The top of the Men’s 125-kilogram all-time single-ply rankings has been rewritten. At the 2023 International Powerlifting Association (IPA) National Championships at York Barbell in York, PA, on Nov. 18-19, 2023, Phillip Herndon, competing in the 125-kilogram class, shattered the all-time single-ply squat and total world records. It was his competitive sanctioned single-ply meet debut.
Herndon scored a 485-kilogram (1,070-pound) squat — a staggering 20 kilograms over the previous world record held by Anthony Oliveira since 2021. That record added to Herndon’s world-record total of 1,170 kilograms (2,580 pounds), which exceeded the previous record held by Yevgen Yarymbash since 2010 by 20 kilograms. Check out all three of Herndon’s lifts in the video below, courtesy of his Instagram page, followed by a breakdown of his performance:
[Related: Erholove Izobodo-John (84KG) Pulls Heaviest Raw British Deadlift In History of 260 Kilograms]
2023 IPA National Championships — Phillip Herndon, 125KG | Single-Ply
- Squat — 485 kilograms (1,070 pounds) — All-Time World Record
- Bench Press — 345 kilograms (760 pounds)
- Deadlift — 363 kilograms (800 pounds)
- Total — 1,170 kilograms (2,580 pounds) — All-Time World Record
Herndon is not a stranger to seeing his name scribbled in the record books. Before his foray into equipped powerlifting, he claimed the all-time raw squat world record in the 110-kilogram class of 395 kilograms (871 pounds), which still stands at the time of this article’s publication, according to Open Powerlifting. His 411-kilogram (906 pounds) raw squat at the 2023 USPC Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship is the second-heaviest ever behind Reece Fullwood‘s 412.5-kilogram (909-pound) lift from the 2023 GPC-GB Welsh Championships.
While Herndon’s squat and total were more than anyone else ever in sanctioned 125-kilogram competition, his bench press was also within strike distance of the world’s best. The current bench press world record stands at 356 kilograms (785 pounds) by Stanislav Bakhtin, claimed at the 2016 FPR White Nights.
Herndon expressed gratitude in the caption of his Instagram post featuring his world record lifts but did not say when he intends to compete next. If he steps on the equipped lifting platform again, it seems as though he’s found a new space to push the thresholds of what’s possible with a barbell.
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Featured image: @phillip_herndon on Instagram
