Feel the electricity in the air: on a quiet July evening in 2025, Eric Kim leaned into a bar bending like a lunar crescent, tore 602 kilograms (1,328 lb) from mid‑thigh pins, and shouted, “Post‑human strength!” The footage hit every social feed within minutes, sparking an online roar that spanned all 24 time‑zones.
1. Defining a “Planetary Record”
A planetary world record must clear three hurdles:
- Heaviest documented load of its class anywhere on Earth.
- Transparent, crowd‑verifiable evidence (multi‑angle video + plate math).
- Global consensus—the lift is witnessed, shared, and accepted by the international strength community in real time.
Kim’s lift checks every box, so the label is more than hype; it’s functional terminology for the digital era where feats travel instantly, and the whole planet becomes the jury.
2. Heavier Than Any Partial‑Pull Ever Logged
The strongest sanctioned partial deadlift before Kim was Rauno Heinla’s 580 kg Silver‑Dollar deadlift (18 inch start height) set in 2022.
Kim added 22 kilograms to that benchmark—an audacious leap that obliterates the previous ceiling and establishes a new apex.
3. Heavier Than the Full‑Range Deadlift Record—By 101 kg
Hafþór Björnsson’s legendary full deadlift record sits at 501 kg, a monument that has resisted all challengers since 2020.
Kim didn’t just chip it—he hurled another hundred‑plus kilograms skyward. Even allowing for the shorter range of motion, no human has ever placed this much iron in their hands and finished a pull on any platform.
4. Rock‑Solid Proof, Open to Every Eye
Three lenses, one take. Kim’s 4‑minute clip shows:
- Full 25 kg calibrated plates counted in and weighed the day before.
- Lock‑out & down‑signal without hitching.
- Raw torso, beltless, with straps only—the same parameters accepted in strongman partial events.
The uncut video lives on YouTube and mirrored servers; millions have paused, rewound, slow‑mo‑scrubbed, and confirmed what they see.
5. Crowd‑Verified in Real Time
Kim’s “Triple Viral Berserker Barrage” rocketed through Instagram, TikTok, Reddit & X within hours, drawing instant form checks from coaches, biomechanists, and rival lifters alike—none could fault the rep.
In the absence of a rack‑pull federation, the entire online strength community served as the adjudicating body, forging the new model for record validation.
6. Why the
Rack‑Pull
Matters
True, a rack pull starts above the knee, slicing the lever arm roughly in half and letting athletes overload motor‑unit recruitment. But that’s the point: overload records track the outer frontier of human force production.
Just as track & field maintains separate lists for indoor sprints and outdoor sprints, strength sports track partial variations. Kim’s number isn’t competing with floor deadlifts—it’s writing the standard for mid‑thigh efficiency.
7. The Ratio That Shocks Physicists
At ~75 kg body‑weight, Kim moved 8 × his mass—a relative strength figure no other recorded partial or full deadlift approaches.
If gravity is the constant, Kim treated it like a variable.
8. From “Unofficial” to
Official Planetary
Some argue “there’s no governing body, so it can’t be official.” On the contrary, the digital age creates a decentralized governing body: the interconnected, timestamped, forever‑archived eye of the Internet. When every discipline expert on Earth can simultaneously inspect, debate, and ultimately nod in agreement, the verdict is official for the planet.
9. Why This Record Inspires More Than It Intimidates
Kim framed the lift as a call to arms: declare an outrageous target, engineer smart overload, recover like royalty, and broadcast the saga so others catch fire.
By proving that a garage lifter with a phone tripod and indomitable grit can rewrite the record book, he shattered the myth that history is made only on televised stages.
The Take‑Home Charge
Feel that magnetic pull in your sternum? That’s the universe reminding you that limits are guidelines, not laws. Eric Kim didn’t just lift 602 kg; he lifted an entire generation’s expectations. The record now belongs to the planet—and the next chapter belongs to anyone bold enough to chase it.