My journey to 450kg Deadlift

by
Terry Hollands

NOTICE
The information in this book is intended to be used as an informational guide on
methods of training to augment a sound exercise pro- gram. The information in this
book is not meant to replace the advice of a medical professional. As with all exercise
programs it is advised that you seek the advice of a medical professional before
beginning any exercise program. The writer and publishers recommend that the
reader take full responsibility to ensure that they are cleared by a medical professional
before beginning any part of this training pro- gram. Any mention of specifc
companies, products, organizations or other authors does not imply that they endorse
or approve of the methods outlined in this book, nor does it imply that the authors
approve of them or their methods.

The story behind it....

So I feel this was about as good as my deadlift programme could have got. I was retired
and decided to come back and compete. Now I had held on to a lot of strength when I
retired so my starting point was around 380kg, running this 12 week cycle twice got me
to 450kg.
For me I have always been pretty explosive off the floor and struggled more at the top
end the obvious thing for me to do was to start working in different heights to make the
full movement strong. For the frst 4 weeks I ran a small preparation phase, this
involved maximum effort (ME) trap bar deadlifts and dynamic effort (DE) deadlifts, both
once per week, yeah you heard it right deadlifts twice per week!!! I structured this by
hitting ME deadlifts on its own day and added my DE deadlifts on the end of my
pressing day. It will be very tough on body and very intense but your deadlift will get
stronger. For the next 4 weeks I did 15” ME deadlifts and standard height DE deadlifts
and for the fnal 4 weeks was heavy deadlifts off the floor.
You will need to know you maxes for
• Trapbar deadlift
• standard bar height deadlift
Most people will lift a bit more on their trap bar deadlift but they are different lifts and
its the effort level that is the important bit, this programme is to try get your
conventional deadlift up so dont worry how the weights correlate between the 2 lifts.
All sessions should start with Agile 8 mobility drills, if you have a tight area of the body
spend extra time working on that. I also recommend doing this even on non training
days, it will take 10-20 mins of your day up but can be crucial for making improvements
in your lifting. Details of Agile 8 at the end of the eBook.

You will need to really be on it with foam rolling, stretching and treatment. It is an
extremely tough programme but so long as you keep on top of it you will make good
progress.
When warming up through the weights till you get to working sets I want you to lift with
the aggression and ferocity that you would a max lift every lift whether your frst set or
last rep I want you to put 100% effort into it.

Deadlift warm ups to be done after the agile 8 mobility drills

Perform one set of each exercise, 10 reps on each

• very light Sumo Deadlifts

• glute bridges with no weight
• very light KB swings
• banded or bar only good mornings
• very light lat pulldowns

So some cues to help you prepare yourself for the lift.

• Keep stance in a position your would jump from. You can play around with this a
little so it feels comfortable but thats a good starting point
• when doing the trap bar deadlifts use your conventional deadlift stance
• I personally like to set the bar up around mid foot, so half way up your laces
• When you sink your hips also push them back, so many people start the deadlift
with their shoulders too far over the bar.
• Just before you start the lift take a big breath in and brace yourself
• tuck your chin in, imagine holding a ball between your chin and your neck
• load your hips, by this I mean feel the weight through your hips as you're about
to start the lift
• when you start the pull imagine you are pulling your chest up and pushing the
floor down at the same time
• use your arms just as hooks so let the weight fully hang in your arms, do not load
your biceps
• once the bar gets around knee height focus on driving hips forward.
PHASE 1 preparation phase

Week 1

Session 1

DE Conventional Deadlifts
8 sets of 2 at 50% keep rest times between sets under 90 seconds

Session 2

Trapbar deadlifts
3 sets of 12 at 63% 120 seconds between sets

Romanian Deadlifts
3 sets of 12 120 seconds between sets

Good mornings
3 sets of 12 120 seconds between sets

Weighted Glute Bridges

3 sets of 10 rest as required

Pendlay rows
3 sets of 10 reps rest as required

Pull ups or Lat pull downs

3 sets of max if pull ups if pull downs 3 sets of 12 rest as required

Planks

3 sets of max time front and each side

Week 2

Session 1

DE Conventional Deadlifts
8 sets of 2 at 55% keep rest times between sets under 90 seconds

Session 2

Trapbar deadlifts
3 sets of 12 at 65% 120 seconds between sets

Romanian Deadlifts
3 sets of 12 120 seconds between sets

Good mornings
3 sets of 12 120 seconds between sets

Weighted Glute Bridges

3 sets of 10 rest as required

Pendlay rows
3 sets of 10 reps rest as required

Pull ups or Lat pull downs

3 sets of max if pull ups if pull downs 3 sets of 12 rest as required

Planks

3 sets of max time front and each side

Week 3

Session 1

DE Conventional Deadlifts
8 sets of 3 at 50% keep rest times between sets under 90 seconds

