Is it realistic to go from a 405lb deadlift to a 500lb deadlift? (as a natural)

[TripleTrouble]

When you weigh 160lbs? And as a natural? (an actual true natural, i have not and don't ever plan on taking anything that cant be sold in your local supermarket!)

Has anyone gone from 405 to 500? I've recently started training deadlift again. Its been nearly 6 moths of straight up deadlifting 1x a week . I feel like i can definitely add 10-15lb more but not sure if i'll ever get the magical 500

[JimRat6969]

Definitely realistic, im on my way to 500 as we speak

[Turtora]

yes

[Daemonium]

Yeah definitely. It will take some time obviously, but you're also bound to put on some muscle mass in that time as well so staying at 160 might not be as realistic if you're low bf%.

[smokinHawk]

Yes of coarse it is. When I started deadlifting I could do 385 after training for a month
I didn't train it that much and a year later did 405, I started to train hard and a year later did 500, all weighing 160-165, my best raw deadlift at 165 was 568 I think. And of course all natural.
Getting to the 600's was easy (went up to 181 though) but getting to 700 is difficult for me as 4 years after getting my first 600 I'm only at 650

[JimRat6969]

Yes of coarse it is. When I started deadlifting I could do 385 after training for a month
I didn't train it that much and a year later did 405, I started to train hard and a year later did 500, all weighing 160-165, my best raw deadlift at 165 was 568 I think. And of course all natural.
Getting to the 600's was easy (went up to 181 though) but getting to 700 is difficult for me as 4 years after getting my first 600 I'm only at 650

ONLY at 650, lol this guy

[TripleTrouble]

Yes of coarse it is. When I started deadlifting I could do 385 after training for a month
I didn't train it that much and a year later did 405, I started to train hard and a year later did 500, all weighing 160-165, my best raw deadlift at 165 was 568 I think. And of course all natural.
Getting to the 600's was easy (went up to 181 though) but getting to 700 is difficult for me as 4 years after getting my first 600 I'm only at 650

Only 650? Thats way more than i could ever do. Just saw some of your vids, crazy lifting.

When you hit a plateau what do you usually do? Whats your course of action? I usually take 10 days off, eat and keep hitting deads 1x a week. With enough patience i'll eventually go up in poundage again. 5 plates just looks intimidating and badass to lift

[Daemonium]

Yes of coarse it is. When I started deadlifting I could do 385 after training for a month
I didn't train it that much and a year later did 405, I started to train hard and a year later did 500, all weighing 160-165, my best raw deadlift at 165 was 568 I think. And of course all natural.
Getting to the 600's was easy (went up to 181 though) but getting to 700 is difficult for me as 4 years after getting my first 600 I'm only at 650

Don't you come in here strong af and call yourself weak.. come on now..

[tonenotbulk]

Yes, it's possible. It took me maybe 1.5 years or so?

Although, I take creatine, which I'm not sure is sold at your local supermarket. =P

[Rileh]

I think I have 500 in me right now and I'm 17. Will be competing in the 163 class for the next 5 years. If I diet down to 10% I would be like 148 bodyweight right now.

You can do it brah. Just train hard

[-Al-]

Yeah definitely. 500 is impressive but not too crazy of a number to hit. In no time at all you'll be asking the same thing about 600

[FunkymonkAW]

Call me jaded, but 500 is not too special or unrealistic. Both meets I've been to I've seen multiple lifters in the 148 and 165 lb classes break 500 consistently.

[smokinHawk]

Only 650? Thats way more than i could ever do. Just saw some of your vids, crazy lifting.

When you hit a plateau what do you usually do? Whats your course of action? I usually take 10 days off, eat and keep hitting deads 1x a week. With enough patience i'll eventually go up in poundage again. 5 plates just looks intimidating and badass to lift

gah, sometimes I want to just bang my head against a table, and I am trying so hard to not get into the genetics don't mean anything compared to believing in yourself and hard work debate again. I apologize in advance mods.

So okay do you know why you will never deadlift 650? I know. It is one of two reasons.

Because you say you will never, you don't believe in yourself, you limit yourself. I would say unless you have a disability, but then on the other hand I have seen quite a few people with disabilities do things that amazed me and others that no one would think they could do or others without disabilities could do.

Other possible reason is you really don't care about deadlifting 650, and don't want to put in the work required to get there. Hey that is your choice, if you don't want to put the time in that is your life, and you could have other things that are a higher priority, nothing wrong with that.



sorry for the side track, so for when I hit plateaus, I am battling one now. I was always consistently in moving up my deadlift event if it was slow. But my last meet I did terrible and only pulled 635, and it was the hardest pull I have ever made, as I missed my first cause i didnt know i didnt lock it out, then passed out on my second, and barely got my third nearly passing out again.

