In a phone conversation that took place on February 11, Julius Maddox says the 800 pound raw bench press is not far from reality. He has officially called his shot on when he will set the all-time raw world record on the bench press to a previously unfathomable 800 pounds (362.8 kg).
“The new all-time world record raw bench will be 800 pounds by the beginning of June.”
In case there is any speculation about his statement, that means he plans on doing it by June of 2020. He stated that he had already signed the contract for the meet but didn’t say which meet it was. He did say that he’s already in full training mode to make it happen.
Maddox has become a sensation in the sport of powerlifting over the course of the last twelve months. He initially broke the American record with a lift of 723.1 pounds (327.9 kg) in June of 2019. In September, he took over Kirill Sarychev’s world-record by pressing 739.6 pounds (335 kg).
In November, only two months later, he raised the record again by completing a successful 744 pound (337 kg) attempt. Outside of competition lifts, his current max is actually 755 pounds which he unofficially performed in training a month ago. He has also completed a triple with 700 pounds and pressed 610 pounds for a set of 8 reps. Both of those sets had been posted on his social media.
Meanwhile, other notable strength athletes like Eddie Hall and Larry Wheels have said they wanted to pursue the record themselves. Hall had been recovering from injuries while training but as of this writing had yet to break the 700 pound mark. The 800 pound mark might make the record out of reach for either of those men or anyone else for the foreseeable future.
Both Maddox and his coach, Josh Bryant, have said from the moment that they started working together that the ultimate goal was to set the all-time world record. Now that the Owensboro, Kentucky native owns it, setting the mark to 800 pounds has been the goal. According to an Instagram post on February 8, he had only recently resumed program focused training. He posted a set of 565 pounds (256.2 kg) for 10 reps. He described the set as “rough”.
“Gotta get my groove back felt sloppy.”
Featured Image: Instagram/irregular_strength
