The Road To 500!

Hello T-Nation!

I am a LONG time reader, and occasional poster. I am posting now for one reason and one reason only. Accountability. I have a goal, but the problem is I also have the worst training A.D.D. on the planet. I will tell you my goal first and then my story. My goal is to dead lift 500lbs by Christmas and my current max is 455lbs. I will log my training as often as I can, and keep you updated with pics and numbers. I figured if I told a couple thousand people what my goal was it would give me a little more incentive to stay on track. Don’t get me wrong, you will never find anyone who trains with more intensity each and every time I hit the gym, but I get bored quickly and jump from program to program. So I decided to give this a try and see how it works!

Now my story. I have been lifting for about 10 years, and seriously for about 6-7, I have always made decent progress, but my training philosophy was pretty misguided in my early days. Thanks to this site and a few others I am on track and making solid gains. On January 10, 2005, I was on my way to baseball practice with a couple of buddies and a drunk driver turned in front of us and we T-Boned him at 55 mph. We were driving a Ford Escort, he was in a Cadillac Escalade. I was the front passenger and fortunately was buckled in, but we hit so hard that my seat sheared off of its track and I slammed into the dashboard.

Long story short, I wound up with a Tibial Plateau fracture, and a cracked rib(which incidentally was the worst part of the whole thing). A week later I had surgery and had a plate and 5 screws installed in my leg and was completely immobilized for about 3 months and non-weightbearing for 6 months. Needless to say I lost ALL of my strength and lean body mass and when it was all said and done I was a nice soft squishy ball of goo.

But I got back in the gym and built it back up, and came back stronger. This past May I had the plate and screws taken out and was again off of my feet for several months. After recovering, I again hit the iron to regain what was lost. In September I pulled 455 from the floor which was a 20lb PR for me so that was awesome. But now I want more so I am training for 500.

I am starting my new job as a firefighter so I am keeping busy with that, but I will try to post my training and progression as much as I can. Along the way, I welcome any advice or help that the knowledgable membership of T-Nation has to offer.

Wow Good Luck man!

Can you list your stats Height Weight ect.

Great job bouncing back from a serious injury. Good luck to you man!

My stats are as follows:

Height-6’
Weight-180
BF%-last measurement was skinfold and was 10%

Good luck man. Smart move to start a thread, it has helped with accountability. Quite a ways to go in a short period of time but it can be done. I just started doing deads again after seriously fucking up my back doing them a few years ago. I hit 500 again a few weeks ago and it felt great. Just giving you something to look forward to.

Check out the Westside/P’Ling thread. I lift like a BB’er but the guys there like Meat and Phill have given me some great advice as I incorporate more P’ling stuff in my training.

A

Great Pull AWESOME comeback and nice goal. go get em bro then more

Phill

Here is today’s workout.

Upper Body Pressing

A. Push Press
95x8, 115x 6, 135x4, 155x2, 185x3 singles

B. BP with Bands
Mini Bandx 5, Mini+50lbsx5, Avg Bandx 5, Avg+20x5, +30x5, +40x5, +50x5

C. Braced One Arm DB Overhead Press
30x10, 32.5x10, 35x10

D. One Arm DB BP
50x8, 52.5x 8, 55x8

E1. Plate Raise
25x10, 27.5x10, 35x10

E2. Lean Away Lateral
16.25x10, 17.5x10, 20x10

F1. Shoulder Horn
15 5/8x10, 16.25x8, 8

F2. Lying Elbows Out Extension
30x10, 32.5x 10, 10

Thats it for today my shoulders and tri’s are shot! Tomorrow is Lower Body Pulling Day so we’ll have some fun now!

[quote]firefighter82 wrote:

Thats it for today my shoulders and tri’s are shot! Tomorrow is Lower Body Pulling Day so we’ll have some fun now![/quote]

Today’s my pulling day too. Good luck hitting your goals.

Christmas is just around the corner. Pull hard!

Today’s Pulling Workout:

I needed a bit of a psychological boost by seeing some big numbers coming off of the floor so my big exercise was reverse band pulls. There are 2 clips here, I have never done this so I have no clue if they will come up, but the first is my second to last set with 635+a purple and green band. No idea what the band tension was, but I got that one. The last one is 675 which I missed short of lockout. Still I was happy I even broke it off the floor! Plus it looks cool as heck and I got some nice stares from other fellow gym goers! Here’s how things went today.

In the morning at my house, before my gym session:

Tire flips.
10 sets of 1 with about 15 seconds rest between each rep.

Sand bag clean and shoulder(SB is approximately 100lbs) 1 each side

At the gym:

A. Reverse Band Pulls:
405+Purplex1, 455+Px1, 500+Greenx1, 525+Gx1, 550+Gx1, 585+G&Px1, 605+G&Px1, 635+G&Px1, 675+G&Px miss twice.

B. Low Cable Pull-through
150x8, 170x8, 180x8, 190x8, 200x8

C. GHR(On lat pull-down seat)
6,6,6,6

D1. Standing Ab Pull-down w/ purple band
20,20,20

D2. 1-Leg SLDL w/db in each hand
15x6, 20x6, 25x6

Finished off with a few sets of misc calf work.

very cool video. if you end up pulling 500 at a sub 200-pounds body weight that will be impressive.

you clearly know how to keep your back straight and shoulders drawn back, because i saw how perfectly you set up on the bar before you began pulling… but you did round your back when initiating the lift. not sure if you wanna continue with that technique for several reasons, but hey, do whatever you wanna do.

good luck.

