Yesterday I harpooned my white whale.

On New Year’s Eve 2009, I wrote down on a sheet of paper that I wanted to squat 500 pounds in 2010.

Better late than never.

My training plan called for a “mock powerlifting meet,” so I tested my maxes to gauge my progress with five training weeks left til go-time.

There was good news (joining the 500-pound squat club and setting a paused bench press personal record) and there was bad news (my deadlift still sucks). But I found out exactly what I need to work on in the coming weeks to make sure I dominate on the platform.

Wednesday – 10.10.12 – Max Testing

Squat

45×8

135×5

205×3

250×3

300×3

350×3

350×1

405×2

405×1

1st attempt: 445 – good

2nd attempt: 485 – good

3rd attempt: 500 – good (15 pound PR)

Bench

135×5

175×3

205×3

245×3

280×2

300×1

1st attempt: 315 – good

2nd attempt: 325 – good (10 pound PR… no video. Forgot to turn the camera on)

3rd attempt: 330 – no good. Missed closer to lockout than I ever have.

Deadlift

135×5

225×3

275×3

335×3

385×2

385×1

445×1

445×1

1st attempt: 495 – good. But ugly.

2nd attempt: 525 – no good. Ugly off the floor and got it just below the knee before I knew I wouldn’t lock it out.

Here’s what I learned.

Squat – this has easily become my best lift. I train it the hardest, but do the least assistance work for it. Strange. I hit 485 with speed, which was my best lift from last year’s meet. I knew I had 500 as soon as I unracked the bar. Just gotta stay the course and I’ll look to squeeze out a few more pounds come November.

Bench – Hit a paused PR at 325 that would have passed in a meet. But I have to remind myself that three summers ago I hit a touch-and-go double at 325. Five miles to go an inch… I’ve missed 330 several times (including my third attempt at last year’s meet), but I’ve never missed is so HIGH. Usually I get crushed right off the chest, but on this one I got much further. I’ve never been so certain that I was going to lock out a weight and then missed the lift. You can hear me grunt “I got it,” and I believed that 100 percent. But as well as my bench training has been going, I will without a doubt bench 330 in November.

Deadlift – By far the most frustrating lift of the day. All my technique flaws are out in the open. 525 is 10 pounds lighter than my all-time PR, and my technique has gotten significantly worse lately. I let myself get too sloppy with my upper back rounding and my hip position is inconsistent when I initiate the lift. I need to take a long, hard look at how I’m going to structure the next four weeks of training, because I need to rescue my deadlift before November 10.

The Next Step

Squat and bench training has been going very well, so I don’t plan to touch much of that. I will look to add in more triceps work to help with the lockout, and continue to hit upper back frequently to maintain stability during the bench press.

After watching my terrible deadlifts over and over, I’ve concluded that – outside of a total technique revamp – I need to improve my core, glutes, hamstrings and spinal erectors. That’s a lot to fix in five weeks. I’m going to take a few days to decide how to alter my training, and then I will attack it. The next five weeks are going to be a wild ride.