Julius Maddox is most famous for his power and strength feats on the flat barbell bench press, but he recently performed a massive feat of strength from another angle – the incline. On May 6, Maddox posted a video on Instagram that featured him performing a set of 3 reps on the incline barbell press with 605 pounds (274.3 kilos).
The bench that the Kentucky native is on is a fixed incline bench with the angle of the incline appearing to be around 45 degrees. What should be noted about the set he does is that he stops just short of his chest at the bottom of each rep before pressing back up.
To some, that actually makes this feat even more impressive because the bar doesn’t bounce off of his chest. Instead, his pectoral muscles are staying tense under the pressure of that weight and he’s still able to press it back up while appearing to maintain complete control.
In one of the comments on the post, Maddox explained that his hands are closer together on the bar and that he is stopping just short of the chest to target more of the triceps while doing this set.
There isn’t an official world record for the incline version of the bench press but if there was, Maddox would be in the running for that title as well as the flat bench record he currently owns. Leroy Walker has inclined 655 pounds (297 kilos) and many people consider that the most weight ever lifted on that exercise. Larry Wheels successfully lifted 600 pounds on the incline back in 2018. However, both men performed the lift for a single rep.
The incline barbell press is considered a top “accessory” movement for powerlifters to improve chest and front delt strength for the bench press. Maddox hasn’t said if doing this was a part of coach Josh Bryant’s plan on his road to his 800 pound bench press attempt or if this was an impromptu feat.
Maddox will be attempting to take his all-time world-record in the raw bench press to 800 pounds (363 kilos) on June 27 and it will be live streamed on CoreSports. The record currently stands at 770 pounds (349 kilos) which he set at the 2020 Arnold Sports Festival. Another feat of strength that Maddox had completed in recent months was a set of 9 on the flat bench with 600 pounds (272 kilos).
Featured Image: Instagram/irregular_strength