[quote]hueyOT wrote:
very cool video. if you end up pulling 500 at a sub 200-pounds body weight that will be impressive.

you clearly know how to keep your back straight and shoulders drawn back, because i saw how perfectly you set up on the bar before you began pulling… but you did round your back when initiating the lift. not sure if you wanna continue with that technique for several reasons, but hey, do whatever you wanna do.

good luck.

hueyOT ,

I know I definitely rounded my back on that pull, and I usually keep it locked in, but dang it that was heavier than I thought! I will be working on my low strength for al ittle bit now because that seems to be my weak point right now. Thanks for the advice!

IMO, i would correct my technique <and it’s obvious you know how to perform a perfect deadlift> before advancing the weight.

i’m sure there are those that will disagree with me <competitive powerlifters, for example>, but it’s just not a safe idea when pulling heavy loads.

remember, the criteria for a competition-legal deadlift aren’t as stringent as the perfect technique that you know how to perform. in a competition, you can still round you back, have wobbly knees, and pretty much have ugly technique and still have your lift count.

You are going to be stronger with a better technique period.

75% of that lift is back. The lower back should only move at lockout.

[quote]Florida Titan wrote:
You are going to be stronger with a better technique period.

75% of that lift is back. The lower back should only move at lockout.[/quote]

So you should turn the deadlift into a leg movement??

That’s funny cos that’s actually what I do, accept I call it a squat.

[quote]Hanley wrote:
Florida Titan wrote:
You are going to be stronger with a better technique period.

75% of that lift is back. The lower back should only move at lockout.

So you should turn the deadlift into a leg movement??

That’s funny cos that’s actually what I do, accept I call it a squat.[/quote]

That is the most ignorant thing I have ever heard. You must be a retard.

The deadlift and the squat are both full body movements. The lower back is under constant tension but with good form it should be straight and motionless until you reach the top of the lift and lean back to lockout. Deadlift is the same thing as a squat except isn’t on your back. I wasn’t sure if you knew that or not.

If you think the deadlift doesn’t work your legs you should check to see if they are still attached.

[quote]Florida Titan wrote:
Deadlift is the same thing as a squat except isn’t on your back. I wasn’t sure if you knew that or not.

[/quote]

i’ve always had a big problem with people who say this. they are not the same movement. and they do not look the same when performed what i define as properly .

just for a simple example, let’s think of the deadlift performed in proper technique. if you take a look at the video posted in this thread by the OP, you’ll see perfect deadlift set-up just before he initiates the lift. you can tell that the OP has received good instruction regarding proper and safe deadlift technique.

yes, he rounded his back, but judging by his initial set-up, it’s clear that he knows how to line the bar up properly near his shins according to his dimensions, how to keep the bar close to his body while pulling, how to keep his back straight and arched strongly, and how to drive through this heels, etc.

just for starters: the bottom of a squat, when properly performed, does NOT look like the beginning of a deadlift. at the bottom of a properly performed squat the torso is NOT as flexed and placed as closely to parallel with the ground as is done when initiating a deadlift. these two movements do NOT look the same.

i mean, that is only one difference between the two lifts. i can go on about other huge differences, but my point is that it is incorrect to state that the squat and the deadlift are essentially the same exercise with different leverages/placement of weight. this is completely untrue and you’re also not the first person to have stated this.

firefighter82, i’ll race you 500. 6’ ~185-190lbs

best pull is 440, but that was a year ago august, and my squats, box squats, cleans, have all gone through the roof in that time.

pulled after watching the video of that guy pulling 405 for 30 singles the other day, i did 415 for 10 singles in a similar fasion…it’s no 30, but it was relatively easy.

And your form isn’t all that bad in the video…i’m not saying it was good, but don’t beat yourself up that much…it was heavy, you do what you need to get it up. i wouldn’t make a habit of rounding your back like that, but anyone who has experience knows that it does happen if your not focussing on it.

the deadlift is not a squat. the deadlift is as much a squat as a clean is a goodmorning. you start flat back, end in a standing position, it’s the same isn’t it? LMAO. if you drop your hips, and squat the weight up, you’ll never pull anything impressive. it’s a good exercise, but it’s not conducive of pulling big weights.

[quote]hueyOT wrote:
yes, he rounded his back, but judging by his initial set-up, it’s clear that he knows how to line the bar up properly near his shins according to his dimensions, how to keep the bar close to his body while pulling, how to keep his back straight and arched strongly, and how to drive through this heels, etc.
[/quote]

He’s missing one of if not the most important thing…

Sitting back and getting his butt down. If your ass is down you can’t get a rounded back.

[quote]Florida Titan wrote:
hueyOT wrote:
yes, he rounded his back, but judging by his initial set-up, it’s clear that he knows how to line the bar up properly near his shins according to his dimensions, how to keep the bar close to his body while pulling, how to keep his back straight and arched strongly, and how to drive through this heels, etc.

He’s missing one of if not the most important thing…

Sitting back and getting his butt down. If your ass is down you can’t get a rounded back.

[/quote]

this is another huge error i’ve seen before. you do NOT need to keep your butt down before pulling the weight. great deadlifting comes from lifting your butt as high as possible while maintaining the perfect arch.

for a great example on how to do this i recommend looking at the OP’s video. look at the position he is in just before initiating the lift. that is perfect technique. back straight, butt as high as possible while maintaining the arch.

people who try to squat the weight up are not pulling nearly as much as they can. the back should begin the flex as soon as the lift begins, not once the knees are becoming straighter.

for people with decent flexibility in their hamstrings, glutes, and lower back, they need to minimize knee flexion during this movement and train to begin starting off with their butts in a higher position, while maintaining the healthy arch of the back.

with all due respect, i think you need to STOP giving people advice on technique.

to put it simply, a perfectly performed deadlift will look a lot like a stiff-legged deadlift, except from the ground.