Larry Wheels is no slouch in the gym. At the tail-end of 2020, he scored an incline dumbbell bench press world record by hoisting a 124.7-kilogram (275-pound) dumbbell in each hand. At the front end of 2021, he deadlifted a 387.8-kilogram (855-pound) triple, hinting at a future in strongman. In May 2021, he took his strength to the arm-wrestling table to battle against Aleksandr “Schoolboy” Beziazykov, who shut him out in six straight matches.
The powerlifter turned strongman turned arm-wrestler is back in the gym and decided to once again put his quads and glutes to the test by loading 375.1 kilograms (827 pounds) on a barbell and squatting a smooth triple raw. He was wearing shoes as well as a lifting belt and knee sleeves during the lifts. Check out the set in the video below courtesy of Wheels’ Instagram page:
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According to Open Powerlifting, Wheels is the current bench press world record holder in the 140-kilogram class — he lifted an all-time best 292.5 kilograms (644.9 pounds) raw at the 2020 Xtreme Powerlifting Coalition (XPC) Arnold. His competition best squat is a 394.6-kilogram (869.9-pound) raw lift from that same event — 19.5 kilograms (43 pounds) more than his recent gym triple. The 2020 XPC Arnold also marked his best total to date of 1,075 kilograms (2,370 pounds).
[Related: Why You Should Learn to Love the 20-Rep Squat Set]
Wheels recent training sessions appear to show his programming paying off as he did not settle solely for the gigantic squat triple. A day later, on Sept. 2, 2021, he shared a video wherein he deadlifts 344.7 kilograms (760 pounds) with a mixed grip for six reps to score a new personal record. Check it out:
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A recent trick Wheels’ has employed is moisturizing his hands daily. Doing so “has added elasticity” to his hands by “preventing the callus from tearing.” It has been a year and a half since Wheels last competed in a sanctioned powerlifting competition. When he steps back onto the competition platform on Sept. 11, 2021, in Farmingdale, NY, at the Revolution Powerlifting Syndicate’s (RPS) Long Island Insurrextion, we’ll see if he reaches for the hand moisturizer before the chalk.
Feature image: @larrywheels on Instagram