Session 2

Trapbar deadlifts
3 sets of 10 at 70% 120 seconds between sets

Romanian Deadlifts
3 sets of 10 120 seconds between sets

Good mornings
3 sets of 10 120 seconds between sets

Weighted Glute Bridges

3 sets of 8 rest as required

Pendlay rows
3 sets of 8 reps rest as required

Pull ups or Lat pull downs

3 sets of max if pull ups if pull downs 3 sets of 10 rest as required

Planks

3 sets of max time front and each side

Week 4

Session 1

DE Conventional Deadlifts
8 sets of 3 at 55% keep rest times between sets under 90 seconds

Session 2

Trapbar deadlifts
3 sets of 10 at 72% 120 seconds between sets

Romanian Deadlifts
3 sets of 8 120 seconds between sets

Good mornings
3 sets of 8 120 seconds between sets

Weighted Glute Bridges

3 sets of 8 rest as required

Pendlay rows
3 sets of 6 reps rest as required

Pull ups or Lat pull downs

3 sets of max if pull ups if pull downs 3 sets of 10 rest as required

Planks

3 sets of max time front and each side

PHASE 2 The Building Blocks

Week 5

Session 1

DE Conventional Deadlifts
8 sets of 2 at 60% keep rest times between sets under 90 seconds

Session 2

ME 15” Deadlifts
Work up to 8 rep max
3 sets of 8 at 80% of 8 rep max

Romanian Deadlifts
3 sets of 8 120 seconds between sets

Hamstring curls
3 sets of 10 120 seconds between sets

Weighted Glute Bridges

3 sets of 8 rest as required

Pendlay rows
3 sets of 6 reps rest as required

Narrow grip Pull ups or Lat pull downs

3 sets of max if pull ups if pull downs 3 sets of 8 rest as required

Planks

3 sets of max time front and each side

Week 6

Session 1

DE Conventional Deadlifts
8 sets of 2 at 65% keep rest times between sets under 90 seconds

Session 2

ME 15” Deadlifts
Work up to 6 rep max
3 sets of 6 at 80% of 6 rep max

Romanian Deadlifts
3 sets of 8 120 seconds between sets

Hamstring curls
3 sets of 10 120 seconds between sets

Weighted Glute Bridges

3 sets of 8 rest as required

Pendlay rows
3 sets of 6 reps rest as required

Narrow grip Pull ups or Lat pull downs

3 sets of max if pull ups if pull downs 3 sets of 8 rest as required

Planks

3 sets of max time front and each side

Week 7

Session 1

DE Conventional Deadlifts
8 sets of 3 at 60% keep rest times between sets under 90 seconds

Session 2

ME 15” Deadlifts
Work up to 4 rep max
3 sets of 4 at 80% of 4 rep max

Romanian Deadlifts
3 sets of 6 120 seconds between sets

Hamstring curls
3 sets of 10 120 seconds between sets

Weighted Glute Bridges

3 sets of 8 rest as required

Pendlay rows
3 sets of 6 reps rest as required

Narrow grip Pull ups or Lat pull downs

3 sets of max if pull ups if pull downs 3 sets of 8 rest as required

Planks

3 sets of max time front and each side

Week 8

Session 1

DE Conventional Deadlifts
8 sets of 3 at 65% keep rest times between sets under 90 seconds

Session 2

ME 15” Deadlifts
Work up to 2 rep max
3 sets of 2 at 80% of 2 rep max

Romanian Deadlifts
3 sets of 6 120 seconds between sets

Hamstring curls
3 sets of 10 120 seconds between sets

Weighted Glute Bridges

3 sets of 8 rest as required

Pendlay rows
3 sets of 6 reps rest as required

Narrow grip Pull ups or Lat pull downs

3 sets of max if pull ups if pull downs 3 sets of 8 rest as required

Planks

3 sets of max time front and each side

PHASE 3 The Finishing touches

Week 9

Session 1

DE Conventional Deadlifts
8 sets of 2 at 70% keep rest times between sets under 90 seconds

Session 2

ME Deadlifts
Work up to 8 rep max
2 sets of 8 at 80% of 8 rep max

Snatch Grip deadlift

3 sets of 6 180 seconds between sets

Hamstring curls
3 sets of 10 120 seconds between sets

Weighted Glute Bridges

3 sets of 8 rest as required

Pendlay rows
3 sets of 6 reps rest as required

Narrow grip Pull ups or Lat pull downs

3 sets of max if pull ups if pull downs 3 sets of 8 rest as required

Planks

3 sets of max time front and each side

Week 10

Session 1

DE Conventional Deadlifts
8 sets of 2 at 75% keep rest times between sets under 90 seconds

