This is my new deadlift personal record (PR) lift. It took a while to get away from 160kg, but I did it:
My form isn’t the best but that’s what makes it a true PR attempt. If your form was perfect then you should be trying to do more. This is how you get strong. Just to check, I did 160kg before this and was very happy with the form. I nailed it whereas before, my form at 160kg looked like it did here at 170kg. Take your progress as you get it!
Question from a reader: I have this sudden fear of hurting my back pushing for a PR without “perfect form”… what are your thoughts?
Answer: IMO there’s safe and then there’s perfect. If you look at my upper back, it’s a little rounded but my lower back is flat. So my lower back is very safe, no danger there. My knee buckled a little at the end and that wasn’t too good but it happened because I was really focusing this time on extending the hip. My 160kg PR attempt showed me stopping a little before hip extension. For a perfect deadlift, I would want to flatten my upper back and lock both knees, which I can now do with 160kg.
So I’d say you have to push it a little in order to get strong. In fact, you have to be a little fearless. If you’re scared of the weights, they can sense it and they won’t go up. Proper progressive training should help you overcome that fear as you get stronger but you also need to try to set a new PR now and then to face that fear head-on.