If you’re a Kevin Oak fan, then you were probably pleasantly pleased when you saw him back under the bar two days ago.
Oak is best known in the sport of powerlifting for his incredibly consistent performance in all three lifts, and his two-all time world records. Two days ago, he shared a very strong 275kg (605 lb) squat for nine reps, which was great to see him hit after taking a very long deload to rest and recoup after a very intense couple of months.
In Oak’s latest Instagram video he writes, “605 lbs x 9, first time back squatting in a month. Felt a little rusty but not a bad starting point.” It may have felt like a rusty set to Oak, but it certainly didn’t look like it to us, check it out below.
Every athlete can use a deload at various points in their competitive career, and Oak decided to opt in for some recuperation and time off from heavy training after the Kern US Open in mid-May.
He highlighted one of his US Open squat warm-ups on his Instagram page and wrote at the beginning of the description, “When this is your last warm-up… it’s probably not gonna be a good day. First off I’m not hurt so that’s good. The short explanation is I was just burnt out coming in and was hoping for the best and also probably cut too much weight.”
Along with the cut leading up to burn out a little bit, Oak competed in mid-April (only 5-weeks before the US Open) and set an all-time squat world record in the 110kg (242 lb) weight class with monstrous 377.5kg (832 lb) lift.
After a month long deload, we’re happy to see Oak back under the bar moving weight again like it’s nothing. As the year progresses, we’re excited to see what Oak has in-store.
Feature image from @oakstrong Instagram page.