435, 435, 435 - Deadlift New Personal Best Attempt
The number 435 has been on my mind for the last two days as I think about what I want to achieve at the gym tonight. I’m hoping that more than a week’s rest on lower body plus three full days rest on upper body will help me feel strong and energized for the workout. Last month I did a 432 rack deadlift and pulled a 425 regular deadlift , so I am hoping that 435 is a realistic goal at this point. Getting stronger motivates me like nothing else, and the workouts when I achieve a new personal best leave me feeling on top of the world. Only time will tell if this is to be one of those special nights. I’ll continue writing this post after the workout….
It’s now the day after and I’ll describe my workout. With deadlift I can usually tell during the warm up if I’m going to be ‘in the zone’ for a strong workout. As I did 135×10 I felt good, but not great. I had decided not to use my energy on a lot of reps at lower weight. I had warmed up on the treadmill for 20 minutes before starting deadlifts so that plus the 135 set should be enough. I put on two more plates and did just two lifts at 225. Singles from here on in. Two more plates and did one lift at 315. Didn’t feel like I’d used up much energy to this point, should have a lot in the tank for the big lifts. Next I added 70 and did a 385 lift. Hard to get this one, oh oh…soldiering on, time for the big one. Loaded up the bar to 435 and took my time to get prepared for the lift. I have to say I didn’t have a lot of confidence but I was going to give it my all no matter what. Finally ready, I tried the lift and I’ll be damned if I didn’t get that bar up past my knees and but try as I might I couldn’t finish it off by standing up entirely straight….I was SO CLOSE! I tried to finish the deadlifting with a 405 lift but I had no hope, I had used up all my lower body strength and also my focus I guess, I couldn’t get the bar past my knees. So that was if for deadlifting. Was I angry? Disappointed? Frustrated?….Hell no! I had just come very close to cleanly deadlifting 435. 435!! Being in a position to think about attempting this, let alone almost doing it, is an incredible achievement and I never thought it possible I’d even get close to this point when I started deadlifting in November, 2007. I am excited with my progress and I know that I have the ability to continue improving in the weeks and months to come. I’ll finish that 435 sooner or later and go on from there!
For the next part of my workout I decided to do standing barbell overhead press, a long time since I’d done these and I wanted to test how heavy I could go. I set up in the power rack with the safety rods. Did a set of 95×10 to warmup, followed by 115×6. Then did a single of 137, followed by 155, this one tied my best lift and I knew I could do more! I added 10 more pounds and did the 165 lift, hard but still not at the limit of my strength. But I was content to stop there, I’ll do this again in a month or so and go for more. I guess all the bench press work so far this year is helping to stenghten my entire upper body, shoulders included! In between these sets I did some hamstring work, using the lying leg curl machine. Kept the weight low and did sets of 12. By the end of these sets, combined with the deadlifting, my hamstrings were very tight. I expect I’ll feel some soreness later today or tomorrow.
Looking forward to tomorrow’s workout, I start my new bench/chest strength training program. Stay tuned!
March 28, 2009 at 1:44 pm
435! 435! 435! Sounds like a chant to encourage Tony on at the gym
So close, but you moved a huge amount of weight. You do some big lifts, and you’re right that 435lb deadlift is only a short time away.
Great work on the military press. I do seated presses with no back support and think the standing version would be hard to be stable. Takes a strong core to do them.