2 Reasons Why You’ll Never Deadlift Over 405lbs | NEVER EVER!!

The deadlift is amazing for overall growth & strength, but if you can't progress because the exercise is literally snapping your body in half, then the deadlift becomes pointless and dangerous. So let's make sure you keep making gains and don't get stuck at 405lbs!

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Today we are going to talk about the deadlift. But more specifically, the 2 reasons why you will NEVER DEADLIFT over 405lbs! But, why 405lbs? What makes this number the magic number to stop at? In my experience, even with horrible form (which includes excessive back rounding and a deflated core), the average person can lift about double their bodyweight over time.

But then what happens is with each attempt, you are left with either a lot of pain in your lower back, or the sensation of knowing how heavy the weight is and that you will NEVER progress higher, because without proper form it just seems impossible to think more weight can be added to the barbell.

Reason #1: Zero Or Little Leg Drive
There are a lot of reasons as to why your leg drive could be lagging, so we’re going to go over 5 of the most common ones.

1. Push The Earth Down, Don’t Lift The Bar Up
First thing’s first, when you approach the deadlift, you need to already be in the mentality of you’re going to push the earth down, to lift the barbell up. Most people think the deadlift is a back exercise because their back hurts once they’re done doing the lift. Their back hurts because they’re not pushing the earth down to lift the weight, they’re pulling it up with their back.

2. Bend Your Knees To Reach The Barbell, Don’t Just “Bend-Over” With Your Lower Back
In order to have leg drive, and be able to push through your hips, you have to have more than just a centimetre bend in your knees when you bend over to grab the barbell. It makes sense, because if you just bend your knees a little bit, you have to literally bend over SO MUCH, and bend your lower back in order to grab the barbell. If your lower back hurts, it’s because you’re barely bending your knees. You need to dip your hips down, and you’ll notice right away that you’re in a more advantageous position to push through your feet and lift that barbell up off the ground. What happens when you don’t bend your knees enough is that it’s ALL lower back for the first half of the movement.

3. Your Stance Is Too Wide
This mostly applies to anyone who is a conventional deadlifter. If your stance is really wide when you approach the bar conventionally, what’s going to happen is that you’re going to have to reach on the outside of your knees in order to grab the barbell. For some of you, this might work, but for the majority of you, what’s going to end up happening is you’re increasing the range of motion that the bar has to travel in order to complete the movement. It takes more energy to hold a barbell with your arms wide, rather than hanging dead straight in front of you. If you notice you have a wide stance, try bringing your feet in a little bit, so that you can bring your hands in a bit closer, and get a neutral drop from the shoulders, and a nice dead hang with your arms.

4. A Deflated Core Or No Core Control
Obviously pushing through the legs and hips helps with overall power, but that means nothing if your core is deflated. As soon as you start lifting that weight, if you core is deflated, you go right into spinal flexion, and you can still cause back issues. When doing a deadlift, you need to take in a breath at the top of the movement, get down into position, push through, and either breathe out at the top and reset your breath, or hold your breath until you get to the top, come back down, and then reset your breath. This will vary depending on how much weight you’re lifting, particularly if you’re going for a PR. At the end of the day, it’s not about drawing in as much breath as you possibly can – there’s more of a sweet spot you should aim for. If you take in too much air, you might feel light headed and pass out. If you don’t take in enough, your core’s not going to be able to sustain the amount of weight you’re lifting, whether you have a belt on or not.

*CONTINUE READING HERE*

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[ScottHermanFitness]

The deadlift is amazing for overall growth & strength, but if you can't progress because the exercise is literally snapping your body in half, then the deadlift becomes pointless and dangerous. So let's make sure you keep making gains and don't get stuck at 405lbs!