Any time I hit a plateau I step back and look at my training, see what changed in my life and training, think back what I was doing when I was making good gains. Film and evaluate my form, see if it changed, and what I need to do to improve it. Evaluate if I am injured and make a plan of rehabilitation. There have been a couple times when i didn't know I was injured. I don't take time off unless I need to recover from an injury.
So here is what I have identified from my deadlift:
I used to do rep squats then deadlifts on saturday. I moved my heavy squat day to saturday, then my deadlift day to tuesday, taking out the rep squats. My squat went up, deadlift down. The rep squats really helped my deadlift as they were closer stance and used a lot of back. My intensity went down on the new deadlift day, as I am able to be more intense on saturday then a tuesday. I changed days to match my training partners. I slightly changed my form, trying to lift less stiff legged. I was setting my numbers in training a little to high, trying to make to big of PR's. I had been doing less hamstring curls and instead been doing GHR instead. Did a lot of speed pulls with bands to try and get my intensity and form right (I think this helped some but not that much).

What my plan is to fix my deadlift plateau:
More deadlift volume. My meet prep training cycle is 10 week long, for 5 weeks I used a stiff bar and thin plates to make it harder, then the next 5 weeks I am using the TDB we use at the meet and thin plates to mimic the meet. I have been working on ramping up my intensity and aggression to be the most aggressive at my hardest pull. I worked on my form to get it were I am the strongest for my body type, with this I pull more straight legged and am working on starting with a rounded back, while keeping the weight inline with my body under my shoulders. I tried to get another squat day in but havent had to much luck. I have been putting more hamstring curls in and doing some GHR too. On the wall next to my deadlift platform at home I put up my goal of 680 for my next meet, and each time I do a big pull I think of I need to get that to get my goal of 680

[Daemonium]

^dayum

[JamesA1990]

Yes of coarse it is. When I started deadlifting I could do 385 after training for a month
I didn't train it that much and a year later did 405, I started to train hard and a year later did 500, all weighing 160-165, my best raw deadlift at 165 was 568 I think. And of course all natural.
Getting to the 600's was easy (went up to 181 though) but getting to 700 is difficult for me as 4 years after getting my first 600 I'm only at 650

4 years the feels

[Lpenny]

gah, sometimes I want to just bang my head against a table, and I am trying so hard to not get into the genetics don't mean anything compared to believing in yourself and hard work debate again. I apologize in advance mods.

So okay do you know why you will never deadlift 650? I know. It is one of two reasons.

Because you say you will never, you don't believe in yourself, you limit yourself. I would say unless you have a disability, but then on the other hand I have seen quite a few people with disabilities do things that amazed me and others that no one would think they could do or others without disabilities could do.

Other possible reason is you really don't care about deadlifting 650, and don't want to put in the work required to get there. Hey that is your choice, if you don't want to put the time in that is your life, and you could have other things that are a higher priority, nothing wrong with that.



sorry for the side track, so for when I hit plateaus, I am battling one now. I was always consistently in moving up my deadlift event if it was slow. But my last meet I did terrible and only pulled 635, and it was the hardest pull I have ever made, as I missed my first cause i didnt know i didnt lock it out, then passed out on my second, and barely got my third nearly passing out again.

Any time I hit a plateau I step back and look at my training, see what changed in my life and training, think back what I was doing when I was making good gains. Film and evaluate my form, see if it changed, and what I need to do to improve it. Evaluate if I am injured and make a plan of rehabilitation. There have been a couple times when i didn't know I was injured. I don't take time off unless I need to recover from an injury.
So here is what I have identified from my deadlift:
I used to do rep squats then deadlifts on saturday. I moved my heavy squat day to saturday, then my deadlift day to tuesday, taking out the rep squats. My squat went up, deadlift down. The rep squats really helped my deadlift as they were closer stance and used a lot of back. My intensity went down on the new deadlift day, as I am able to be more intense on saturday then a tuesday. I changed days to match my training partners. I slightly changed my form, trying to lift less stiff legged. I was setting my numbers in training a little to high, trying to make to big of PR's. I had been doing less hamstring curls and instead been doing GHR instead. Did a lot of speed pulls with bands to try and get my intensity and form right (I think this helped some but not that much).

What my plan is to fix my deadlift plateau:
More deadlift volume. My meet prep training cycle is 10 week long, for 5 weeks I used a stiff bar and thin plates to make it harder, then the next 5 weeks I am using the TDB we use at the meet and thin plates to mimic the meet. I have been working on ramping up my intensity and aggression to be the most aggressive at my hardest pull. I worked on my form to get it were I am the strongest for my body type, with this I pull more straight legged and am working on starting with a rounded back, while keeping the weight inline with my body under my shoulders. I tried to get another squat day in but havent had to much luck. I have been putting more hamstring curls in and doing some GHR too. On the wall next to my deadlift platform at home I put up my goal of 680 for my next meet, and each time I do a big pull I think of I need to get that to get my goal of 680

I like your post. I personally wanna deadlift 1000 lbs some day (raw or with straps). Andy Bolton, Benni magnusson, and Eddie hall have done it, so why the fuk can't I? And there will inevitably be many more 1000 lb deadlifters. I know statistically my chances are low of deadlifting 1000, but I have 0% chance of hitting it if I just give up on it now. Hit 650 2 weeks ago, 675 2 days ago, and it was too easy, so I'm going for 700 this week. I set ridiculous goals, and I'm often disappointed, but those disappointments help drive me to fix what I'm doing wrong.

