Raw, barefoot, and listening to country music, 120kg powerlifter Dennis Cornelius is crushing world records in training. Thrash metal be damned, Cornelius is making Trace Adkins look like a great choice for hitting new PRs — watch him pull off an insane 400-kilogram (881-pound) squat below.
For reference, Cornelius currently holds the IPF world record in the squat with 386 kilograms (851 pounds), which he set in June at this year’s IPF World Classic Powerlifting Championships. That’s a full 14 kilograms (31 pounds) lighter than what he’s now hitting in training sessions. There’s a good chance the man is currently heavier than his competition weight, but that’s still an amazing jump.
At the same championship, Cornelius benched 247.5kg (545.6lb) and deadlifted 335kg (738.5lb), securing the IPF world record total for his weight class with 978.5 kilograms (2,157.2 pounds).
He also broke the squat world record at the 2016 championships. Back then, he “only” had to squat 378 kilograms (833.3 pounds). It’s crazy to think that the world record can increase by so much in just one year.
Just three months later, in September 2016, he posted a clip hitting 855 pounds (387.8 kilograms) in training, a lift that was significantly heavier than the world record he made this year. (Note that he is wearing wearing knee sleeves here.)
Six months later, in April 2017, he was grinding out doubles of 850 pounds (385.5kg).
Cornelius has a beast of a raw bench press too and while he missed a 250kg (551lb) bench press at IPF Worlds in Belarus this year, we did see him hit an astonishing 263 kilograms (580 pounds) in training last year.
But if we’re looking at his heaviest sets and most weight moved, the best performance we’ve seen from him on the bench might be this set of 224.5kg (495lb) for five reps.
We have a feeling we’ll be seeing a 600-pound bench and a 900-pound squat from Dennis Cornelius before too long.
Featured image via @denniscornelius500 on Instagram.
