[quote]flipcollar wrote:
[quote]TheKraken wrote:
[quote]flipcollar wrote:
[quote]TheKraken wrote:
[quote]flipcollar wrote:
I believe the answer indeed is that you’re too fat to deadlift particularly well. This is fairly common. I heard George Leeman (a 900 lbs deadlifter) talk about this recently. When he was younger, he believed that as long as he trained hard he could gain as much weight as he wanted and would continue to progress on the deadlift indefinitely. This turned out not to be the case. His leverages became unfavorable when he gained too much fat, and he got substantially weaker on the deadlift. He’s lost a lot of weight, and subsequently has become the strongest American deadlifter.
My conclusion is that, if you really want to do what’s best for your lifts, you will lose fat and fix your ‘body type’, rather than try to find a belt to compensate for your currently poor leverages. For now, you don’t necessarily even NEED a belt. KK has deadlifted over 900 without one. If you have to go to such a flimsy nylon/foam belt, I don’t really see the point. It won’t do what you need a belt to do.[/quote]
I’ve got 50lbs and an inch in height on the OP, but I deadlift with a 4 inch belt all the time. I wouldn’t profess to no more than Leeman, but I don’t have a problem with my deadlift. I have also seen guys who are fat as hell who pull a lot conventional. My biggest problem comes from long limbs, not my gut. Frankly, a 255lb 6ft powerlifter is a pretty common sight, and not that fat.
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OP, you might want to try wearing the belt higher. Once in a while I put it on too low and it is uncomfortable to lift that way. [/quote]
What does ‘not having a problem with deadlift’ mean for you? At that weight, I would expect a bare minimum of a 700 deadlift to not consider it to be a problem. So if you can do that, I agree, it’s not a problem.
255lbs and 6’ can be fat, and it can be not fat. At 6’, 255, and a 450 deadlift, I assume the OP is a fat version of 255.
I definitely agree on the idea that playing with belt position is worthwhile. I’ve always worn my belt very low, but have been playing around with a higher position recently, since so many great deadlifters do it.
As a side note, long limbs are favorable in the deadlift. Short torso, long arms, and even long legs can be useful.
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Nice, love the standards. I am 40 years old, have been training for 3 years and I hit an easy 445 two weeks ago. I was at the RPS State Championship meet a few weeks ago, and the number of 700+ deadlifts there was exactly two. [/quote]
I apologize. I didn’t take enough into consideration when I said that, and I sometimes forget how high my standards have become.
You indicated that you’re either SHW or 308 class. Given your training age (and actual age), 450’s pretty good. That would make you a class 2 or 3 lifter in the DL.
I should have said 600 though. That’s a more reasonable number for my standards. I forgot that my own deadlift is considered elite. 600 would be in the Class 1/masters area, which is the level I would begin to say a particular lift is not a problem. [/quote]
I’d agree on 600lbs. The internet standards can be a little unrealistic, and I kind of lumped your (flipcollar) response into it. One of the 275’ers in my gym hit 605 in the meet, and it was a really big deal…and our gym has a lot of pro strongman and elite powerlifters.
When I said, “not a problem” I meant that performing the lift with good form, with a belt give this SHW fat bastard no problems. On my worst, most bloated achy day-cause-I-am-old by some standards, I can still do it comfortably, and every time.
I should also have said that my training is more strongman focused, so deadlift is important, but it almost an accessory movement. I don’t max on it very often, because through events I work my posterior chain every time I am in the gym. I think with focus and based on the 445 lift (the feels) I think 500 is attainable in the short term with some focus, and 600 is a realistic goal for 2016.