600lb Deadlift Possible for Everyone?

I am short too . I suspect I can gain 70lb in deadlift this year or thereabouts. I think Brickhead means people who are short with small bones. WIth respect to Reed he has a relatively thick lower body structure (like me) and a normal to slightly thick upper body structure from ankle and wrist measurements. Being short definitely gives you a leverage disadvantage that’s for sure. To be fair smaller men are not as likely to lift 600lb .

Yeah, I see what you’re saying, but I dunno. I definitely think there’s a lot of dudes out there who don’t have the genetic raw material to hit a 600 dead.

I could be wrong. I often am.

How many of those people EXPLICITLY have the goal of only hitting a 600lb deadlift? And how many of them sought out professional instruction in how to deadlift in order to maximize poundages moved?

I imagine a lot of these dudes have many goals. They want to be bigger, stronger, leaner and better, and it’s usually over a broad spectrum of movements and events. That’s honestly a good thing, but it also means that not everything gets maximized.

I surmise that the percentage of people who, at age 11, decide that they’re going to do whatever it takes to deadlift 600lbs and fail is incredibly small, to the point that I can’t imagine it’s spitting in the face of anyone.

Here’s a personal example; I think that, if I could bench 405, that would be tops. Just the bee’s pajamas really. That said, I compete in strongman, and I treat the bench as an assistance lift. I have been lifting hard since the age of 21, and I turned 31 this year, and I still have a mid 300s bench at best. Despite all the time, effort and energy, that bench isn’t where it should be, and it’s because I haven’t prioritized it.

If I were to gain a LOT more weight, get some professional coaching in the bench, bench more than once a week, and let some of my other lifts suffer, I am sure I could hit the 405 bench despite my 14 mile long arms, but I’ve simply not done what it takes. The time, energy and effort are all there, but it’s all thrust and no vector as far as the bench is concerned.

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Man there are more and more and more WOMEN well under 200lbs getting into the high 400 and low 500s. I just don’t believe that most men with very hard training can’t pull 600

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I think this link does well here as your average person with unbelievable dedication getting to something most figure is impossible.

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I honestly don’t think it matters. I’d rather be excited about seeing what normal people can achieve as the number of guys raising the bar by posting big numbers online increases.

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One reason i got into lifting was pro wrestlers, Arnold, and i didnt ever want to get bullied again.
At about 12 i remember struggling to bench 65 lbs. By the end of freshman year in high school i did around 250, at that point my Main goal in life was to bench 500lbs
The summer before my senior year i hit 385, some kids were telling their parents i was on steriods, because i was destroying my peers on football field.
I said fuck em quit football kept working job and prepared to go to navy, get away from the dullards.
I benched 405 6 months after i got out of navy.
I did everything possible to bench 500lbs accept for 97 i just didnt train hard to many girls.

Then i did a strongman contest and met some people who helped me realize due to my height i would need to press 400 over head and deadlift 800lbs. To be competitive.

I would do some squats and deadlifts 405 for like 8 in the squat , and pull 500 for kicks previously.
Within around two years i had squated 500x17 reps and pulled 675, jerked 365 behind neck.

Anyway against the advice of people much more knowledgeable then me i was trainingheavy overheads and flat benches which is not good for groove, and is i believe why i tore half left pec bad and an inept spotter.
Due i think that Remember the beginning thread Everyone could pull 600 no way even an able bodied 200 lb construction worker.
I dont know much about Reed, up until his squat video i though he was black, got him confused with someone on you tube. That the gym he trains at their me be a very high percentage of guys that pull over 600lb , making a 600lb pull no big deal.
A 600lb deadlift isnt considered elite unless its done at under 180lbs. Like my 475 bench and 675 pull were no elite at 260lbs.
I kid i went to high school with was of Indian descent he was 6 ft 150lb when he started lifting, could lift good weight , was benching like 275 at 170 senior year high school, every couple years he would compete at iowa games or the fair. And i would notice he would go 10 or so pounds up.
I had heard he benched 400 at around 200 pounds like 5 years ago so he did bench 400 after 23 years of lifting. So yes extreme effort is definitely required.

A 145 pound guy with a 410 raw bench is not average! The guy has enormous nature-given strength potential that he utilized with adequate training! The average 145 pounder is not getting that no matter the amount of dedication.

Ed Coan squatted 500 after six months of dedicated training as a skinny teenager! Yes, by appearance, he appears to be an average dude, but he was genetically blessed with the right anatomical and physiological peculiarities, in the same way that Spud Webb is! All three of the subjects discussed here are not average!

