He may have said he was retiring from World’s Strongest Man, but it looks like Eddie Hall hasn’t retired from smashing world records. The British behemoth recently made a partial deadlift of 536 kilograms (1,181.7 pounds) with wrist straps, breaking the previous record by one kilogram. The bar was 18 inches above the ground, almost twice the height of a bar in your standard gym.
The lift was performed to publicize the release of Hall’s autobiography Strongman, which is now available for purchase.
One interesting aspect of the video is that while Hall is given the go ahead to lift at the 2.30 mark, you get to watch him “get psyched” for almost a full minute as he huffs, snarls, and primes his posterior chain with small, explosive thrusts.
After the lift, World’s Strongest Man’s head referee Colin Bryce seemed pretty concerned that Hall should see a medic but after a shaky recovery Hall quipped, “I’m not bleeding out of my face, am I?” This was a reference to his world record 500kg deadlift, during which blood spurted out of his nose.
[Ever wondered why heavy lifting causes some people to bleed? We’ve got the answer here!]
During the post-lift interview, Hall said,
That was… that was hard. It’s… I mean… Get in a gym and put 500 kilos on a bar and just try and pick it up and people will be shocked. Because to have half a ton in the hands is… there’s no feeling like it. Honestly. I feel like I’m gonna pass out right now. It’s not nice. It’s not nice.
The 18-inch deadlift was originally known as the silver dollar deadlift because old-timey strongmen used to perform the lift with barrels full of silver dollars. The previous record stood for an astonishing thirty-four years: Canadian athlete Tom Magee deadlifted 535 kilograms (1180 pounds) at the 1983 World’s Strongest Man competition. Straps were allowed then, too.
While some purists may not view the partial deadlift with quite as much reverence as the standard kind, Hall’s new record is thirty-six kilograms (almost 80 pounds) heavier than his 500kg PR, the heaviest deadlift ever made. Hall now has the record for the heaviest strongman deadlift (which allows wrist straps and a specialized deadlift suit), long bar strongman deadlift, and partial deadlift. Time to update our heaviest deadlifts article!
Related: Romanian Deadlift Overview
Featured image via International Strong Man on YouTube.
