right?
P-value of data

Somebody PLEASE make it stop!

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