American weightlifting phenomenon CJ Cummings is not showing any signs of slowing down. In a recent training video (embedded below) the junior athlete who holds every single Senior American record in the -69kg class almost took his world record clean & jerk for a double. There’s some debate as to whether he’s lifting 180 kilograms or 185 kilograms (it might be 185 with the collars, but Cummings didn’t specify the weight the video).
In any case, take a look at the lifts below — he successfully makes the first and just barely misses the second, suggesting a true one-rep max could very well break his record.
(If you’re having trouble viewing this video on mobile you can see it here.)
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnmIqlyhhi6
We know there were a lot of skeptics out there when Cummings switched from split jerk to squat jerk, but it’s hard to argue with this set.
In fact, it’s really worth emphasizing that when he set his 185-kilo youth world record at the 2017 Youth World Weightlifting Championships in Bangkok, he did it with a split jerk. It wasn’t until later that year that he started using a squat jerk and when he bombed out of all of his clean & jerks at the 2017 World Weightlifting Championships in December, more than a few people were wondering if it was a mistake to make the switch.
But prior to that competition we’d seen him hit some pretty darn heavy clean & jerks, including this set of 160, 170, and 180 kilos that he put up about almost a year ago.
[Read our ultimate guide to the squat jerk here — it’s not right for everyone.]
The 2017 Worlds showed that anyone, including CJ Cummings, can miss lifts they’ve hit in training when it’s time to compete. But we’re still pretty pumped to see his next total.
Featured image via @cj__cummings on Instagram.
