I was going to deadlift 500 lbs by April. I did it on January 2nd instead. It is certainly possible to be too conservative in your goal-setting. I’m the proof. Are you really testing yourself? Just something to think about.
Also, this looked beautiful in my head, but is a really ugly deadlift. If you’re looking for instructional material, do not try to mimic the deadlift you see here. I won’t be going any heavier until I can do this with better form.
Get after it.
Josh
{ 39 comments… read them below or add one }
Beautiful and hideous
that was not a max, which is really good. I am concerned about lumbar positioning- your CV looks like mine right before my lower back checked out on me a few years back. being tall is kind of a disadvantage for this stuff. When we talk today we will cover some ideas for movement which may be positive.
Way too conservative. You added over 100lbs to your pull in only a few months. It is perfectly reasonable to anticipate a 600+ pull by end of year- Consider at your rate of growth 600 will not even be 2.5. I believe you will be around 265/270 by the end of the year. Best of all- you are not even trying
Impressive stuff! Big congrats!!
Wow! That’s over 220 kilos in “real” weight. Nice work, and I agree with the first commenter, I was a little worried about your back there.
Fantastic job though hitting an objective so early – well done!
Thanks Mike. I’ll get the form sorted out. With the first commenter’s help.
I like your ballet flats.
http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/
Settle down.
You really muscled that weight up there, sure the form sucked but the goal was accomplished. Huge congrats!
I’m with Kelly… what’s with the shoes?
Mike, those are vibram five fingers. I’ll have to send you a picture of me wearing them with my suit: http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/
I love them.
They look awesome. I want to get a pair to wear around the house.
You’re a machine. I’m still working on getting to 300
And I don’t think those are ballet flats haha. It’s tough to tell from the video but they look like vibram five fingers. Am I right?
I also agree with Adam, Josh. There was a lot left in the tank on that pull. Once you flatten your back out and get some more hip drive, I can definitely see 600lbs going up. Especially with Adam’s help.
I want 500lbs even more now
. Pity I am about half your size.
I talked to Adam this afternoon and he gave me a few “tall guy” adaptations to start playing around with.
Congratulations! No matter how ugly, you got it up there, and waaayyy ahead of schedule. What a nice, round number. I cheer you!
Thanks Kat. I’m just sooooo tall. I’m going to start experimenting with some sumo variations and see how it affects me.
Nice! Sumo may be the ticket for you to get some gnarly weights at a better back angle!
Best-
Craig
Congrats on the crossing one off this early! I’m with Kelly and Mike on the shoes, but I’ll hit the link in a mo. I liked the hat. Scary noise, though. . . . I thought maybe a sneeze had caught you unawares, or a bug had flown by or ear or something. But yeah, man! Congrats!
Vibram Five Fingers, as featured in Oxygen, which is actually a women’s lifting/fitness magazine! Coolness, and a darned good idea! I needs me a pair o’ these, as I often work out barefoot. I’ll be one stylin’ hillbilly who won’t fall on her butt as much! Thanks, Josh!
Congratulations Josh. As you said, form needs work, but damn it looked easy.
Wow – amazing! Congrats on hitting that goal early.
I clicked on the link to the shoes – are they like Yoga Toes, aligning everything properly? Or just for anti-slip and coolness? Why do you like them/what do they do for you?
With the brilliant white of your foot, I thought you were wearing spats. It’s a big day, thought you were dressing up all dandy for the event.
Seriously…way to go.
Awesome Josh, although definitely need to work on that form!
I generally train barefoot, but if I’m not barefoot I’m in VFF’s like you, and Adam
Although they’re really not good on snow or ice, but I’m tempted to buy the new Flow Trek’s they just released that have a real tread on the bottom and thicker upper!
It’s interesting how when I started wearing VFF’s my sitting in a chair all day related bad backs went away, and I wore trainers for the last month due to snow and ice and my bad backs are back…
I’m going for a conservative 140kg (300lb) deadlift for 2010 which is 2xBW for me at the moment, I think it will fall sooner than I think.
Vibram five fingers changed the way i squat and deadlift, I’ll rock that anyday but it’s hard to keep the smell out x.x even after soak and washing and sunning
Anyway congrats on your 500lb deadlift. will continue to work on my pursuit to 450
I found wearing socks with them totally eliminates the whole stink problem, and keeps your feet warmer in cold weather!
I got mine from http://www.toesocks.co.uk but you can get similar socks pretty much anywhere. In the US I think Vibram officially endorse injinji socks, can’t get them here though.
Worth a try anyway, I remember when I first got my VFF and about 3 weeks of wearing them I started smelling this bad funk and couldn’t figure out where it was coming from… then I realised it was my feet and my VFF!
That definitely proves you are the World’s Strongest Librarian. Congrats man. Only January 2nd and you already achieved one of your main goals for the year.
Nothing wrong with achieving goals early, Josh. You have a desire to get these resolutions done so it doesn’t surprise me at all that you’d get one done by January 2nd. Maybe now you can set the goal of 600 pounds?
600 it is.
Nice lift. Though my DL form is awful, you made that look easy.
How long have you been training weights in VFFs? Care to share for the fan community (a la http://birthdayshoes.com)?
Justin, I’ve been training in VFFs and wearing them everywhere else since July. I’ll never stop. My form is actually pretty good up to about 450. I’d never tried more than that. I need to find a way to be shorter.
A full-time VFFer — there aren’t many of us
Incidentally, you aren’t the only librarian VFF fan either!
http://birthdayshoes.com/index.php/library-director-to-run-collingswood-book-festival-5k-race-in-his-vffs
YES. That’s too good, thanks.
nice work josh, your killin it lately. First the beast now this, working with adam is really paying off. I am going to talk to him 2 night about doing online training again with him. I just want to feel better, i have been dealing with pain in collar bone and side of neck. I am hoping adam can get me on track again. I to am pretty tall, 6 foot 3 and i had a goal of 600 dead a while back. Well keep it up man.
Josh, that was freakin’ awesome! Congrats on the lift.
Congrats Josh,
I agree with the others: it looked ugly, but easy too. You must have a lot more in you.
Apart from the VFF’s, how many lbs does the hat add?
Congrats on hitting your goal early; 500 lbs is a great weight to pull! Judging by your technique and raw strength, I’d say you can pull 600 before the end of the year. Once you get your form down: head and chest up (pick a point on the ceiling and stare at it the whole time), use the legs a bit more in the initial portion of the lift, and master the hip drive through lockout; then I definitely think you should try for a real 1 rep max, assess your weak point, and use some rack pulls to blow through that max. If you can do all that I bet you pull 550 before the end of May.
Thanks for the feedback. I’m going experiment with sumo and see if that makes my height less of an issue.
Does your gym have a Trap Bar? The diamond shape will help your form greatly and you won’t have to stress about hitting your shins and knees on the way up. This saves a lot of strain on your back.
No, but I’ve been thinking about grabbing one. Thanks for the suggestion.
HECK YAH!!! I agree with Adam—way too fast for a true max. EXCELLENT work my friend!!
On second thought, you are a bastard for crushing my excuse about my long femurs. hehehe.
I am interested in your testing with sumo stance and how it goes.
Keep it up!
Rock on
Mike T Nelson PhD(c)
Mike, I’m way weaker on sumo. I can barely budge 400, unless I bring my feet in so that my knees are just barely outside my hands. Is that still considered sumo?
What a killing weight you have there. Congrats !
{ 7 trackbacks }