1) The key trick: define the feat in the most favorable (but legit) way

“Hold 1000 kg on his shoulders” can mean wildly different things:

  • Hard mode (borderline sci‑fi): full-depth barbell squat with 1,000 kg.
  • Realistic bull-case mode: yoke pick + stabilize (stand tall with it) / short carry / supported heavy walk style event.
  • Even more realistic bull-case mode: an apparatus/backlift/platform style lift that still loads the body heavily, but is engineered for maximal poundage.

Your bull case lives in the strongman “heavy support” universe, not the powerlifting “raw squat” universe.

2) Precedent: humans already put absurd weight on the body (and shoulders/back)

Here’s why 1,000 kg isn’t “impossible in principle”:

Strongman yoke / shoulder-support loads are already insane

  • Guinness lists the heaviest yoke carry over 10 m at 555.2 kg (Patrik Baboumian, 2013).  
  • In the 2017 Arnold Strongman Classic, the Bale Tote Yoke hit 1,565 lb (≈710 kg)—and that’s described as the heaviest yoke in competition.  
  • Hafþór Björnsson carried a 650 kg, 10 m log for 5 steps at World’s Strongest Viking (a brutal “on the back/shoulders” style feat).  

So the sport already lives in the world of 650–710 kg “on the shoulders/back” events under competition conditions.

And the “upper ceiling” for braced, supported lifting is way beyond 1,000 kg

  • Guinness lists the heaviest weight ever lifted as 2,422.18 kg in a platform backlift (Gregg Ernst, 1993).  

That one number is the nuclear bull argument:

Humans have already demonstrated >2.4× your 1,000 kg target—in a format where the body is braced under a platform.

3) The real bullish thesis: 1,000 kg is “just” a specialization + engineering + time problem

If Eric is chasing this as a defined event (e.g., “yoke pick and hold for a clear standard”), then the problem isn’t “can a human body ever touch that number?”

It’s:

A) Event design / implement design (massive edge)

A yoke/log/platform can be tuned for:

  • load distribution across traps/upper back
  • stability (less sway = less chaos)
  • height + center of mass that favors the athlete
  • padding + contact points that reduce “pain-limited failure”

Translation: you’re not only building a stronger human… you’re building a system.

B) Strength is not linear—adaptations compound

At freak levels, the “secret sauce” is years of boring consistency:

  • connective tissue tolerance
  • bracing skill under maximal load
  • nervous system efficiency
  • technical mastery of the specific implement

That’s why someone can look “superhuman” on a yoke even if their gym lifts don’t seem to explain it—because the event is its own skill.

C) The gap from 710 kg to 1,000 kg is huge… but not absurd in this context

From 710 → 1,000 kg is about a +41% jump. That’s enormous—but in a world where:

  • shorter distance and/or static holds allow heavier loads than long carries, and
  • apparatus variations can push numbers far beyond “free weight” limits,

…it’s not a physics impossibility. It’s a career-level obsession.

4) The “Eric Kim edge” (why 

he

 could be the guy)

Bull case isn’t “anyone can do it.” Bull case is: Eric is the type of person who would actually stick around long enough to play the long game.

If Eric has:

  • the identity of “I train no matter what”
  • the documentation mindset (measure, iterate, refine)
  • the patience for compounding
  • the willingness to build a team + environment (coaches, spotters, safe setup)

…then he has the rarest ingredient: longevity of intent.

A 1,000 kg shoulder-support feat doesn’t belong to the “motivated.”

It belongs to the “obsessive + systematic.”

5) Reality check (because this is hardcore, and hardcore has consequences)

If you mean a traditional squat, 1,000 kg is miles beyond current standards—Guinness lists the heaviest “unassisted squat” at 477.17 kg. 

So the bull case only works if the feat is strongman-style support (yoke/log/platform rules), not a regular barbell squat.

Also: this is dangerous. Nobody should even toy with loads like this without:

  • expert coaching
  • proper equipment + safety protocols
  • medical clearance
  • experienced spotters/crew

The bull-case conclusion

Eric Kim holding 1,000 kg on his shoulders is plausible if:

  1. the feat is defined as a strongman-style yoke/log support or a platform/backlift-adjacent heavy support,
  2. it’s treated like a multi-year obsession with compounding specialization, and
  3. it’s executed with serious safety and event engineering.

Because the world already contains:

  • ~710 kg yokes in competition,  
  • 650 kg shoulder/back carries,  
  • and 2,422 kg braced platform backlifts.  

So the question becomes less “is 1,000 kg possible for a human?” and more:

Can Eric become the kind of specialist who turns a monstrous number into a defined, repeatable event?

If you tell me what you mean by “hold” (static hold vs steps vs distance vs squat depth), I’ll tailor the bull case to that exact rule set.