Sercia deadlifts 100 kg at the Broncos – This is how it is

Sercia deadlifts 100 kg at 41 kg bodyweight! Copyright 2010 www.danbakerstrength.com
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Sercia deadlifts 100 kg at the Broncos – This is how it is
done boys!
Figure 1. Sercia starting the 100 kg deadlift.
If you have visited this website before, you would have noticed a few things.
Firstly, there is a small, but beautiful lady lifting weights in some of the photos. It is
my wife Sercia. Secondly, I advocate the use of the many variations of deadlifts in
training. Finally, if you go to my “infamous” Training Quotes page, you will read I
often respond to the futile complaints of the athletes that the Romanian-style deadlifts
are too heavy with retorts of “You’re f… kidding! My wife lifts that for reps and she
only weighs 41 kg, you weak, whinging p…k” (or something similar).
Figure 2. At mid-shin, notice how her shins are perpendicular to the floor, her
back is flat. This means when she passes the knee, she will be in good position for a
solid hip-extension (hip-drive) lockout.
Sercia deadlifts 100 kg at 41 kg bodyweight! Copyright 2010 www.danbakerstrength.com
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Figure 3. Happy with her 100 kg effort
Figure 4. Romanian style deadlifts with
and the Broncos boys going off in the
70 kg for 8 reps!
background!
So to finally shut the non-believers up, I asked my wife Sercia to come down
to the Broncos and deadlift 100 kg in front of all the boys. Sercia jumped at the
chance to show them how strong she is.
So here are some of the photos of Sercia deadlifting 100 kg, at 44 years of age,
41 kg bodyweight. After this she backs the weight down to 70 kg and knocks out
eight reps of Romanian style deadlifts. As you can see, the Broncos boys were all
pumped up watching, cheering her on, whooping it up. They were pretty much in
awe of the 244% bodyweight deadlift. Broncos, QLD and Australian rugby league
legend Allan “Alfie” Langer came over and congratulated her on an incredible effort,
something that made Sercia feel even prouder.
So how strong is this? This 100 kg deadlift would be an Australian Open and
Masters record in the deadlift in 44 kg class if that weight division still existed in
powerlifting, but alas it was rescinded a few years ago, due to not enough
competitors. PJ Marsh asked me to work out what he would have to deadlift to equal
Sercias effort. Using the “two-thirds” formula for equating the lifts between athletes
of different bodyweights (the formula is (weight lifted / (BWTx0.67), this is much
more accurate than the % BWT method I describe in the paragraph above), I
calculated that the 80 kg PJ Marsh would have to deadlift 192.5 kg. He thought about
it for a minute, wondering…then I added, that of course I didn’t take into account the
sex or age difference. This is pretty much the reality of it as well as the theoretical
equivalent, as I remember the day that I was coaching Bev Smith when she deadlifted
Sercia deadlifts 100 kg at 41 kg bodyweight! Copyright 2010 www.danbakerstrength.com
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191 kg to achieve the Womens Masters (O/40 yrs) deadlift record in the 75 kg
division, back in the mid-1990’s.
So to set the record straight, Sercia is a middle-aged house-wife with two adult
daughters, not a competitive athlete. So why is Sercia so strong? She is strong
because she trains hard and smart.
She is a qualified Australian Strength and
Conditioning Association (ASCA) Level 1 Coach, so she knows pretty much what she
is doing and we talk about her training on a daily basis, what went right, what little
aspects of technique she must address to improve etc. She also gives me insights on
how to improve certain exercises, the little variations that suit different people…my
sounding board.
But the main thing is, she trains hard. How many females do heavy deadlifts,
full squats, chin-ups etc every week? How many females do grappling training with
men? One of my favourite stories is the time some big puffy bodybuilder was doing
Romanian deadlifts with 60 kg and Sercia asked him if he was finished with the bar.
“Sure, do you want me to unload it for you” he struttered, trying to impress her with
his “roid-induced masculinity”. “No, its OK I warmup with that weight” she replied
and proceeded to do the same exercise, working up to 90 kg.
So if your athletes are having a little whinge, being a little precious, then show
them this.
This is how it is done baby!
Figure 5. Lifting straps – unless you have access to chalk, you need lifting
straps to hold onto big weights. Most places won’t let you use chalk, so use
straps. Sercia used them for her big lifts and during training. This pair cost
only $15 from www.danbakerstrength.com