[adpowah]

I haven't progressed as fast as some in here but I am hoping to hit it sometime this year or early next. I think if I can get to about 600 lifetime I will be satisfied.

[Ownster8932]

gah, sometimes I want to just bang my head against a table, and I am trying so hard to not get into the genetics don't mean anything compared to believing in yourself and hard work debate again. I apologize in advance mods.

So okay do you know why you will never deadlift 650? I know. It is one of two reasons.

Because you say you will never, you don't believe in yourself, you limit yourself. I would say unless you have a disability, but then on the other hand I have seen quite a few people with disabilities do things that amazed me and others that no one would think they could do or others without disabilities could do.

Other possible reason is you really don't care about deadlifting 650, and don't want to put in the work required to get there. Hey that is your choice, if you don't want to put the time in that is your life, and you could have other things that are a higher priority, nothing wrong with that.

I agree with your philosophy as far as you have to be willing to work hard and have belief in yourself, but I think it's pretty stupid to act like work ethic and belief in yourself means more than genetics at a certain point. For example, it doesn't matter how hard you believe in yourself or how many countless hours you spend at the gym, you will never become LeBron James. Being 6'8", 260 lbs, with the speed he has and a 44+" vertical leap is sure as fuck genetics. Now true, he still has to put in a lot of work in the gym and watching film, but at the end of the day, nobody is going to be like him (at least 99.99% of us; the remaining percentage are all those also gifted with similar genetics) and it doesn't matter how much game film or hours they spend working on their craft.

Again, I agree and am usually one to say a similar rant to people, but I definitely acknowledge that genetics can be a massive advantage or disadvantage. Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard. But when talent works hard? Yeah, that's LeBron James and it doesn't matter how hard you work, lol. But yes, it's a good mindset to have- just believe in yourself and work hard. You can't do anything about your genetics, so why worry about it, I guess. One thing is probably for certain- even if you aim for 700 and never get it, you will probably get further than just aiming for 500.

[Garage Rat]

Yes it is with smart planning and dedication.
It may take sometime but make small goals on your way to your big goal.

[baize82]

Hit my first 500 pull on a bro-split weighing about 170, it's totally possible under the circumstances you described

[HamburgerTrain]

Well, I am not 160 but from when I started deadlifting with a straight bar to now, my max has gone from 185 to 815. It only took 10 years.

[EthanHun]

Yeah that is possible- would take a 1-2 years probably with no serious injurys

[THErunCMD]

When you weigh 160lbs? And as a natural? (an actual true natural, i have not and don't ever plan on taking anything that cant be sold in your local supermarket!)

Has anyone gone from 405 to 500? I've recently started training deadlift again. Its been nearly 6 moths of straight up deadlifting 1x a week . I feel like i can definitely add 10-15lb more but not sure if i'll ever get the magical 500

Easily. However at your height 160 is small. Plan on putting on at least 10lbs. I pulled 500 weighing in at 160 at a meet. Dropped it on the way down but meh. I have done more since in the gym but I am 180 right now. Definitely have some fat to lose but if you really want to get there, PUT ON WEIGHT.

I agree with some of the comments above. I am proud of a 500lb pull but I don't think it's anything special. When I am pulling 600 maybe I'll feel strong. Not sure how much further I could get without supplementing. Only time will tell.

[aperry580]

I can't speak for 168 but I'm all natural an got low sevens and I don't even take protein powder so anything is possible I'm 270 tho

[naturalguy]

Why wouldn't it be possible?

Don't put limits on yourself and don't use being natural as a crutch

[Mitch666]

405 to 500 natty took me a little over a year, maybe like 15ish months??

[SavageNerdz]

"He who who says he can and he who says he can’t are both usually right"

The above quote while perhaps over used has never rang truer. You are only limited by your own mind, in the words of Doug Young

"Your body is capable of so much more than your mind is capable of. In my opinion the mind is nothing more than a breaker-fuse for just like uhh electricity when your body gets more than it can take, your mind shuts it off and will not let you extend yourself any further, and a weightlifter in my opinion to lift the types of weight i lift you must learn to discipline your mind in conjunction with your body."

[isaku900]

why is anyone talking about limits at all for this scenario?

It doesn't take some herculean mental effort to pull 500lbs at 160ish. It also doesn't take elite genetic predispositions.

It takes a bit of hard work and not being severely handicapped by leverages.

[Rags85]

Easily. However at your height 160 is small. Plan on putting on at least 10lbs. I pulled 500 weighing in at 160 at a meet. Dropped it on the way down but meh. I have done more since in the gym but I am 180 right now. Definitely have some fat to lose but if you really want to get there, PUT ON WEIGHT.

I agree with some of the comments above. I am proud of a 500lb pull but I don't think it's anything special. When I am pulling 600 maybe I'll feel strong. Not sure how much further I could get without supplementing. Only time will tell.

Is this even a thing? I never feel strong.

[InspecktaDeck]

being severely handicapped by leverages.

poor old luke iams, 900/600/615 is still one hell of a total tho..