Bryce Lewis has been competing in the 105kg weight class since 2015 and has been on an absolute tear. He has not yet competed in 2020, but since 2019 he has appeared in twelve meets and did not miss the podium a single time. Of those twelve meets, nine were first place finishes including gold at the USA Powerlifting (USAPL) Raw National Championships in 2016, 2017, and 2019.
Lewis’ first ever competition attempt at a deadlift over 363kg/800lb was at his most recent appearance at the 2019 USAPL Raw National Championships. For his third attempt, he called for 370kg/815.7lb on the bar but missed.
But he just breezed by the 363kg/800lb milestone in the gym. Check out Lewis pull a speedy 365kg/804lb in the video below from his Instagram page:
[Related: Bryce Lewis explains the relationship between fatigue and performance.]
“Woooooooooooow! Wow!”
That voice in the background of the video sums up the response to this huge lift pretty well. Lewis wrote in the caption that this lift “ties a lifetime best and moved a little faster”.
What is clear to the eye is that Lewis is making some serious gains and is likely to continue his hot streak in 2020 when he decides to compete next. What might not be clear from the above video is that Lewis was simultaneously conducting a social media experiment.
Lewis conducted an experiment to see if he would get more engagement on social media for the lifts he did using pound plates instead of kilo plates. His hypothesis being that there would be more engagement because pound plates appear as though there is more weight on the barbell since each pound plate weighs less individually than each kilo plate (45lb and 55lb respectively) even though there is not. The weight might be the same on the barbell, but the illusion is that pound plates look heavier.
The result? His hypothesis was correct:
“Were there more likes? More comments? You freakin bet there were. It was pretty noticeable—a jump in all forms of engagement.”
Whether Lewis continues his prep using pound plates or kilo plates, we’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for his next big PR.
Feature image from Bryce Lewis’ Instagram page: @bryce_tsa