From Training Plateau to a 200kg Deadlift: Brandon’s Story
When Brandon started working with a personal trainer at OPEX Bristol, motivation wasn’t the problem. He was already training regularly and had years of experience across different sports. What he lacked was a clear structure for turning that effort into consistent progress.
Over 18 months of personalised coaching, Brandon made significant progress across his major lifts, developed new skills and took his trap bar deadlift from 70kg for eight reps to 200kg for five.
Brandon’s Results at a Glance
Trap bar deadlift: 70kg × 8 → 200kg × 5
Back squat: 40kg × 8 → 125kg × 6
Safety bar squat: 40kg × 10 → 130kg × 4
Bench press: 30kg × 10 → 87.5kg × 4
Weighted pull-up: +4kg × 10 → +16kg × 5
Strict ring muscle-up: failed attempts → repeatable singles
Bodyweight: approximately 72kg → 74.5kg
Coaching period: 18 months & ongoing
These figures represent Brandon’s best recorded lifts across his training history. His working weights can vary depending on the focus of his current training block.
Plenty of Effort, But No Clear Progression
Brandon was 25 when he came to OPEX. Living in Clifton and working as a digital design engineer, he regularly splits his working week between Bristol and London.
He was far from a fitness beginner. Alongside around a year of gym and callisthenics training, Brandon had experience with snowboarding, freeboarding, parkour, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai, mountain biking and road cycling.
Most of his strength training took place in his garage gym or using local pull-up bars. He was putting the work in, but his sessions had become repetitive, and his progress had started to plateau.
Brandon wanted to know whether he was choosing the right movements, doing enough training volume and actually following a programme that could take him forward. He also wanted accountability, feedback on his technique and someone who could help him push beyond the limits he had reached alone.
For Brandon, working with a personal trainer in Bristol wasn’t about finding someone to simply make his workouts harder. It was about getting the structure, expertise and feedback that were missing from training by himself.
Building a Programme Around Brandon
We started with an assessment to understand what Brandon could already do and where his training could develop.
One thing became clear early on: he already had a strong base of relative upper-body strength, completing 12 strict pull-ups during his initial assessment.
Rather than replacing the training he enjoyed, we built on it.
Structured training blocks introduced progressive work across back squats, safety bar squats, bench press and different deadlift variations. His callisthenics developed alongside his strength work, progressing from bodyweight pull-ups to weighted pull-ups, false-grip ring work and eventually strict ring muscle-ups.
His programme also incorporated progressive overload, planned deloads and ongoing technique feedback.
It’s a good example of why personalised fitness coaching matters. Instead of fitting Brandon into a standard programme, his training could develop around his strengths, goals and response to each block.
Training Around Work, Travel & Real Life
A good programme still has to work when life isn’t perfectly organised.
Brandon’s job regularly takes him between Bristol and London, typically for two days each week and sometimes for an entire week. Much of his training also takes place using the equipment available in his garage gym.
His programme needed to account for both.
When work, traffic, illness or time constraints disrupted training, the approach could be adjusted rather than treating a missed or shortened session as a failure.
During illness, for example, Brandon was encouraged to autoregulate his sets according to how he felt instead of blindly chasing prescribed numbers. Deloads were also deliberately built into his training blocks to help manage fatigue and recovery.
The aim wasn’t to create a programme that only worked during a perfect week. It was to create enough structure to drive progress while retaining the flexibility needed to keep training consistently over the long term.
From 70kg to a 200kg Trap Bar Deadlift
After 18 months, Brandon’s progress was clear.
His trap bar deadlift had moved from 70kg for eight reps to 200kg for five. At a bodyweight of approximately 74.5kg, that 200kg lift is around 2.7 times his bodyweight.
His back squat progressed from 40kg for eight reps to 125kg for six, while his safety bar squat reached 130kg for four.
His bench press increased from 30kg for ten reps to 87.5kg for four, and his weighted pull-up progressed to an additional 16kg for five reps.
There was progress beyond the numbers too.
Brandon went from unsuccessful attempts at a strict ring muscle-up to completing repeatable singles across multiple sets.
Most importantly, the plateau that originally brought Brandon to OPEX had been replaced by measurable progression.
Why Brandon’s Training Worked
There wasn’t one exercise, programme or training trick responsible for the result.
Brandon was already willing to put the effort in. What changed was the direction behind that effort.
His coaching combined:
Structured training blocks
Progressive overload
Planned deload periods
Regular technique feedback
Programming around the equipment available to him
Adjustments around work, travel, illness & recovery
Progression of movements he already enjoyed
Ongoing training, nutrition & lifestyle coaching
That meant his training wasn’t simply made harder for the sake of it. Each block had a purpose, his progress could be monitored and the programme could change when his needs or circumstances changed.
Could Personalised Training Help You Break Through a Plateau?
Brandon’s results are individual to him. Everyone starts from a different place, and there’s no single programme or set of numbers that defines successful training.
But his experience demonstrates something important: you don’t have to be a beginner to benefit from coaching.
If you’re already training but your progress has stalled, you’re unsure how to structure your programme or you want expert feedback on what you’re doing, working with an experienced personal trainer could give your training clearer direction.
At OPEX Bristol, we start with your goals, current ability and the realities of your lifestyle before deciding what your training should look like.
Your goals won’t be identical to Brandon’s, so your programme shouldn’t be either.
Call 0117 463 0078
Email hello@opexbristol.com