Tweakle, yes, for me its harder to go deep. Parrallel I've gotten 505 for 5, but could never handle anything heavier than 455, that I recall at least, going "hamstrings to heels" (I could get my butt about 4" from the floor) for more than about 3 or 4 reps.
The waistline could have been from a combination of heavy squats, deads and rack pulls, and I've cut all out and just do heavy hack squats and stiff legged deads in their place. Its very much a genetic thing. Some of us are just prone to develp obliques and other muscles from certain movements, while other guys don't. My waistline is trimming down again though, and I have it taping at 32". I've competed at 28", leaner and drier than I am now.
Anyway, I just read in another post that you are natural? If so, I'm impressed by your success.
It took me 3 years to hit that number, but I have good genetics and was on a prop/tren stack at the time. I don't always attribute my numbers to my work, because I have always been naturally strong, and have a cousin who benches 585 and does deep squats with 700 both for reps, and alot of strong guys in the family. Life isn't fair, and we are not all delt the same hand of cards. On the other hand, I'm hypoglycemic, very carb intolerant and have a history of compuslive over eating. I have to do a modified CKD year round or I blow up to 16 or 17% bf every time I bulk. So the trade off is that my diet is extremely clean year round, if I wish to stay lean.
Due to that, its can be hard to tell up front if they will thicken your waistline. What are your measurements right now?