Meanwhile in Dubai, two weightlifters just made a 23 kilogram PR. That might sound like a pretty insane jump until you realize they’re comparing their previous max in the very rare, never tested, but always fun to watch tandem clean & jerk. That’s two people on the same bar.
Ine Andersson is a Norwegian native who resides in Dubai and is the head coach at Curvalicious, a women’s only gym in the United Arab Emirates. Andersson, who lifts in the -63kg weight class, was joined by her friend and fellow Norwegian weightlifter Marit Årdalsbakke at CrossFit Metalize for a workout when they decided to max their tandem clean & jerk at 178.5 kilograms, or 395 pounds. Watch it unfold below.
Årdalsbakke posted it with the caption,
When vikings come together 👯🏋 395 lbs/178,5 kg on the bar (23,5 kg PR in tandem c&j)💪🏼💃🏼
Saying this is “a PR” in the tandem clean & jerk seems like it’s just made for effect, but the two weightlifters — who did indeed comment that “this was a 23 kg PR from our previous try” — seem to have a habit of trying this lift out. Below you can see them working through 95kg, 115kg, 135kg, and 155kg at a training camp in November.
The 178.5kg lift was the heaviest tandem clean & jerk we’ve seen from two women (though still well below the world superheavyweight record for one woman), but the heaviest we’ve ever seen from anyone is probably this one from German superheavyweights Matthias Steiner and Almir Velagic: 333.3 kilograms, or 734.8 pounds.
[Check out BarBend’s exclusive interview with Steiner on life after retirement — and his new singing career!]
This got us thinking: what’s the heaviest amount of weight we’ve ever seen three people lift at once? Probably this lift from the Lithuanian strongmen Zydrunas Savickas, Vytautas Lalas, and Vidas Blekaitis, which took place at the Vilnius, Lithuania’s capital, in 2013.
If you’re not fired up to go work out with your swolemate now, there’s something wrong.
Featured image via @maritaardalsbakke on Instagram.