American Julius Maddox has broken the record for the raw bench press.
See the impressive lift below.
Weighing in at 203kg, the powerlifter managed a rep of 335.5kg (739.6 pounds) at the ‘Boss of Bosses’ event helped in California. The previous record was just 500 grams lighter at 335kg set by Russian Kiril Sarychev in 2015.
It wasn’t without drama however. Despite having a crew of 5 men, the bar nearly fell on his neck after trying to re-rack the weight.
“They say it’s the most controversial lift in powerlifting,” Maddox later took to Instagram. “Just know this is the beginning!”
In June, he set a US record of 328kg. However, he didn’t think he’d manage another 7.5kg so quickly.
“We weren’t expecting a world record this early – we were hoping maybe by December,” he told the Owensboro Times newspaper.
“But no one expected this to happen. Some people thought it would not be broken within 20 years, but I came in and changed the direction and changed everybody’s opinion. It’s crazy – I’m blown away.”
