There’s a new lightest guy to squat 1000lbs & he did it as a 220 pretty amazing if you ask me that’s over 4.5 times bodyweight!
IMO it’s hard to tell what a Westside-style squat looks like just by seeing pictures. In that video, it looks like he hardly moved at all, no wonder he could do 1000! (still pretty impressive though) I think I’ll keep doing my squats olympic-style.
I have to agree with you on that one. I am not saying I could do 1,000 pounds, so please don’t misinterpret, but, after seeing that video, I think I just added 200 pounds to my squat. The bar didn’t move very far at all.
I think I’m more impressed with Stefan Botev squatting 705 or so (320kg) with no spotters, no wraps & no belt at the end of workout on my 1995 world’s cassette.
That’s a legal squat in powerlifting?
the apf rules state that the lifter must bend at the knees and lower the body until the top surface of the legs at the hip joint is lower then the top of the knees. chuck lifted in the ipa but i think the rules are the same. there was a lot of controversy over this lift (depth and control), but the end result was that at least 2 out of 3 judges passed the lift. obviously the wider you get your feet the less you have to move the bar, but it takes tremendous hip and hamstring strength to squat that wide plus flexibility to lower yourself when you are that wide. i’ve seen videos of chuck squatting. he still moves a tremendous amount of weight with his feet closer and no equipment. the man is unreal. and, though everyone gets a chance to wear the same equipment he does or better, under the same rules, he probably has the best, or one of the best, squats ever based on formula.
I can’t imagine even unracking that kind of weight, let alone squatting it. Even if he didn’t get full depth, that’s damn impressive in my book.
The guy is strong, but calling that a squat is just bullshit, that is the problem with Power Lifting. All the suits, wraps, bullshit federations and pinning your freaking feet to the sides of the Monolift is crap. It is no longer about who can lift the most, it is about who can bend the rules the farthest. I am alot more impressed with what Oly lifters do, but PL could be good with real consistent rules.
Please let’s not get into a powerlifting with or without gear and Olympic lifters vs. powerlifters argument. I’ve been there way too many times before. I do have to say though that 1000lbs is a great feat, but I consider parallel about an inch lower.
could anyone here even unrack that 1000lbs and bend a little bit without getting stapled to the ground? no i didnt think so.
How many of us could even walk out of the rack with 1,000?
I don’t know why you guys are making such a big deal about this. I do frog walks with 1200 lol:)
This is some cold shit. I’m surprised how negative people can be about another’s accomplishments, especially when CV has probably been training longer than anyone on this board. Let’s also not forget that this squat was done just a few weeks after an upper back surgery, and, get this, TWO car wrecks!
By the way, anyone here who squats narrow, try squatting really wide with half your regular squat max and don’t complain when your ass just gets glued to the floor. Chuck isn’t that tall. If you compare the width of his stance to his height, it’s almost inhuman how wide these guys squat. The form is trained like that so it’s purposely really, really hard to get past parallel, which ends up utilizing stretch reflex for explosiveness. Anf then, obviously, you have less distance to squat. But squatting like that will kill someone that hasn’t trained for it. I lost over 20 pounds off my regular squat at first, then I got my first 300 a little while ago. It works.
If I was as hard on myself as I have read some people are toward others, I would just quit. In my opinion, this is harsh shit. If a squat's high, OK then. Relish in the fact that it wasn't YOUR squat if you gotta. On the other hand, there must be another option to dogging on someone 1) who you don't know 2) on an internet forum and, most importantly 3) who probably benches your deadlift. And please, guys, powerlifting is an awesome sport that I believe is simlpy the victim of some complex and melodramatic political conflicts. If you can't deal with the fact that someone is about four times stronger than you will ever be, with or without equipment, at least don't take it out on the sport that I and a lot of other people love dearly.
Eric, excellently written, fine points, and I admire your desire and passion…
Drax, since you’re such a strong guy, why aren’t you onthe platform showin’ us all that deep,deep squat you don’t have?
colin, in powerlifting competitions, do they really allow lifters to prop their feet against the monolift?
Well said Eric. I’ve seen Chuck do seated good mornings with 500 lbs. The boy is Strong! nYopu’re comments on squat form are right on target. My best squat is in the low 500’s. I’ve always found the narrow squat arguement amusing. If you’ve ever backed out a rack with 700 lbs on your back, you know what I mean. I’ve found the world starts changing at 300 or so. It’s amazing the difference as the weight climbs. Chuck’s squat looks close, but it’s hard to tell with the angle. I’d have to see from the side. When I refereed meetys as a national official, the squat was always controversial. Remember the hip joint has to break an imaginery line drawn from the top of the knee. It has to be noticed by the referee. There is know designated distance such as 1". As long as the referee can seeit, it’s good. More experienced lifters know about right were the mark is. Either way , it was one heeluva lift.
I like his hat. I need a fiery head ornament. Of course, considering I can’t squat doodley, I’d probably just get laughed at in my gym… (nobody’d really kick my ass because they’re mostly nancy boys who stay away from squats and DL, but they can still laugh at me from across the gym).
Yeah I tried that wide stance stuff. It’s very hard. Just watching him get set in that stance made me cringe. He keeps his knees out and back straight and everything. I wish I knew what he was saying to the bar before he got under it…
Thank you, Eric. Great post.