Ladies squat and deadlift?

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Goober1142
Goober1142 Posts: 219 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm a 59 year old woman and have been weightlifting for three years. I usually cycle the NROL programs which include lots of squats and dead lifts. Heaviest squats with low reps are 70 pounds, same for dead lifts. High reps are about 50 pounds. I could probably do more but I don't want to hurt myself. So question is for ladies in my age group. How much weight do you use?
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Replies

  • serenityfrye
    serenityfrye Posts: 360 Member
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    I'm 34 but I've never gotten above 70 x1 for squat (hit 170 deadlift). I have really poor hip mobility and squats are a big struggle for me.
  • KickboxFanatic
    KickboxFanatic Posts: 184 Member
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    I'm not quite in your age group yet (just turned 45) but I took up powerlifting a couple years ago when I was squatting and deadlifting around 100 lbs and am currently 3 times that much now. That's after running specific strength cycles to build strength in those lifts.

    If I was not training for competition I would probably keep then low volume at a little over my bodyweight and high volume around 70-80% of that.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,979 Member
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    54 years old, only did standard squats and deadlifts for a few months before my program moved to harder variants that lowered my max weight, but before that my max squat at three sets of 8 reps (don't know if you consider that high reps or not) was 90 pounds, and my max deadlift at 3X8 (well, more like one set of eight, one set of seven, one set of six) was 125 lbs.

    I'm not really sure that what other people your age are lifting is a good way of determining what's a safe weight for you to lift without injuring yourself. Why not just add another 5 lbs to your high reps, lift carefully and with good form, and stop when you can't do another rep with good form?
  • 1LonelyRose
    1LonelyRose Posts: 48 Member
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    Wow, you ladies are awesome! I squat and deadlift 2 to 3 times per week and I have never tried to add so much weight to the bar. Maybe that's why I am not building my glutes as fast as I would like. I only squat with 50 including a twenty pound bar and I dead lift 70lbs. I feel like such a weakling. And I'm 40 btw.
  • jessiferrrb
    jessiferrrb Posts: 1,758 Member
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    38, been lifting for about 8 months. sl 5x5 max is squats at 125# and deadlift at 145# but not currently there as deloading after vacation and being sick. it gets difficult for me in squats at about 115# to where i worry about form but hoping on this cycle to get to 150# by end of summer.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
    edited May 2017
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    I'm 62. I do goblet squats around 35-45 and dumbbell squats around 40-50, so neither of these are comparable to a back squat with bar. I was up to 110 on my DL, but I'm going back down to fix some form issues I identified when I videoed myself. It's fun and challenging, but you really do need to be careful!
  • parkerpowerlift
    parkerpowerlift Posts: 196 Member
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    Soon to be 24. I've been powerlifting for 2 years now. My current numbers are: 265/130/265 (squat/bench/deadlift).

    Could be farther ahead with my lifts. I've had to rebuild my squat at least twice, due to working on form or due to injuries.
  • bobshuckleberry
    bobshuckleberry Posts: 281 Member
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    I did Olympic weight lifting for almost two years. I was 44 or so at the time (now 49). Our instructor worked more on form and technique than we did on how much we could lift. I cannot remember what amount I used to deadlift. I used 125 to squat but we never tested to see 'how much' I could squat. I can leg press twice my body weight, so probably more than 125.
  • deputy_randolph
    deputy_randolph Posts: 940 Member
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    5'3/135lbs/36 yos: I've done 185 on squat (testing Sunday...shooting for 195). I've pulled 260 on deadlift a couple of times. Last weekend, I got 270 to my knees...and dropped it. I was ecstatic that I got it that far!
  • Cherimoose
    Cherimoose Posts: 5,210 Member
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    dym1 wrote: »
    As long as you use good form and do mobility work, you will not hurt yourself.

    I'm going to going partially disagree and say that doing those doesn't guarantee being injury-free. Almost no one has perfect form on every single rep, and all it takes is one small error to cause problems.. especially with those who have preexisting physical issues. As the weight increases, tighter & tighter tolerances in form are required to avoid injury. It's sort of like driving at highway speed vs. race track speed. Not everyone has the skills or hardware to safely go past the point where their intuition feels is safe.
    Goober1142 wrote: »
    Heaviest squats with low reps are 70 pounds, same for dead lifts. High reps are about 50 pounds. I could probably do more but I don't want to hurt myself.

    You currently have enough strength to handle almost any task outside the gym. I don't know what your overall goal is, but if you choose to lift more, consider getting your form checked by a good personal trainer, and repeat periodically after you've gone up in weight. :+1:
  • BoxerBrawler
    BoxerBrawler Posts: 2,032 Member
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    My heaviest squat right now is 125 LBs but I am prepping for a competition so I'm doing 4x12s right now, that weight will go up over the next couple of months as my reps come down. My heaviest deadlift was 200 LBs, one and only. I don't want to risk my back!!! I am 48.
  • cmazurek85
    cmazurek85 Posts: 99 Member
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    heaviest squat was 225, deadlift was 310. 31 years old.
  • PWRLFTR1
    PWRLFTR1 Posts: 324 Member
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    If you're interested in progressing there are plenty of free programs online. There's Smolov, DUP, Wendler 531.

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