The Road to the 500lb Deadlift

I'll briefly comb over the routines I used with Deadlifting to get to my current PR of 480lb, which is shy a mere 20lb from 500lb. I first started Deadlifting three years ago with two 28lb dumbbells. I immediately loved the feeling of having my posture corrected. I hadn't ever worked my spinal erectors before that. Unknowingly while doing calf raises with a barbell at my hips, I was rack lifting the weight off the flat bench in order to start each set. This gave me some confidence in handling heavier weight.

I Deadlifted 135lb for 8 reps and felt exhausted, and recovered after a few days, and went up 5lb and did 8 reps until I was Deadlifting 385lb for 8 reps. At that point, I deloaded to about 225lb and did 8 reps, 2 sets, and climbed back up to 385lb. This was a routine I thought of myself which is as simple as it can get, which is how beginner routines should be. This gave me a strong lower back, and a stronger back in general, and also upped my muscle endurance and increased my CNS's ability to recover and take a beating.

After that, I somewhat neglected Deadlifting for a while because I had inadvertently ignored my other lifts comparatively. When I went back to Deadlifting, I focused on pulling heavy singles (405lb+). I hurt my spine on 420lb the first time I lifted it, and came back two weeks or so later and pulled it for twelve singles. I realized at around the 430-465lb range that my technique suffered very badly to the point where it was injuring me. This led to less Deadlifting, and made me even doubt my own strength, thinking what if 465lb was my maximum ability. I don't think in terms of maximum ability and ceilings though. I'd rather shoot for the stars and hit the ceiling than to implement an artificial ceiling when things feel like they're getting tough.

Dropping the straps, using a belt, and using a mixed grip launched me out of the 430-465lb range to 480lb as of two days ago, and it was not a hard pull, meaning my true PR is higher. The chalk is my latest added element that's increased my total lift weight. A funny note on adding my weight belt is that it makes crouching a bit harder because you're less mobile in the belt because of its tightness, and so I couldn't easily crouch down to tie in my straps. It was another reason to ditch the straps.

I've been using the 5/3/1 routine the past year, and it's a good method of progression that has you lifting in all three rep ranges of 5, 3, and 1. I find that lifting heavy weight for lower reps feels better on my body and is less harsh on my joints than higher reps with less weight. The amount of volume you do in any given lift is still customizable, so that you can also get significant time under tension and a high amount of muscle contractions.