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You should read up on how to test your max, you were doing it wrong.
I realize that. I just had a "go big or go home" moment and went for it. Obviously you wouldn't do multiple heavy sets prior to attempting a max lift. It's entirely possible I can already pick up 385 if I were to try it without the fatigue.
Any exercise, done in bad form, will result in injuries.
If someone does not know how to do a dead lift properly, they should not be doing it until they learn the proper form.
Leg presses are in no way a substitute for a dead lift, or any exercise; a leg press is for leg pressing.
The dead lift is the basic of picking something off the floor, the foundation of strength training, and general good health as a person should know how to properly lift things.
Do you have any stats on how many injuries occur as the result of a proper dead lift? I know plenty of people get back injuries, but I never met a person who got one from dead lifting.
This....
Most injuries occur becuase of bad form, too much weight or a combination of both. P
Personally, I feel safer doing free squats or deads than I do using a smith machine or leg press machine. I just don't feel safe being locked into one plane of movement.
Plus there is the fact that free squats and deads are 100 x more effective at building strength.
I don't test max lifts more than once a quarter or so. Usually only a couple of times a year.
At the OP, it's not just the heavy working sets prior to "maxing" out, it's the relativey large weight jumps.
I typically do sets of 5, 3, 2, 1, 1, 1 when attempting max effort lifts. The first single rep set in that scenario should be at your projected/assumed/previous max lift. From there I would never go up more than 10lbs per lift - 70lbs is a pretty big jump.
Unless you have to know firsthand how much weight you can lift for one repetition, you can get a close approximation of your 1 rep max by lifting a lighter weight that allows you to perform multiple repetitions and calculate the maximum based on the number of reps performed. I lost my desire for doing 1 rep maximum lifts a few years ago. Now, I rarely ever use a weight that does not allow for the completion of at least 4 reps, and usually the heaviest weight I handle allows for 6 reps. To obtain a close approximation of what my max would be, I use the following percentages ( from the Senior Fitness certification manual by ISSA ) in my calculation ( dividing the weight by the % ).
4 reps is 90% of max
5 reps is 87.5% of max
6 reps is 85% of max
7 reps is 82.5% of max
8 reps is 80% of max
For example, I can usually get 6 high quality reps with each arm on the alternate dumbell curl with 55 pounders. Using the %ages above, 6 reps with 55 lbs equates to 1 rep max of 65 lbs. That seems reasonable, but I have no need to know this with certainty, so I won't risk injuring my 63 yr old body to find out. I'm alot more comfortable handling weights in the 6 rep range. Quite obviously, this is far from being an exact science, but it does provide a fairly accurrate approximation of the one rep maximum.
Wow you can do bicep curls with 55 pounders? I rarely see anybody using more than 30-35 lbs at my gym. I can bust out a couple low rep sets with 40's but any more than that for me is too much cheating and straining in a bad way.
@ UrbanAdventurer....There's one guy at my gym who cranks out 5 or 6 good quality reps with 70 pounders, but he weighs at least 50 lbs more than I do, and he's 20 or 30 years younger. I've always had strong biceps. In HS, I could crank out 10 reps with a 135 lb barbell with my back against the wall to prevent any swinging. Those were the days! That's when I could deadlift 425 lbs at a bodyweight of 160. With the condition of my lower back today, I'd be lucky to get 200 off the ground, but I have no desire to find out. There was a guy at my gym today cranking out multiple sets of deadlifts, doing 8 reps with an Olympic bar having 3 - 45s on each side. My back is a bit sore from just watching the guy!
Friend, hear me out. As a guy who is 58 and does very well, and started weight lifting at 27.
Who, also, happens to be a Licensed/Certified Orthotist.
QUIT DEADLIFTS IMMEDIATELY!!!!! Those are one of the worst known exercises that directly damage lower back. I spoke, will be chastised, but I made you aware!!
Do leg presses instead, on reverse leg press machine. WITH YOUR BACK SECURED ON THE PLATFORM. As of the core strength for your lower back, which is extremely important, do either well exercise, or use dedicated machine they should have at your gym.
Once again, do NOT deadlift. You were warned.
lol
Yea the human body was not designed to pick up objects off the floor
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