My BodyBlog

I did a 405 deadlift Friday night.  This is the first chance I’ve had to sit down and write about it, but I’ve been thinking about what to say.  I’m finding it hard to put into words how I feel about it.  This is a monumental achievement for me, both physically and mentally.  I started deadlifting about 10 months ago.  Over that time I learned good form and slowly built up my lifts, and I really enjoyed every deadlift workout.  My steady improvement on deadlift helped boost my confidence and motivation in all aspects of bodybuilding.  When I lifted 315 awhile back, seeing those 6 plates on the bar, it was a tremendous feeling of satisfaction, but it made me hungry for more. 

I achieved a goal of lifting 400 on August 9.  I deadlifted again on Aug 19 but I wasn’t feeling at my best so I stopped at 380.  All last week I was looking forward to Friday night, when I know I would try for 405.  Only 5 more pounds, but it meant having eight 45 pound plates on the bar.  To accomplish this for me would be a tremendous ego boost and it’s something I wanted badly to achieve.  I made sure my lower body and back had plenty of rest during the week, and I ate a good meal before going to the gym.  Friday nights are slow at my gym, and there was only one guy there when I arrived.  As it so happens, he’s someone I like to talk about weightlifting with.  He’s in great shape, been lifting for years, he’s into the nutritional aspect of it too, and best of all he’s closer to my age than most people I talk to at the gym.  Seeing what he’s accomplished is a real motivator for me.  I don’t run into him very often, since he usually lifts in the afternoon while I’m there in the evenings.  He’s big on compound exercises and I’ve seen him deadlift high 300’s for reps.  He was just finishing up his workout and he was in the mood to chat.  I did a warm-up set of 135×10, and he said ‘you’re looking really good there’.  We chatted some more as I added plates, and then I did my next set of 225×6.  He said to me ‘you’ve got the best deadlift form I’ve ever seen from anyone in this gym, especially the way you hold your back.’  Surprised by the compliment, I told him how careful I’ve been to work on my form and lift the right way.  I soon put on 2 more plates and did two lifts of 315.  When I did those he said ‘You’re a powerhouse!  You made that look so easy."  I said ‘You’re joking right?"  He said he meant it and that I could have done a lot more reps.  He asked me my weight, and said that I’m built like a powerlifter.  I told him I was warming up to try to do a personal best lift of 405, so I wasn’t doing a lot of reps.  He said that I would be able to do that weight and a lot more if I continued working at it.  He wished me luck and said he had to leave.  Now, how’s that for an ego-boosting conversation?  I’ve been motivated by other’s comments at the gym before, but I’ve never experienced anything like that!

My 315 lifts felt great and I knew I was going to be able to lift heavy.  The great feelings I got from talking to an experienced lifter who I greatly respect gave me great confidence, and I just knew that tonight was the night that I was going to lift 405.  Now alone in the gym, I did a single lift of 359, then one at 385, still feeling strong.  I took a break and loaded up the bar to 405.  When I was ready for the attempt I had every confidence I could do it…and I did!  It was hard but I found something extra inside me and I just got the job done, all with good form.  After I was finished I gave a little yell of triumph and pumped my fist.  I felt so fantastic it was unbelievable.  About a minute after I’d finished a young guy I talk to often at the gym arrived.  As we said hello he saw the bar and he said ‘Are you lifting that?‘  I said I had just finished.  He asked me how much weight that was and when I told him he said ‘Man, that’s a lot of weight!’ He said that he had only tried deadlifting a couple of times and he found it really hard on his back.  I said that it shouldn’t be like that if he was doing them with the right technique.  As I started to take of the plates he asked me if I could show him how to deadlift right!  I know he’s fairly strong so I left 135 on the bar, then I explained how he should position his hands and feet, and how to move his body for each part of the lift.  He asked me to do some to show him, so I did.  When he set up for his lift I saw right away that he was going to make the same mistake I did when I first started - he didn’t stand right into the bar, he was about a foot away.  So I corrected him and he did a couple of good reps.  He said that he could feel the difference right away and he was probably standing too far away from the bar when he tried deadlifting before.  He said he was going to do some more reps during his back workout.  I enouraged him to keep doing them but to take his time and focus on doing them right rather than trying to add weight.  The weight will come in good time like it did for me.

So, during this workout I achieved a personal best lift with an ego-boosting 8 plates, I received compliments from an experienced lifter that I respect a lot, and I felt complimented when a fit younger guy asked me for advice on how to deadlift correctly.  Wow!  These things might be routine or seem like no big deal to many of you.  But to me, it’s a very big deal.  I grew up as the chubby smart kid, I wasn’t into sports at all.  I didn’t even learn how to skate, which is as natural as walking for most kids here in Canada.  As I moved through my teen and early adult years I tried some team and individual sports, and I was ok at some aspects of them.  But overall at sports I was below average.  In fact, at most things I’ve done in life I’ve been average, but I’ve always had the desire to be excel at something.  Now, at the age of 43 I’ve found an activity that I enjoy tremendously and that I may, if I dare say so, be above average at doing!  I am transforming my body and achieving strength goals in ways that I don’t see very many other people around me doing.  These feelings of accomplishment and success that I am getting every time I meet one of my goals or every time I get a compliment are feelings that I never thought I could have.  Now that I am, I want more of it.  I want to keep improving my body and my strength to see how much I can accomplish.

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 7th, 2008 at 12:10 pm and is filed under Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.