Powerlifter Ray Williams has blown the minds of strength fans yet again with his latest performance at the SBD Pro American. The SBD Pro American took place at the 2019 Arnold Sports Festival and hosted some of USAPL’s best powerlifters. Williams, who is no stranger to making noise at the Arnold Sports Festival, took the platform today on a mission.
Every year at the Arnold Sports Festival, it seems like Ray Williams accomplishes a mind-blowing feat in the sport of powerlifting, and his performance today may be his best to date.
To kick off his epic performance, Williams opened on squats with a strong 449kg/992 lbs. After moving the weight with the speed and ease of a warm-up, he quickly jumped to 477kg/1,052 lbs. Unfortunately, he was red-lighted for the lift, but that didn’t stop Williams from pushing the limits even further. For his third attempt, he called for 490kg/1,080 lbs on the bar.
The successful 490kg/1,080 lb third attempt squat earned Williams a USAPL national record, an unofficial IPF world record, and is one of the heaviest raw squats that’s ever been performed in competition. Check it out below — Many thanks to Matt Wallace for the videos!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BuhRYx9FwFC/
Heading into the bench press, Williams had positioned himself nicely to potentially shatter the all-time 308+ lb weight class world record total. On the bench press, Williams went 3/3, and hit 227kg/501 lbs on his first attempt, 237kg/523 lbs on his second, and 247kg/545 lbs for his third.
With a strong total of 737kg/1,625 lbs moving into the deadlifts, Williams only needed to successfully deadlift 367kg/811 lbs to shatter the current 308+ lb all-time world record total (in sleeves) — a deadlift weight Williams has already pulled on multiple occasions. Additionally, Williams also put himself in a position to break a 2,500 lb total, which has never been done before at a competition in sleeves.
On the deadlift, Williams opened with an easy 354kg/782 lbs. For his second attempt, Williams bumped up to 375kg/827 lbs, which earned him that all-time 308+ lb world record total, and an unofficial IPF world record total.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BuhoSEXFLbK/
On his third attempt, Williams called for 398kg/877 lbs on the bar to break the legendary 2,500 lb total mark. Unfortunately, Williams was red lighted on the lift.
Still, Ray Williams walked away going 7/9 on the meet with a monstrous 1,112kg/2,452 lb all-time world record total and a 490kg/1,080 lb raw squat.
Feature image from @mattwallace148 Instagram page.
