Washington-based -105kg powerlifter Ben Rice had a surprise PR at a charity event this weekend.
This was unlike any charity event we’ve ever heard of: Deadlifts for Doernbecher, or D4D was an unsanctioned raw powerlifting exhibition that was intended to “unite the Northwest strength community as we come together to share our love for lifting and use it to have a positive impact on our community and the families served by Doernbecher Children’s Hospital.”
Rice turned up and set a personal record in the deadlift with an incredibly fast and beltless 800-pound (362.9-kilogram) lift.
He commented,
Surprise 800 lbs (364kg) beltless at the #d4d charity meet!!
Didn’t have any idea where my pull would be going into this, but beyond grateful that everything just felt amazing and we got to lift some heavy weights for a good cause (Doernbecher children’s hospital)
the event raised 26,000+ for the hospital which is amazing! Please excuse my ridiculous celebration I didn’t know what to do with my hands haha now back to work!
This is the first time we’ve seen Rice manage 800 pounds without a belt, though the first time he pulled the same weight with a belt was in March of this year.
He admitted this was “not the prettiest pull, and it was on a deadlift bar instead of a stiff bar (…) but this has been a number I’ve been chasing for about a decade.”
To go from such a shaky belted lift to such a fast, clean beltless lift in nine months, particularly at such a high weight shows a serious commitment to core strength.
Along the way, he’s been implementing pause deadilfts to help with sticking points, which included this 750-pounder in May of this year. (Rice likes to stream his workouts on Twitch if you want to see more of these.)
[Pause deadlifts are one of our 13 underrated fixes for a stalled deadlift.]
We believe that prior to this weekend his best competition deadlift was 771 pounds, so we’re looking forward to the numbers he’ll be putting up at his next sanctioned meet.
Featured image via @ben.rice.10 on Instagram.
