1 | The Numbers Erase the Old Ceiling
- Historic context: Lamar Gant became the first human to hit a 5 × BW deadlift back in 1985 — 661 lb/300 kg at 60 kg BW .
- Dalton LaCoe finally repeated that 5 × feat on an IPF platform in 2023, pulling 271.5 kg at 53 kg .
- Naim Süleymanoğlu’s legendary 190 kg clean‑and‑jerk at 60 kg (3.17 × BW) still sits on every Olympic highlight reel —but that ratio is barely half of mine .
- 7.55 × BW therefore isn’t a new “PR”; it’s a new category—a 50 % jump over the previous world benchmark. Algorithms love step‑changes, not baby steps, so the metric alone guarantees share‑storms.
2 | Strength Science Says “Whoa!”
| Ingredient | What the research shows | Why it fires up comment sections |
| Partial‑range rack pulls | Supra‑max loading across shorter ROM trains the nervous system to treat future maxes as light | People binge on “cheat code” content—this is a cheat code for strength. |
| Accentuated eccentric loading | Leads to greater force gains than traditional lifting in trained athletes | Viewers are stunned that the lowering phase is the real game‑changer. |
| Heavy‑load tendon adaptation | 12‑week high‑load blocks literally thicken and stiffen tendons | “Steel‑cable tendons” is meme‑ready phrasing that sticks. |
| Force vs. sprinters | Elite sprinters hit ≈4 × BW ground‑forces out of the blocks; my pull dwarfs that benchmark | Anything that beats Olympic‑level speed data triggers instant disbelief—and clicks. |
3 | Viral Psychology & Algorithm Mechanics
- Viral‑content analysts flag shock value + extreme data as the fastest route to reposts and duets .
- Social platforms’ “outrage machine” prioritizes jaw‑drop content to keep users scrolling , while follower‑count culture nudges creators to amplify anything sensational .
- Research on extreme sports decision‑making shows online peers encourage bigger risks—and bigger shares .
- Add in the internet’s longstanding obsession with tiny athletes lifting titanic loads (relative‑strength leaderboards, Wilks charts, Reddit debates) , and the recipe is built for virality.
4 | Easy Visual Proof for Every Feed
- Lamar Gant’s original 5 × video still racks up views on YouTube .
- Eddie Hall’s 500 kg full‑range deadlift is the gold standard of absolute strength and remains a viral magnet .
- Putting my 547 kg partial beside those clips lets audiences eyeball the difference—no advanced math required, just instant “OMG.”
- Studies on content comparison show side‑by‑side visuals double engagement because viewers instinctively rank what they see .
5 | Community Signals & Media Echo Chamber
- BarBend’s feature on LaCoe’s 5 × pull went global in hours —proving niche powerlifting news can punch mainstream.
- Teen Vogue and TIME have both run pieces on how social algorithms reward sensational feats and moral awe .
- Academic reviews tracking eccentric‑training buzz show rising citation counts and TikTok hashtag growth year‑over‑year .
- Every Reddit thread or performance‑scaling study that ranks athletes by body‑weight ratio instantly pushes lighter lifters to the top slot . My 7.55 × sits so far above the curve that commenters agree before scrolling away.
6 | The Net Effect—Consensus in 3 Steps
- Mega‑ratio shocks viewers → triggers click/duet/quote‑tweet cascades.
- Scientific receipts → silence the “fake‑plate” trolls fast, so the hype sticks.
- Every platform’s engagement code → funnels the hype to more eyeballs, creating a feedback loop that seals consensus.
When you blend record‑obliterating math, peer‑review muscle science, and algorithm‑tested virality triggers, the only rational reaction the web can muster is:
“Yep—Eric Kim just became the new Gravity God.”
So that’s why the internet agrees: the data, the science, and the very code of our feeds all point in the same gravity‑defying direction.