Kirk Karwoski, though having a pretty damn hulking appearance for a teenager, was already benching 225 at thirteen years old I believe. This is not normal or average and other muscular teenagers cant do that despite how muscular they might be.

For what it’s worth, I am not being negative here, nor am I saying people should try their damned hardest to get what they want, whether they succeed or fall short.

I have stated in my personal thread in the BB section just how hard I tried for the one BB show I did as well as the reasons I am not continuing. So I am one-show wonder. However (!), when I was prepping, I did not want to hear a goddamn thing about fake natties, what’s possible, what’s impossible, whether I’d win, whether I’d not place, etc. I was eating, shitting, sleeping, breathing BB for six months straight with hardly any rest. The only three or four rest days I took, I took them because I actually felt like if I had attended the gym or cardio on those days, I’d freaking collapse! I did all sorts of corny shit to have my mind in the right place, including dressing like Jay Cutler in the gym–you know, shiny, oversized basketballs shorts off the clearance rack at Modell’s, a Cutler autographed hat, and expensive sneakers, lol)–as well as sporting a Rusty Jeffers-inspired handlebar mustache. I was up at 4:30 doing cardio before breakfast. Towards the end, I’d literally be hunched over sitting on my stairs sometimes before cardio, near tears with my head in my lap. Anyone can ask about the phone calls I gave Arash, Stu, or Rob, near tears, for good laughs! And how they laughed when they’d see my handlebar mustache. :slight_smile:

I had pictures of the people whose condition I envy, mostly the IFBB pro and Olympia competitor Hamdulla Aykutlu, even though I would never, ever, look like him! Seriously, looking back, I let almost nothing deter me from getting in shape. Like I said in my thread, and as corny as it sounds, I constantly said to myself, “I don’t care if I win or lose! Everyone there, the judges, the other guys, the audience are going to know that I suffered and I’m certainly not showing up there without looking like I belong up there!” I said, “I am not a pro, but I will treat this as a pro!

The result: something I thought I’d never accomplish, and something I was VERY pleased with: I got shredded and won the damn thing! Plus I wound up with a body, though not the greatest body, certainly one that I thought I couldn’t get.

So, I am all for doing whatever the heck one has to do to reach a goal or in trying to do so! Even if one fails, trying their damned hardest will get them further along than focusing on what can’t be done! That’s why I do not pay attention to the whole goddamn FFMI of 26 shit and the fake natty shit. @dt79 Whatever the fuck the limit is, there’s no use in paying attention to them! BUT… there are indeed limits. And I was not going to get in Brian Whitacre’s shape just from my efforts and dedication.

I do not say this here to be self-aggrandizing, as my real-life friends on here (Rob, Stu, Arash, Chris) can attest that I am actually more self-effacing and not negative or to stir shit up with people, and I exhort anyone here to at least TRY VERY HARD for what they want, as I think they will all wind up farther than they expected to with such effort. I respect all here. We just disagree on some things.

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Joe, I’m gonna be honest; I have a LOT of difficulty following your posting style. That said, I just wanted to say that Hulk Hogan was a huge influence on my desire to get big and strong too. Wasn’t even a big wrestling fan, but I think anyone growing up in the 80s knew the Hulkster.

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I was bat shit crazy over Hulk Hogan at like five years old to eight years old! I attended several WWF matches at that age at the Nassau Colosseum in the mid eighties. I had the Hulkamania puffed-up hand too. :slight_smile:

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Don’t get me wrong. I agree that there is a limit. I just think it is premature to discuss it since more and more people have been defying commonly held beliefs over just the last couple of years.

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there’s some badass folks out there and no doubt! I still don’t think so for the average joe though.

Show of hands: who here has deadlifted over 600?

I may have tried to rip my shirt in half on many occasions as a younger man.

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did it at a party once. Felt good.

Massive Hulkster fan also. Even watched his sex tape.

I didn’t jerk off to it, but I did watch it.

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I’d call that a fairweather fan at best, haha.

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haha! Took me a second to work out what you meant there

I have spoke english my whole life, but i will admit my posting style sucks.
I have issues with setting up paragraphs and am all over the place with content.
I am usally doing a few things at once when i post.
Any way my goal from childhood was a 500 bench, after seeing Hogan, Road Warriors, Ultimate Warrior who probably has best physique in wrestling.

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Every one is an average Joe until they train and eat their ass off religiously for 10 years… I think that’s what people are missing here.

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but then don’t they cease to be average?

The thread just took a philosophical twist

If you’ve traveled the US, you know this is already occurring. Ever been to an Outback, Chilis, or any buffet?

Follow up: How many can achieve a 600 lb deadlift without becoming morbidly obese in the process?