What is the most weight ever lifted by a human? Whether the weight moves only millimeters off the ground or from the floor to overhead, we explore the outer limits of human strength. We’ve determined the biggest lifts of all time.
MOST WEIGHT EVER LIFTED
BACKLIFT: 5340 POUNDS (2422.2 KG.)
Gregg Ernst
First, what is a backlift? It’s a strength feat that is almost never performed today, unless someone is trying out a nearly forgotten old-time strongman lift. And even if you wanted to try it, it’d be difficult to set up the equipment and pile on enough weight to do it right. Despite the name, the backlift is not a back-focused lift. Instead, the weight (a lot of weight) is on or attached to a platform on the person’s flat back while that person is on all fours with their hands on supports, such as a bench or blocks. Sometimes a back lift is done with a heavy-duty table of sorts or a vertical leg press. The lifter typically starts with his arms slightly bent, and then he raises his back, just barely, to lift the weight, just barely.
It’s not much of a lift to witness with the platform just barely rising, but a century or so ago strongmen sold it by having people sit on that platform and advertising the outrageous weights. The problem for us regarding those outrageous weights is they’re difficult to verify now, and who knows how much care was paid to their accuracy way back then.
In 1895, Canadian strongman Louis Cyr supposedly backlifted a platform with 18 men upon it, weighing 4,337 pounds (1,967 kg.), but we have no photos of the event, and there was every incentive to exaggerate the numbers back when Cyr made a great living giving exhibitions around the world as the “Strongest Man on Earth,” who was capable of lifting over two tons. Nevertheless, it made the first Guinness Book of World Records in 1955 as “the greatest weight ever raised by a human being.”
In 1957, American Paul Anderson, who won the super-heavyweight gold medal in weightlifting at the Olympics the year before and who is often ranked as the strongest man ever, set out to break Cyr’s reputed record. He supposedly backlifted 6270 pounds (2844 kg.), which easily supplanted Cyr’s feat as “the greatest weight ever raised by a human being.” However, Guinness later removed Anderson’s reputed record because it too was never officially verified and again there is no photo or video evidence of the event, which was staged in Anderson’s backyard. Strength historian Joe Roark explored this topic in great detail and concluded that Anderson’s backyard backlift was likely, at best, 4070 pounds. We’ll never know the truth about this one.
In 1993, Canadian strongman Gregg Ernst backlifted a platform holding two cars with drivers. The weight was verified as 5340 pounds (2422.18 kg.). Maybe Guinness was leary of this topic after Cyr and Anderson, because it took them 22 years to give the lift green lights. In 2015, Ernst’s incredible two-car lift was finally notarized. Today, over three decades after it occurred, it’s still, officially, the Guinness World Record for “heaviest weight ever lifted” by a human. Because such a massive backlift is so seldom performed and so difficult to set up, there’s no telling if and when this record will be broken.
OTHER HEAVIEST WEIGHTS EVER LIFTED
HIP LIFT: 2791 POUNDS (1266 KG.)
Nick Best
In 1957, Paul Anderson was televised on The Ed Sullivan Show doing a hip lift (a partial belt squat) of a carousel loaded with Girl Scouts, which was estimated to weigh 2700 pounds. A successful lift was getting the carousel completely off the ground, which he did. In 2019, for the TV program The Strongest Man in History, four of the world’s best strongmen attempted to break the record. Three did, and Nick Best set the new standard at 2791 pounds.
PARTIAL SQUAT: 2028 POUNDS (920 KG.)
Brian Shaw
Also on The Strongest Man in History in 2019, four-time World’s Strongest Man Brian Shaw lifted off the ground, barely, a wooden structure loaded with water-filled barrels totalling 2028 pounds, shattering the “barrel lift” world record. Shaw accomplished this with a yoke across his broad shoulders as if locking out the very top of a squat. As far as we know, this is the heaviest partial squat of all time.
BENCH PRESS (EQUIPPED): 1401 POUNDS (635.4 KG.)
Jimmy Kolb
In 2023, Jimmy Kolb set the equipped bench press record by moving just over 1400 pounds. The multi-ply, slingshot suit helps him support much of the weight, which is why equipped bench pressing is so very different from raw bench pressing. Still, this is the most weight officially moved up by a human lying on his back.
SQUAT (EQUIPPED): 1311 POUNDS (594.7 KG.)
Nathan Baptist
In 2021, Nathan Baptist squatted a world record 1311 pounds while wearing a multi-ply squat suit and knee wraps.
PARTIAL DEADLIFT: 1278.7 POUNDS (580 KG.)
Rauno Heinla
In 2022, strongman Rauno Heinla pulled a “silver dollar” deadlift of nearly 1280 pounds with giant weight plates (so the weight only needs to be lifted a couple inches), using lifting straps to secure his grip and wearing a deadlift suit. This is the greatest official partial deadlift of all time.
SQUAT (RAW, WITH WRAPS): 1113.3 POUNDS (505 KG.)
Dan Bell
In 2021, Dan Bell squatted over 1100 pounds without a multi-ply suit but with knee wraps.
DEADLIFT (STRONGMAN): 1104.5 POUNDS (501 KG.)
Hafbor Bjornsson
In 2020, Hafþór JúlÃus Björnsson, winner of the 2018 World’s Strongest Man, pulled over 1104 pounds in a strongman-style deadlift, using lifting straps to secure his grip.
SQUAT (RAW, WITHOUT WRAPS): 1080.3 POUNDS (490 KG.)
Ray Williams
In 2019, Ray Williams squatted 1080 pounds without a multi-ply suit or knee wraps.
DEADLIFT (POWERLIFTING): 1074.5 POUNDS (487.5 KG.)
Danny Grigsby
In 2022, pulling sumo-style, Danny Grigsby became the first person to deadlift over 1000 pounds raw (no deadlifting suit) in a full powerlifting meet. Unlike strongman events, no lifting straps or hitching the weight is allowed. Then, a few months later, he smashed his own record with an incredible 1074.5-pound pull. (Note: The equipped deadlift record is no longer relevant here because it’s 30 kg. less than Grigsby’s raw lift.)
BENCH PRESS (RAW): 782.6 POUNDS (355 KG.)
Julius Maddox
In 2021, American Julius Maddox bench pressed an official world record 782.6 pounds raw (without a bench suit). The next year, he bench pressed 796 pounds (361 kg.) in training. Maddox has failed on three occasions to officially bench press 800 or more raw.
CLEAN AND JERK: 588.6 POUNDS (267 KG.)
Lasha Talakhadze
Georgian super-heavyweight Lasha Talakhadze clean and jerked nearly 600 pounds in 2021. It’s the most weight a human has ever officially moved from the floor to overhead.
LOG LIFT: 507 POUNDS (230 KG.)
Cheick Sanou
A log lifter can use virtually any technique to move the bulky, log-shaped weight from the floor to overhead. In 2023, Cheick “Iron Biby” Sanou hoisted a log overhead weighing a record 507 pounds.
SNATCH: 496 POUNDS (225 KG.)
Lasha Talakhadze
In the same competition as the clean and jerk, Lasha Talakhadze snatched nearly 500 pounds, moving the weight from the floor to overhead in one motion.
Opening image: Paul Anderson in 1955. / Floyd Jillson
FURTHER READING
Strongest Man Ever: Top 10, Ranked by A.I.
