My main strength goal in 2018 was to increase my deadlift by 100 pounds and finally obtain a 600-pound deadlift. I started my journey with a deadlifting PR of 500 pounds in January and hit many minor personal records along the way: 530 pounds in February, 550 in April, and 576.5-pound deadlift a month later. Despite some traveling and difficulty finding somewhere to train, I reached my goal of deadlifting 600 pounds in early December.
How Fast Can You Expect to Progress?
I will mention that although the deadlift is often the fastest lift to progress, you should not expect an increase in your deadlift max this fast unless you are a beginner or as was in my case, you are returning after a period of detraining. A good estimate for the strength gains to expect per week is around 2.5-5 pounds for beginners, 1-2.5 lbs. for intermediate lifters, and even less for advanced lifters. In fact, the mesocycle programming in the charts below would look much different for late intermediate or advanced lifters. At that training age, it would make much more sense to focus mainly on volume progression and total tonnage lifted. Something else to consider is that I also tend to hit PRs (personal records) at a submaximal level, meaning that at the time of my 550-pound lift my true max was actually around ten pounds or so higher. You can observe my PRs on Instagram and see that the speed of my lifts is not indicative of a true all-out max. This is due to the fact that I tend to focus on the rate at which I accelerate the bar, rather than solely focusing on the amount of weight lifted. The reason for this is that acceleration is just as good of an indicator of a progression in force. You can read about his concept and some of the advantages Here.
The Master Plan
What follows is a run-down of how I’ve been training for the past several months, and my plan to hit 600 pounds. I’ll mention that type of training is not optimal for everyone. Many experience lifters swear by a high volume approach, however, personally, I do best focusing on only around two very intense sets per week. The only way to know for sure is to experiment to see what works for you. Below are the programming tables that I created on excel to reach my goal of a 600-pound deadlift. This may take a little bit more work than setting up programming by percentage, but the weekly PRs are rewarding.
Here’s a Breakdown:
- Workout: The numbers under this section correspond to the week of programming, and the letters (a) and (b) represent the first and second workout of the week, respectively. For example, I usually deadlift on Monday and Friday.
- Predicted 1RM (1 Rep Max): This column was calculated using a formula that predicts your 1RM based on the amount of weight that you lifted, and the number of reps that you completed with that weight. On each workout you want your predicted 1RM to be as close as possible to your predetermined goal 1RM (explained next). You may have to play around with the weight column to get a predicted 1RM that is close enough to your goal 1RM.
- Goal 1RM: The predicted 1 rep max that you will shoot for each week. To determine this, follow these steps:
- Subtract your current max from your goal max. (e.g. 600-550= 50lbs.)
- Divide that number by the amount of progression each week. I would suggest some of the numbers I mentioned earlier: 5 pounds for beginners, 2.5 lbs. for intermediate lifters, and even less for advanced lifters (e.g. 2.5 pounds every month with high volume days added in). The number that you get is the number of weeks to reach your goal. (e.g. 50 lbs. /2.5 = 20 weeks) It’s also okay to for your Predicted 1RM for your workouts to undulate (e.g. go up 5 pounds one day and drop 2.5 the next) as long as the general trend is up.
- Now go down the column and input your Goal 1RM for each week. Start with your current max in (1a) and add 2.5 lbs in each subsequent (a) row until you reach your goal. Don’t worry about filling in the (b) rows, but you should shoot for a Predicted 1RM somewhere between the previous and next goal 1RM. In order to determine the amount of weight and reps for each set, you can play around with various combinations of weights and reps until the calculated Predicted is close enough to your Goal 1RM for that day. To mix it up, I like to lift heavier weights for fewer reps on (a) workouts, and drop the weight and complete more reps on my (b) workout days. If you want, you can add in some maxes at benchmark numbers as I did. For, example 575 is not my final goal, but I still set it up as a max along the way.
My Mesocycle Programming
These are the calculations for your most intense set for that day, but you will obviously complete several warm-up sets before. This not only makes injuries less likely, but it also adds some volume to your training. For example, before performing my daily goal set of lets say of 515 pounds for 5 reps, my warm-up sets would look something like this: (135lbs. x 8 reps, 225lbs. x 5 reps, 315lbs. x 3 reps, 405lbs x 1 rep, 455lbs. x 1 rep, and 495lbs. x 1 reps).
Something to consider is that the lower the number of reps used for the table calculations, the closer the calculated predicted 1RM will be to your true 1RM. For instance, a predicted 1RM calculated using 12 reps will not be as accurate as the same predicted 1RM using 2 Reps. Also, this formula will not be as accurate if you do touch-and-go reps. It doesn’t mean that you should avoid touch-and-go sets because they have their advantages, but you should account for it when determining your numbers. To adjust for this you should shoot for a slightly higher Predicted 1RM than you otherwise would. You can see an example of this in the final table: I hit a set with a predicted 1RM of 614 pounds but I know my actual max was just around 600 pounds at that time.
I was impatient and attempted to hit 600 before I leaving New York, but didn’t quite pull it off, so I am continuing the cycle for another month before I retest.
Here is a link to the Interactive tables so you can plug in your own numbers. Let me know if you have any questions.
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