200kg/440lbs Beltless Front Squat

Bigger Stronger Leaner Powerlifting & Strength Sports
1

Basically I write this post for two reasons.

  1. I would like to thank everyone at this site that has helped me during the last few years. In 2004/2005 I posted videos and asked for technique pointers in the squat. My technique was not so good at that time. I remember I got a bit upset when a forumite yelled at me I had no business doing squat reps I could not complete myself. I remember I let my ego rule, and had a friend helping me with some very heavy squat reps. I then posted these reps. What stupidity, however as the years went by, I matured, my technique improved, and so did my strength.

  2. To show off a bit, I am proud of what I have achived, and want some feedback. If I can inspire anyone, that is good too!

Basically I started lifting weights in the summer 2000. Pretty soon I became interested in strength rather than size, but ofcourse size follows strength… Anyway, I started out at a measly 71kg/156lbs bw, and today I was 116.5kg/256lbs. That weight gain happened over 9 and a half year. Basically I am just a stubborn sob, and always wanted to increase my strength. Plain food, protein powder, creatine/glutamine sometimes is what I have based my diet on.

Anyway, I know there are people that lift 200kg front squat like nothing, strongmen, weightlifters, powerlifters, but anyway I think it is a good lift, and it is probably the best maximum attempt I have ever done at the front squat, so here goes:

Thank you everyone that has ever replied to my questions, and in particular I would like to mention Rugger and Tmodi, that has both done the Smolov program.

Keep training hard, set high goals and never give up!

2

Actually 200kilo front squat is freaking massive!! Congratulations, btw are you from Norway or Sweden?

3

Great job. You smoked that. When I first saw it, I thought it was a warm-up set.

4

SPEED, SPEED. Haha, awesome. :slight_smile:

5

awesome. after the first two “walk into the room, walk out,” i looked at the length of the video and wondered how many times we would watch you walking in and out, haha. i think you kept that at 2 times, so it wasnt too bad, some videos we see several minutes of set-up!

great squat, and i really liked the part of the video where you said “so how does it feel?..” and then you said that the “world is the same…”. some might think of this statement as saying that the gym doesnt matter, it doesnt change anything outside in the world. however, i look at it as saying that the gym is our “bubble” and that a lot of things in the world are shit, terrible, whatever, but we can still go in our little bubble and nothing can touch us.

6

Holy shit that was SO easy looking. Awesome work man. It’s been a long time coming!! Glad ya finally made it.

What’s next?

7

Thank you everyone!

Hatesmiles: I am from Norway.

Rmexico: It was really a good lift. I did 193kg before that lift, and on video it looked slower than the 200kg lift. However, I knew I really had to concentrate and to give it all to make it, and sometimes when I do so, I hit it perfectly and it looks very easy.

Nikiforos: Hehe. Entertainment value! :wink:

dez6485: The reason I sometimes post maximum attempts with no editing, is that I am so overjoyed that I made it that I just put the video online without thinking about editing it. :slight_smile: Yes, we are all lifters, and we lift to get stronger. That’s what we do.

Hanley: I will have to do a 150kg raw bench press next. I think I will get it later this year or early next year. Nothing super-impressive, but at least I’ve worked my ass of for it when I finally get it. :slight_smile: Currently I am at 143.7kg (no belt, legs on bench). Then there is 250kg raw deadlift, which will happen sometime next year. And of course the great goal of a 300kg raw squat, but that is further into the future. Usually what I aim to do takes longer time than I plan for, so I will have this in mind and not make any overly unrealistic goals in short timeframes. :slight_smile:

8

Nice lift. You smoked it.

9

Congratulations. Your videos never fail to impress me.

10

Damn good work man. Good luck with the bench press!

11

Great job stallion. Keep up the hard work.

12

Nice lift.

That setup looks familiar, didn’t you post a video of 20 rep squats @ 385 lbs?

13

Now that’s amazing, I hope to be able to do that one day. Very nice job.

14

That looked way to easy dude, maybe 415??

