Is squatting 400lbs considered a lot?

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Justin_7272
Justin_7272 Posts: 341 Member
in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
I'm curious as to opinions on what's considered a lot when it comes to lifting, particularly squatting. I'm 35y/o, 5'10, ~160lb and have been lifting off and on for 2-3 years (modified All-Pros program, home gym) , achieving consistency (6 days/week) for just over 6 months. Outside that I have no lifting background. I dropped from ~175lbs to ~155lbs from May 2021 - Sept 2021 with a pretty aggressive caloric deficit. I know this varies from person to person, but I'd like to think 400lbs is considered a lot for an average person of my age; not professional level, but decent. I only workout at home so I don't have input I might get at a gym. Curious as to everyone's thoughts!

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  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
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    If you're 160, 400 Lbs is 2.5x your bodyweight. That would be considered way beyond average. Average Joe is about 1.5x bodyweight. 1.75 - 2x bodyweight would be considered very, very good. 2.5x your bodyweight would be a highly impressive number on a back squat.
  • Retroguy2000
    Retroguy2000 Posts: 1,505 Member
    edited November 2021
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    Humble brag alert :)

    According to this, that's at the very high end.

    https://strengthlevel.com/strength-standards/squat#standardsMale
  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 8,990 Member
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    If you're putting up those kinds of numbers at home, I hope you have the proper safety equipment available. i.e. a squat rack with safety bars, in case you get overwhelmed on a lift and have to bail. Applies also to bench pressing at home. Fail a lift at a gym, usually somebody can rush over to help get the weight off of you before you suffocate. Fail at home, and tragedy may follow without safety measures in place.

    Enjoy being able to crank out one-rep maxes while you can, I did when I was your age. These days I never go below five reps (sole exception the deadlift), the risk of injury just isn't worth it to me anymore. Consequently my calculated max squat has dropped about fifty pounds from what it used to be, but I'm still considered stronger than 90% of men my age and bodyweight, so I can live with that.
  • Justin_7272
    Justin_7272 Posts: 341 Member
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    nossmf wrote: »
    If you're putting up those kinds of numbers at home, I hope you have the proper safety equipment available. i.e. a squat rack with safety bars, in case you get overwhelmed on a lift and have to bail. Applies also to bench pressing at home. Fail a lift at a gym, usually somebody can rush over to help get the weight off of you before you suffocate. Fail at home, and tragedy may follow without safety measures in place.

    I have a squat rack with safety bars; about a month ago I unfortunately failed a rep and missed them. Ended up in the ER. I'll be moving soon and will have a full cage. Looking forward to it!
  • Justin_7272
    Justin_7272 Posts: 341 Member
    edited November 2021
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    Retroguy2000 wrote: »
    Humble brag alert :)

    According to this, that's at the very high end.

    https://strengthlevel.com/strength-standards/squat#standardsMale

    I don't know how I haven't found this website. Thank you!

    After doing some digging it looks like most of my lifts are in the novice to intermediate range, which is where they should be, and my squat and shoulder press are elite level. I have a feeling my progression on squats will start to slow and my other lifts will catch up. I may also alter my schedule and move my bench press before my squat, as it seems to be behind.
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
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    nossmf wrote: »
    If you're putting up those kinds of numbers at home, I hope you have the proper safety equipment available. i.e. a squat rack with safety bars, in case you get overwhelmed on a lift and have to bail. Applies also to bench pressing at home. Fail a lift at a gym, usually somebody can rush over to help get the weight off of you before you suffocate. Fail at home, and tragedy may follow without safety measures in place.

    Enjoy being able to crank out one-rep maxes while you can, I did when I was your age. These days I never go below five reps (sole exception the deadlift), the risk of injury just isn't worth it to me anymore. Consequently my calculated max squat has dropped about fifty pounds from what it used to be, but I'm still considered stronger than 90% of men my age and bodyweight, so I can live with that.

    Forgive me if I missed it but he didn't mention anything about 1rm.

    There nothing inherently dangerous about heavy singles or triples, fives, tens, etc.... Key is proper load management. Any rep scheme can be higher risk of injury regardless of age if programmed incorrectly for the individual. I have up to74 olds that do near maximal singles programmed without any issue.

  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 8,990 Member
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    Chieflrg wrote: »
    Forgive me if I missed it but he didn't mention anything about 1rm.

    True, I did make an assumption there. Thanks for pointing out his actual words.

    I also agree with the stricture against comparing to others. It's one of the main reasons I am so diligent about logging my lifts, not only to provide a starting point the next workout, but also so I can compare against the only one who matters: did I do more today than I did last time?
  • Retroguy2000
    Retroguy2000 Posts: 1,505 Member
    edited November 2021
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    I assumed he was referring to 1RM because I assume that's what most people mean when they say they can lift X and don't specify rep count, especially when that X is a large number. Plus he was comparing his numbers to the site I gave earlier, which is 1RM numbers.

    I don't push for 1RM's myself, so if I'm curious I use the calculator to estimate my 1RM.

    https://strengthlevel.com/one-rep-max-calculator
  • cupcakesandproteinshakes
    cupcakesandproteinshakes Posts: 1,092 Member
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    Why is it important? I’m just curious.
  • Mellouk89
    Mellouk89 Posts: 469 Member
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    Is 35 supposed to be old for strength training? I'm 32 and don't feel I have a weaker potential for strength, maybe it's because I started really young.

  • Justin_7272
    Justin_7272 Posts: 341 Member
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    cupcakesandproteinshakes wrote: »
    Why is it important? I’m just curious.

    I don't think it's necessarily important, more so just interested in people's thoughts. I don't know if there are certain milestones amongst the general lifting community, so I'm curious in general. To me, being able to bench your own body weight is impressive, which appears to be considered novice - intermediate. Being able to deadlift or squat 300lbs+ is pretty good, and 400+ would be awesome. But that's just my subjective belief :)
  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 8,990 Member
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    Mellouk89 wrote: »
    Is 35 supposed to be old for strength training? I'm 32 and don't feel I have a weaker potential for strength, maybe it's because I started really young.

    I'm 44 and have no reason to be stopping any time soon. I'm not as strong as I was ten years ago in terms of my current 1RM, but my overall volume (combination of sets, reps, and weights) is higher than back then.
    Justin_7272 wrote: »
    I don't know if there are certain milestones amongst the general lifting community, so I'm curious in general.

    Don't know if I'm qualified to speak towards the "general lifting community," but in my experience there seem to be three general sets of milestones which are looked at with significance...

    1. Lifting bodyweight
    2. Graduating to a full 45-lb plate per side (or multiples of...135, 225, 315, 405...)
    3. Combined lifts of 1,000 on the Big 3 (bench, squat, deadlift)

    Everyone can shoot for the first one as a good general fitness goal. Some see the third one as just a starting point, but it is a good marker to separate the casual lifter from the serious gainer. And the second one may never come for some people, and may be more a statement about myself than the community in general, but I always find it an occasion to stop and watch when somebody loads that next large plate and gets ready to lift.

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