Of the big three in powerlifting, one could argue that the bench is possibly the toughest lift to advance. At a certain point, technical proficiency, sheer size, and innate strength take over, and this usually comes at the three, four, and sometimes five plate bench barriers. But what about a 680 lb bench?
Julius Maddox just crushed a raw 680 lb bench with pretty good speed. There wasn’t a full powerlifting pause, but it’s still an incredible feat of strength. Few athletes, and we mean very few, ever reach the 700 lb bench caliber with a pause or not.
Check out Maddox’s recent bench PR video that he shared on his Instagram page yesterday.
And Maddox is no stranger to pressing heavy weight. In fact, he routinely competes and does exhibitions to highlight his insane pressing strength with athletes like Jeremy Hoornstra and Robert Wilkerson.
Lately, it appears Maddox has been on a mission, and that mission is to tackle and reach the rare 700 lb bench barrier. On August 26th, Maddox posted another video of a 665 lb gym PR, and we just saw him surpass that by 15 lbs less than three weeks later. In his video’s description he writes, “Gym PR! 665lb bench press.. I can visualize 700+ going up!”
In the video below titled Power With a Purpose shared in September 2016, Maddox stated he’s ranked third in the nation for his bench press, 11th all-time, first in Kentucky, and holds the Kentucky state record.
For the readers who didn’t know Maddox before this article, then we recommend checking out Power With a Purpose video below. Maddox talks briefly about his upbringing, and how he’s used strength as an outlet to channel his energy, which eventually helped save him from going down wrong paths. In addition, he now uses what he’s learned to teach youth and others that have had similar lives growing up.
Maddox has a best bench in competition at 660 lbs, and will hopefully be equipped to push this further in the near future. Judging from his recent videos and progress, we’d guess that 700 lbs isn’t too far off for this athlete.
Feature image screenshot from @maddox_irregularstrength Instagram page.
