475 Pound Dead Lift Personal Best - 45 Years Old at 192 Pounds

I have a goal in mind to hit a 500 pound Deadlift this year, I am probably pretty close if I where to actually go for it and do low rep warm ups, then go for it? I have done 453 pounds for 5 reps before, that I would say is my best Deadlift effort to date. Once over the 450 pound mark, a bit of a mental mind game kicks in for me.

In this video we are doing a 5x5x5x5x5 Deadlift session, not ideal when going for a Personal Best, too much work on the front end of it but I thought I would give 475 pounds a try and see where I was at? The day before I did a pretty intense back workout so going for a Deadlift PR the next day is far from optimal, perhaps I am closer to a 500 pound Deadlift than I think?

Anyways, enjoy the video, I have also thrown in a few video takes of some of my workout partners also lifting 475 pounds, one of which is 52 years old! Goes to show, age is only a number...

• Checkout how doing heavy Deadlifts effects your heart rate and how many calories I burned in this workout!

Deadlift PR at 190 Pounds Body Weight - 405 Pounds x 12 reps

I guess you could say I am trying to work back up to where I was prior to my Mens Physique Competition, which was followed by some well needed rest, and then a family vacation and of course the Holiday season where workouts get a back seat to other things. So what I'm tryign to say is the last 2 months have not been as productive for me as I would like them to have been, at least in terms of buidling muscle and getting stronger...

I have been working hard this past week or so in the gym but have felt really up and down, and recovery is slow since my body is not used to the workloads anymore! Today was Deadlift day and my legs where still a bit soar from Mondays killer Squat day. Today I had no idea how my body would react to the Deadlifts but on the positive side I was at my CrossFit Gym with my bro's and we all like to push each other so I knew I was not geting off easy.

We started off with a 12 rep set at 225 pounds to get the blood flowing. The weight felt really good and I snapped them out in a hurry, we added 50 pounds for the next set and again the 12 reps at 275 pounds felt pretty easy and I got through them fast. Now it was getting serious as we added another 50 pounds to the bar for a total of 325 pounds. But again I went through the 12 reps really quickly and yes it was hard but I knew there was more left in me.

As a 4 man group, we decided to up the anti and put an additional 80 pounds on the bar (405 pounds) for the last set, and just do as many reps as possible with the goal of 12 reps hanging out there, and to be honest, I was hoping to get 6-8 reps...

I'm not going to lie, at 405 pounds, things slowed down a lot but the bar kept coming off the floor and my back kept straightening out at the top, so I just toughed it out till I hit 10 reps. After I hit the magic 10th rep I thought, why not just make it 12 and put some pressure on the other boys? You know, I may of even had a 13th rep in me but my lungs where done at that point and I think I proved to myself that I was back in the game...

Deadlift PR of 453 Pounds x 3 Reps - 45 Years Old @ 194 Pounds

I am always a bit reluctant to go for any crazy PR's. My advice to us older folks is to stay healthy, an injury can really set you back so when doing PR's you have to know your bodies limitations.

I had done a single rep PR of 450 before this so I knew I had at least one rep at 453 pounds in me and the set before I did 403 for three reps and it was hard but went up smooth. So I though, why not go for it?

Everything went well, got my three reps and no rips or tears or snaps which is the main thing :) My long term goal is to hit 500 pounds at some point but I will be sticking at the 450 weight until I can rep them out for 5-7 reps first.

You can see how this workout effected my heart rate and how many calories I burned by clicking on this link.

Update on Thursday, September 18, 2014 at 7:57PM by Michael Kaye

UPDATE: Today a week later I did 5 reps at 453 pounds and this was after some pretty intensive Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday workouts!

Deadlift PR of 433 lbs x 5 reps at 195 lbs Body Weight.

Just a quick Deadlift PR Post. I don't go for too many 1 rep PR's these days, just too hard on the old muscles and joints ;) But every once in a while when I am feeling good, I try to rep out a Personal Record.

Last week I actually did this exact same PR when we where doing a 5x5 deadlift day. Today we where doing 5 sets by 3 reps but I wasn't really sure if I wanted to go much over 433 pounds so I decided to throw 433 pounds on the bar and go for another 5 reps to make sure it wasn't just a fluke the first time! Well I got it again and I almost felt like I had another one left in me but there was still a fair amount of back workout left to go so I called it quits...

If you are wondering how heavy Deadlifts effect your heart rate, checkout my Polar Loop and Garmin VivoFit Heart Rate Monitor reports for this workout. You may be surprised, the peak in the middle of the workout is my heavy set of 433 pounds hitting 5 reps!

Maintaining Strength After 2 Month Off From Doing Squats and Deadlifts

As many of you are aware that follow what I do here on GetFitOver40.com, I suffered a really bad calf tear about 2 months while ago while doing a 400 meter sprint and had to shut down some of my leg work in order to take care of the calf tear and let it heal up.

So for the most part to keep my leg gains, I have been doing Leg Extensions, Leg Curls, some Machine Leg Press and DB Straight Leg Deadlifts. For calves, just everyday walking around till it heals :(

I am happy to say that over the last few days I have started incorporating Squats and Deadlifts back into my workouts and feel pretty much as strong as before the calf injury. My last Deadlift workout I even managed 8 reps at 395 pounds even though the last couple reps where real grinders. Today I even PR'd a 3 rep 275 pound Front Squat so perhaps those leg extensions did me some good!

In terms of my calf rehab, my left calf is feeling really good but I do not want to ask too much too quickly so I have just started to reintroduce some calf work by doing single leg body weight calf raises to get my flexibility and range of motion back. So far so good and I'm surprised to find that my injured calf is actually keeping up fairly well with my good one so I am well on my way to a full recovery :)