Russian powerlifter Artem Efimov isn’t one of the best known athletes in the sport, but his latest raw deadlift is gaining him some fame: 420 kilograms (926 pounds) at 103 kilograms (227 pounds) bodyweight.
After he makes the enormous lift, which was over four times his bodyweight, he went for a double. He didn’t make it very far, but if you look closely you can tell that he did manage to pull hard enough that the plates left the floor. Especially for a sumo pull, that’s a seriously impressive feat, even if the bar didn’t clear his shins.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bb4-Xy7g0v1
Judging by the next video he posted, it looks like Efimov may have been employing some reverse pyramid training. After this heavy single, he made a five-rep set of 370 kilograms (815.7 pounds). The videos were posted a day apart, but it’s pretty clear they were filmed during the same session.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bb8uzfNgoUk
[Wondering how the world’s best deadlifters warm up for the lift? We asked ’em, and got five different routines.]
Despite his strength clearly being at elite levels, Efimov said in the comments that he doesn’t have any plans to compete until autumn 2018. When he has competed in the past he usually did so in the IPF, but he says that he’s planning to move to the World Raw Powerlifting Federation (WRPF).
If that 420-kilogram lift were made in an IPF competition, it would have annihilated Krzysztof Wierzbicki’s -105kg deadlift record of 390 kilograms — that is, if he weren’t using wrist straps and if the lift weren’t made off of a mat. So what does he lift in competition?
Efimov appears to be based in Vologda, a city about 500 kilometers north of Moscow. In early November, he won a raw powerlifting meet there with a total of 882.5 kilograms (1945.6 pounds) at 103 kilograms. You can see his deadlifts from the meet below, which tapped out at 360 kilograms.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BbXfeORAbQi/
Still, we think we’re going to heat more from Artem Efimov once he returns to competition.
Related: Romanian Deadlift Guide
Featured image via @world_champion_efimov on Instagram.
