A sense of doubt can creep into the mind of an athlete when performing a lift they have not trained for several weeks. But that doubt did not stop 22-year-old Bobb Matthews, who competes in the -93kg weight class and who once paused his back squat for 21 seconds, from attempting and successfully hitting a new personal record 311kg/685lb squat from his backyard gym setup.
Before we dive in to discuss the strides Matthews has made in the last six months, check out the video of his gigantic squat below via his Instagram page:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B–pD8_AJ5s/
“Push! Push! Yeah! …Oh my god!”
The lift started out with a spicy setup of Matthews dipping back and forth underneath the bar. Once in it though, this lift became a grind. It makes sense that would be the case considering this lift was a full 8kg/18lb above Matthews’ competition best — a 302.5kg/667lb squat on his way to the silver at USA Powerlifting (USAPL) Raw Nationals this past October — and Matthews himself noted that he had not squatted in weeks. Matthews half-joked after the lift saying:
“That shit almost fall on me.”
Judging from Matthews’ Instagram page, the last time he performed squats of any kind were actually Zercher squats using a barbell and a playground for equipment. Check it out below:
[Related: Try these front foot elevated Zercher split squats for the ultimate leg pump.]
Matthews has only competed in two events thus far in his young powerlifting career and captured silver both times. When he will have the opportunity to compete again is anybody’s guess in the current climate but he is determined to use his time in quarantine to build as many gains as he can.
He is not only using his backyard and a park as places to train but also his home as well. A bench, a couple of buckets, some wood, and an axle bar wrapped in resistance bands have been helping him out:
With Matthews’ continued dedication to getting stronger, we look forward to seeing which personal record he’ll break through next.
Feature image via Bobb Matthews’ Instagram page: @ssjbobb
