The road to a 700-pound raw bench press is a long and lonely one. It’s a goal that, like a thousand-pound deadlift, countless powerlifters have held but few have ever achieved.
Julius Maddox looks like he’s not far from achieving it. Take a look at this brand new PR in the lift, an enormous raw bench of 688 pounds, or 312 kilograms.
So does Julius Maddox have 700 pounds in him? With that kind of speed at 688 pounds, we wouldn’t be surprised if he already does. Previously, his competition PR was 660 pounds, making his latest lift a pretty significant jump.
[Interested in learning the heaviest raw bench presses of all time? Take a look at our infographic!]
Maddox weighs over 350 pounds, but the difficulty of hitting a double-bodyweight bench certainly increases at such an elite level. At BarBend, we’ve been following his #roadto700 for some time now. The last time we wrote about him, we were in awe of his 680-pound PR, which he made just one month ago.
And on September 21, he hit a 2-rep PR of 645 pounds, or 292.5 kilograms.
A bona fide bench press specialist, he credited his programming to Josh Bryant, the man who owns Jailhouse Strong and is known for his 2013 book Bench Press: The Science.
In the comments section of his 680-pound lift, Maddox confirmed that his plan is to eventually overtake Eric Spoto’s record bench press of 722 pounds (327.5kg). You can watch that lift from 2013 below.
To get to a 688-pound bench, your programming has to be a little more nuanced than “lots of benching.” Part of Maddox’s training involves benching with resistance bands to improve his lockout at the top of the lift. Check out his 6-rep AMRAP of 480 pounds (217.7 kilograms) with bands.
[Using bands is one of our 5 unconventional tips for a bigger bench press — check out the rest!]
His training also involves heavy tricep dips, and he wouldn’t be a powerlifting celebrity if he didn’t do the occasional accessory lift with people sitting on the weights.
We’re not sure when Maddox’s next meet is, but we have a feeling he might pull off 700 pounds by the end of the year.
Featured image via @jailhousestrong on Instagram.