*DEADLIFT: WHY YOU‘RE NOT LIFTING AS MUCH WEIGHT AS YOU COULD*

[MarianBoricean]

Amazing timing! I just hit 405 for the first time in my life, a couple hours before this video was released! Feeling strooong :)

[thomfreyproductions]

Always get laughed at for doing the glute bridge by my friesds
but I can deadlift the most out of my friends
so who is laughing now nerds

[seanheisey]

Ive pulled 405 before, failed 425 3 times yesterday... This video might help me on my next PR attempt. Scott, you rock brotha!

[Robmanticism]

Scott, I’m glad you posted this. I had a 350 deadlift going a few weeks ago, but then hurt myself and now I’m slowly recovering back to a heavy deadlift. I felt weak and like a failure and was looking for something to help me build my confidence up again. Thank you so much, my man. You’re the best in the biz

[MrDaytona]

I do all tips for the lift even down to the footwear and some of the leg exercises, this improved my lift greatly . I'm 52 years old, 71kg at 5' 11" and my PR is 165kg (363lb) my Biggest gains happened when I ditched the belt and I no longer suffer with lower back pain, but i built up good core strength. I've followed scotts tips on previous videos and they work so well.

[ThVirtualGamr]

Gonna implement your tips from this vid! I'm stuck at 315lbs since 6 months. I'm kinda scared of going higher because I don't wanna get spondylosis at 20.

[KLPJumpStealthy]

Your channel is super helpful for people like me who are just now starting to get into fitness, super positive videos that encourage rather than discourage.

[emilecoleman]

With an epic voice like that of James Earl Jones I can lift any amount of weight using only the force

[EnderEd]

Deads! My fave. Just finished 8 week program to add 10% (315 to 345). Hit 345 from mid shin this week so hopeful for Monday's attempt from floor. Been doing BB bridges and half body weight kettle bell swings as auxiliary prep on non- dead days. Fantastic vid Scott... I'm psyched! Wish me luck...

[CJeyBlaughwithme]

Thanks Scott! Been missing your vlogs, hope the move went well! Just got a new PR myself last week of 285 at 160 BW. Not where I want to be yet, but I'm improving every week. I started doing push pull splits, and it helped tons.

[MikeGrahamDSM]

Finally incorporating Deadlifts into my routine! Honestly, when I started to weeks ago, I injured my lower back. It was probably because I loaded too much, too early.

Restarting it today.

💪🏾 WISH ME LUCK. 💪🏾

[pokerandphilosophy]

Totally agree. My first deadlift ever was 404 lbs and I never increased it. Never had any problem.

[_JMo_]

You’re right about that sweet spot. Took a few tries to find it, but you have to let the bar sink into your stomach a little bit to find it.

Thanks!

[atthelord]

This is Ana amazing video for intermediate lifters 😁
I’m going to add 2 tips in addition to what you’ve said.
1) warm up your legs before you deadlift - free squats are the best for this
2) stretch out a bit and feel the muscles you’re going to engage in your deadlift (mind muscle connection, basic awareness of what’s where, what’s firing, basically giving your body a slight heads up on what’s about to go down)
Lovely content as always ! Cheers 😁✌🏻

[Rmko]

Great video. However, I have to say that most people don't have the mobility to do the deficit deadlift. This means that in the bottom of the movement you will have at least some lumbar extension. Which is pricesly what this exercise is not about. It is about leg drive.

[AZWallbreaker]

I remember hitting 405lbs!!!! It was an amazing feeling. Recently, I hit a conventional deadlift of 630lbs for a PR (with no belt)!!! Anyway, thank you for posting this video as I'm always eager to learn to get better!!!!

[tepesb]

Scott, I struggled for months with conventional pulls. Couldn't get my setup good for reps as the weight went up. Was about to substitute sumo when I came across this. My foot and hand spacing were too wide. I changed my setup and went way over my old bests by 20 lbs immediately. Thank you!

[intipampa]

Hey Scott thanks for posting this, I'm going to try this tomorrow morning when I hit the gym. I love your positive attitude and your content. I'm glad I stumbled onto your channel.

[afeoscapital]

Trying to hit a 495 pr 175lbs bw
Currently at 440
Thanks for the great information Scott!