Ray Williams set a new IPF raw squat record at the IPF Classic this past June (check out that massive lift here). For awhile, it looked like his 438kg/~963.6 pound lift from that competition might be the heaviest raw squat we’d see this year. Now, Williams has outdone himself once again, albeit in training: a 975 pound (~443kg) raw squat at what looks like a depth that would certainly pass in competition.
Warning: Even if you know he made the lift, the entire video is nail-bitingly suspenseful.
Oh, and he did it with no spotters, just walked out of a monorack with only safety chains as backup. Williams believed he was going to make this lift the moment he decided to throw weight on the bar.
But don’t necessarily expect to see Williams post another training video like this anytime soon. In his own words:
Moved some huge (975) weight but never doing this again!! It’s still Money Time
He’ll still have to lift well in a competition setting to break his own record, but for now, it looks like Ray William’s is the most promising candidate to become the first squat 1000 pounds, raw, drug tested and to IPF standards.
Williams had originally posted another angle of the lift that led some to question his depth. However, the above video certainly makes it look like he broke parallel in a legitimate fashion.
The weight looks even crazier when viewed without the >400 pound Williams under it. Completely filled with plates and bending in a way few lifters will ever have to manage in their careers.
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