Latvian strongman Martins Licis is currently ranked as the fourth strongest man on Earth, at least according to his placement in last year’s World’s Strongest Man contest, but he may have the strongest set of obliques in the world.
Licis is a big fan of the Steinborn squat, a unique and brutally effective movement that hones oblique and transverse core strength, obscure spinal loading, and core stabilization resilience like no other exercise. It goes without saying (but we really should say it) that such a challenging an unorthodox movement carries an inherent injury risk and shouldn’t be performed without first having a lot of experience and the supervision of an excellent coach.
Licis has both of those things — he’s a world class athlete coached by legendary strongman Odd Haugen — and he’s been working hard on becoming the world’s most proficient Steinborn squatter.
He gave us two interesting pieces of news in his latest Instagram post. The first is that he PRd a session of Steinborn squats with two reps at 506 pounds (229.5 kilograms). Take a look below.
[Curious as to the finer points of form? Take a look at our ultimate guide to safely performing the Steinborn squat.]
He also announced,
It’s been a secret in the works the last couple of months! However, now that it’s been officially announced, I can tell the World, I will be attempting a World Record Steinborn Rockover squat at the @arnoldsports Classic in Columbus Ohio on Sunday March 4th, on the Big Stage.
Licis hopes to break the record set by Milo Steinborn himself, who made a 550-pound lift 1920. (Read our biography of this pioneer in strength sports here.) Obviously it’s hard to verify lifts made so long ago, but Licis, who is the current world champion at Mas wrestling, is nonetheless determined to become the best Steinborn squatter of all time. Here is hitting a 500-pound lift back in November.
We wish him the best of luck at the Arnold!
Featured image via @martinslicis on Instagram