Test your strength with the Deadlift
Men?s Fitness.com put together a strength test using your one rep max for the deadlift exercise.
HOW IT’S DONE
Stand with your feet about hip-width apart, your toes facing straight ahead. Squat down and grab the bar with an outside-shoulder-width, palms-down grip [1]. Keep your lower back in its natural arch, and drive your heels into the fl oor and push your hips forward, lifting the bar as you rise until it’s in front of your thighs [2]. Reverse the motion and return the bar to the fl oor. That’s one rep.THE TEST
Estimate your deadlift one-rep max?the most weight you can lift for one rep?and compare it to the calculations below.Your 1RM (one-rep max) is…
? Less than your body weight = Damn, you’re weak
? 1.25 x your body weight = You’re average
? 1.5 x body weight = You’re pretty strong
? 2 x body weight = You’re a beast!A 200-pound guy who can deadlift 300 pounds for one rep is pretty strong. If your number falls in the weak or average categories, see below for tips on how to bring it up.
Click here to see MF.com?s guide to deadlifting more weight.
Posted in: Exercise, General fitness, General training, Legs, Men's Health and Wellness, Power lifting, Specific workouts, Weight training, Workout programs, Xternal Fitness, Xternal Furci
Tags: Deadlift, Deadlift exercise, Exercise advice, Exercise tips, How do you do the deadlift, How to do the deadlift, How to perform the deadlift, Strength tests, Ways to test your strength
I would say a 2x BW deadlift is pretty strong, and atleast 2.5x BW to be a beast!
I must be a beast then. I weigh 200 and can dl 500 for 3 reps. Actually, Im not. I’m totally out of shape and can do only 4 pullups per set. I can only bench 225 for reps. The deadlift is not a measure of how strong you are its simply a measure of how much you can deadlift. Don’t get me wrong, the DL is an awesome exercise, and probably the best way to insure that you don’t hurt your back outside of the gym, but it doesn’t say too much about your overall strength level.
Jo, sorry, incorrect.
The deadlift has been the primary means of measuring strength for thousands of years. In the ancient Middle East, there are records which indicate that the test of strength to determine who is strongest was to lift a large rock off of the ground. This is most similar, of course to the deadlift.
There is no other exercise, except MAYBE a true, Olympic-depth free-weight squat which measures someone’s overall strength.
If one mainstream exercise can be used as an indicator of overall strength I believe it would be the deadlift. Although using only one exercise is inherently flawed. The deadlift is so basic in movement and objective that just about anyone could do it. One problem I see with it compared to squatting is that it adds another variable which is arm length that can dramatically change ones deadlifting ability. Theoretically I think a if everyone squatted to the same depth and with the proper technique this would be a better indicator, but obviously that can not happen. The other movement I think is an excellent indicator of someones overall strenght is the clean. Unfortunately technique and form play a much more significant role in the someone’s cleaning ability.