One of the first times we covered 120kg+ powerlifter Luke Richardson, he reached a massive milestone becoming the youngest athlete to total over 1,000kg/2,204 lbs. It was 2018 at the Junior Mens Classic British Championships and Richardson was just 21 years old.
One year later, and Richardson is cementing his position in the sport. This week, he deadlifted 365kg, or 805 lbs for a triple. This was a personal best for Richardson, and the reps looked remarkably smooth. On his Instagram he shared his deadlifts from training and wrote,
“365kg or 805lbs for 3 PB. I will pull 1,000 lbs next year mark my words.”
[Improve your own deadlift with these 4 cues for a stronger pull.]
This past May, the man deadlifted 400kg, or 881.8 lbs for a single rep. When he uploaded it he wrote of this huge lift: “400kg deadlift. I’ve wanted to hit this milestone for as long as I can remember. This is just the beginning.”
Now he’s set a new goal to reach that 1,000-pound mark next year. That would be a pretty serious achievement if he’s pulling raw — Icelandic strongman Benedikt Magnusson has what may be the heaviest raw deadlift of all time with 1,015 pounds, which he made without straps or a deadlift suit.
But hey, Richardson is pretty darn good at deadlifting — last December, he annihilated the IPF junior world record deadlift by 14.5 kilograms, pulling 370kg (814lb) and then barely missing 377.5kg (832lb).
And the last time he PRd his three-rep max was just two weeks ago when he made this 360-kilogram triple. It’s amazing to see a lifter at his level add 5 kilograms to his PR in just two weeks.
We’re not sure what’s next for Richardson this year, but we can’t wait for him to take a crack at that 1,000 pounder.
Featured image from @lukeerichardson Instagram page.