Julius Maddox is on a quest to be the first man to bench press 800 pounds raw and as of this writing, he is still scheduled to make that attempt on May 30 in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in many gyms being closed and has altered the plans of a lot of events scheduled to take place over the next couple of months. Maddox found another way to continue his journey without using a lot of weight – by performing a lot of reps.
“My coach allowed me to deviate from my typical program since we’re on this lockdown right now. So what we’re going to do is turn this into a high rep, lots, lots, lots, lots, lots, lots of volume today.”
In his most recent video on his YouTube channel, Maddox is seen performing 400 reps in one workout. His original plan was to attempt all 400 reps with 225 pounds which was CT Fletcher’s 400 rep marathon. However, after the 200 rep mark, he and his partner, IFBB Pro League bodybuilder Benquil Marigny, opted to finish with 135 on the bar.
“Let me tell you what. Doing 225 for multiple sets, multiple reps, let me tell you it has me completely, completely dismantled. Like I haven’t been this fatigued in a long time. So initially we were going to do the marathon of 225, something another guy on YouTube did. But I was trying to go along the lines of like CT Fletcher’s 400 reps in two hours…Going towards the finish line, well not even the finish line, the halfway mark, there was no way at this point that I could finish up with doing 225 for 400 reps.”
He was wearing a mask in the beginning of the session but told BarBend that it was affecting his breathing so he finished without it. The mask was initially a precautionary method. He did confirm that he is still healthy. Even though he’s most famous for his heavy weight feats for lower reps, he did advocate for his followers to try high rep workouts occasionally.
“I would advise everybody to at least try to do something like that with high reps, whether you do 135 or you do 225.”
As of this writing, his current world record is 770 pounds which he performed at the 2020 Arnold Sports Festival.
Featured Image: Instagram/irregular_strength