Mart Seim — the Estonian superheavyweight lifter with crazy hops and a 400kg back squat — put a new twist on a popular Instagram fitness trope. In the video, Seim front rack-walks and then pause squats 260kg. It’s not the heaviest front squat we’ve seen by a long shot, but it’s certainly one of the more impressive feats of core stability and front rack strength that’s ever been filmed.
Whether it was intentional or not, Seim’s video reminds us of a popular Instagram trend wherein fitness social celebs yolk walk with a heavy barbell and intermittently squat it, sometimes while dragging a weighted sled behind them.
Instagram celeb (or “influencer,” or whatever you call people famous for being famous on IG) Bradley Martyn did a version with no-hands back squats, embedded below.
While Martyn’s lift-walk is impressive — and heavy, for mere mortals — we have to give the nod to Seim. Just imagine holding 260kg in the front rack — something a lot of lifters can do for a static hold, at least for a few seconds.
Now imagine front squatting 260kg. That diminishes the ability pool by a big, big margin. Adding a pause in there puts it in the realm of possibility for very few living humans. Add all that together with a two-platform walk, and we can probably count on two hands the number of lifters capable.
Seim is looking strong heading into the Rio Olympics, where he’ll be looking to compete for a medal after taking second overall at the 2015 World Weightlifting Championships in Houston, Texas.
