Going From a 500lb to a 600lb Deadlift

What has got you guys there or thereabouts? I am trying bands right now. I need to get a much better deadlift to gain 10-15 kg on my clean.

Heavy stiff leg deadlifts was the best thing I ever did for my deadlift. Those and increased frequency. Basically the Tom Martin method.
I only Deadlift 252.5kg though so not quite the 600lb mark.

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What got me there was switching stances. But what really keeps it moving is the mindset to keep it going up. It easy to think your training hard but the weights don’t increase. If you come in and hit a certain weight all the time add a few lbs to it this time. Also keep from failing reps it sets me back. I missed one squat this year. But it gives you confidence and thats huge in lifting

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@Vincepac1500
This worked for me too. Trained sumo exclusively for 2 years, got my sumo from 585 to 655 and my conventional went up about 50lbs without having trained it.

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Deadlifts for reps and losing a good bit of blubber around my midsection are probably the two biggest things I did. I didn’t need any “advanced” tricks like chains, bands, paused lifts, ROM progression, etc. I’m not saying those methods don’t work or are unnecessary, just that I didn’t need them to hit 600.

Like @Vincepac1500 said, a lot of it is just mindset and making sure you’re always striving to add weight to the bar and reps to your sets with any given weight.

I’ve also failed maybe two or three pulls at the most in my life. When I step up to the bar I know I’m going to lock it out. Its a given in my mind. Every single time. That barbell is going to move.

Good luck!

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ROM progression deadlifts took me from being stuck at a low 5s deadlift for 3 years to a 650 pull at a 200lb bodyweight.

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@T3hPwnisher I’m interested though, is your deadlift a lot stronger from blocks / with partials (I recall you using mats)? Because my pull is about the same from 3" as it is from the floor, kinda seems like the “progression” would be a bit uneven… What do you think?

I’m experimenting with a very (VERY) loosely Westside-inspired routine with a ME day just for deadlift, and so progressive RoM could easily work for me at the moment schedule wise.

3" off the floor is a weak point for just about everyone. It’s low enough that you don’t really get the whole “partial ROM cheat” thing going on, but it’s high enough that you can’t try to use momentum to carry you from the floor to lockout. It tends to be a position of weak/poor mechanical advantage. So I wouldn’t sweat that specifically.

When I run ROM progression, there tends to be a point in the ROM that is actually weaker than off the floor, and that’s about it. For me, it’s the 3-4 mat point.

Where are you between 500 and 600 lbs? I found 500 to 550 was easy enough, but 550 to 600 took a while. I’d suggest pushing the heavy reps weekly for a few months, then for a couple of months work up to a very heavy single every second week with light pulls in the off weeks.

I also think SSB squats and paused front squats are some of the best DL builders.

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