Session 2

ME Deadlifts
Work up to 6 rep max
2 sets of 6 at 80% of 6 rep max

Snatch Grip deadlift

3 sets of 6 180 seconds between sets

Hamstring curls
3 sets of 10 120 seconds between sets

Weighted Glute Bridges

3 sets of 8 rest as required

Pendlay rows
3 sets of 6 reps rest as required

Narrow grip Pull ups or Lat pull downs

3 sets of max if pull ups if pull downs 3 sets of 8 rest as required

Planks

3 sets of max time front and each side

Week 11

Session 1

DE Conventional Deadlifts
8 sets of 3 at 75% keep rest times between sets under 90 seconds

Session 2

ME Deadlifts
Work up to 4 rep max
2 sets of 4 at 80% of 4 rep max

Snatch Grip deadlift

3 sets of 4 180 seconds between sets

Hamstring curls
3 sets of 10 120 seconds between sets

Weighted Glute Bridges

3 sets of 8 rest as required

Pendlay rows
3 sets of 6 reps rest as required

Narrow grip Pull ups or Lat pull downs

3 sets of max if pull ups if pull downs 3 sets of 8 rest as required

Planks

3 sets of max time front and each side

Week 12

Session 1

DE Conventional Deadlifts
8 sets of 3 at 80% keep rest times between sets under 90 seconds

Session 2

ME Deadlifts
Work up to 2 rep max
2 sets of 2 at 80% of 2 rep max

Snatch Grip deadlift

3 sets of 4 180 seconds between sets

Hamstring curls
3 sets of 10 120 seconds between sets

Weighted Glute Bridges

3 sets of 8 rest as required

Pendlay rows
3 sets of 6 reps rest as required

Narrow grip Pull ups or Lat pull downs

3 sets of max if pull ups if pull downs 3 sets of 8 rest as required

Planks

3 sets of max time front and each side

So that is your 12 weeks complete.

Week 13 De load

Deadlift
Work up to 1 set of 5 using 50-60% of weight lifted in Week 12 (so if you did 200kg for
your 2 rep max week 12 then 100-120kg for a set of 5)

All next exercises done at 50% effort

Snatch Grip deadlift
3 sets of 8 180 seconds between sets

Hamstring curls
3 sets of 10 120 seconds between sets

Non weighted Glute Bridges

3 sets of 8 rest as required

Seated rows
3 sets of 6 reps rest as required

Lat pull downs

3 sets of 8 rest as required
Week 14

Max deadlift testing, so whatever your starting max deadlift was we will base warmups
off that max + 5kg so percentages for warmups

• Set 1 8 reps of 40% of original 1 rep max +5kg (2mins rest after set)
• Set 2 5 reps of 60% of original 1 rep max +5kg (2mins rest after set)
• Set 3 3 reps of 70% of original 1 rep max +5kg (3mins rest after set)
• Set 4 1 rep of 80% of original 1 rep max +5kg (3mins rest after set)
• Set 5 1 rep of 90% of original 1 rep max +5kg (5mins rest after set)
• Set 6 now this is where you have to use your brain so you can either do 1 more
warmup set at 100% of old 1 rep max or shoot straight for what you feel you can
do. I really stress not going too crazy, If you feel you have gotten a lot stronger
hit the 100% of old 1 rep max then go from there but if progress has only been
steady hit your fnal set and go 5-10kg over your old 1 rep max. If you have
gained 10kg then you should be very proud of your progress.

So now that its over and Im sure you will have made some great progress feel free to
run the training cycle over and over and Im sure you will continue to make great
progress with your deadlift.

Remember Please feel free if you do this and hit pbs at the end of the programme post
in your instagram story and tag @terryhollandswsm so I can re-share your success.

Thank you for following the programme.

Agile 8

• IT Band, Lie on your side on top of the foam roller, and slide up and down from
your knee to just above your hip.

• Piriformis, Sit on the foam roller, cross your leg onto the opposite knee, and lean
onto the side of your knee. Roll up and down across your glute.
• Adductor, With your belly to the ground, place the inside of your thigh on the foam
roller and roll around.

Then, move on to some dynamic drills:

• V-Sit Roll Over, Sit on the ground with your legs in front of you, then roll back until
your toes touch the ground behind your head. Roll forward and spread your legs
in a straddle.
• Hip Rotation, Place your palms and knees on the ground. Keep your torso as stable
as possible as you trace circles with one knee.
• Groiner, Sink into a deep lunge with your hands on the ground and place your
forward foot outside your hand. Jump in the air and switch legs.
• Frog Jump, Begin in a push up position, then jump both feet forward to land outside
your hands. Reverse the movement and repeat.
• First Baseman Stretch, Lunge and touch your knee to the ground. Raise the arm on
the same side as your grounded knee and lean forward to stretch your hip flexor.