15

[quote]BlackLabel wrote:
That looked way to easy dude, maybe 415??[/quote]

He squatted 440 lbs, kilos to pounds is x2.2 not x2.

Incredibly impressive stuff stallion.

16

good shit stallion!

17

[quote]Brett295 wrote:
Nice lift. You smoked it. [/quote]

Thanks, yes it was a great lift! :slight_smile:

[quote]ctschneider wrote:
Congratulations. Your videos never fail to impress me.[/quote]

Thank you! :slight_smile:

[quote]The other Rob wrote:
Damn good work man. Good luck with the bench press![/quote]
Thanks! It will come, but it will take some time!

[quote]Ruggerlife wrote:
Great job stallion. Keep up the hard work.[/quote]
Thanks man, and sure will! :slight_smile:

[quote]frankjl wrote:
Nice lift.

That setup looks familiar, didn’t you post a video of 20 rep squats @ 385 lbs?[/quote]
Over the last couple of year, this is the basement where I have done all my lifting. So you are right. I have posted many high rep sets previously. :slight_smile:

[quote]matko5 wrote:
Now that’s amazing, I hope to be able to do that one day. Very nice job.[/quote]
You absolutely will! :slight_smile:

[quote]BlackLabel wrote:
That looked way to easy dude, maybe 415??[/quote]
Thanks man. Yes, it was very easy. It was an awesome lift. I put each and every weight plate on the bathroom scale after the lift, and the sum of those + the bar was 199.8kg. Close enough for me. :slight_smile:

[quote]VikingsAD28 wrote:
BlackLabel wrote:
That looked way to easy dude, maybe 415??

He squatted 440 lbs, kilos to pounds is x2.2 not x2.

Incredibly impressive stuff stallion.[/quote]
Thank you very much!

[quote]FROGGBUSTER wrote:
good shit stallion![/quote]
Thanks! :slight_smile:

On the bar is the following plates on each side (can be seen at 1:28 in the video):

Yellow(15kg),Blue(20kg), Blue(20kg), Yellow(15kg), Yellow(15kg),black(5kg),black(2.5kg),black(1.25kg)

The barbell itself is 17.5kg, so this should apparently become:

Bar: 17.5kg
Left side: 15+20+20+15+15+5+2.5+1.25 = 93.75
Right side: 15+20+20+15+15+5+2.5+1.25 = 93.75

Total = 17.5kg + 93.75kg*2 = 205kg

Unfortunately, some of the weight plates are a bit on the light side. For example, my 20kg plates range from 19.2kg to 19.8kg.

The actual weight therefore became (sum of weight plates and the bar in no particular order):

199.8kg = 1.2 + 2.3 + 5 + 2.3 + 5 + 14.4 + 14.6 + 14.6 + 14.4 + 19.8 + 19.2 + 19.6 + 14.3 + 19.6 + 14.9 + 17.5 + 1.1

Most cheap rubber plates and bumper plates do not have an accurate weight. The larger weight you lift, the more difference these small percentages will make. I did not use any of my 10kg plates in this list, but they are actually a bit too heavy. :o

Anyway, the important thing is that you progress with the weights that you have. If you are uncertain about the actual weight of the plates, put them on a scale, and then write the actual weight on the plates near to the number on the plate. For instance if a 20kg plate of mine is just 19.2kg, I write with black ink above the “20kg sign” 19.2kg.

That is the reason I put up a lot of videos with odd numbered weights like: 143.7kg, 231kg and so on… Sometimes I am lazy and do not want to make an actual calculation, and then I just round down to an estimated whole number. For instance I know that my six yellow plates and four blue plates + the bar in total becomes 183.7kg, but I often just write 183kg. In my own mind I am even lazier, so I just use the old notation of calculating the bar as 20kg and the plates as they are supposed to be when I set up training-cycles. I then use the notation “g” in front so it becomes: g210kg, g220kg etc… When I put a video online i just round it down to g210kg = 203kg and g220kg = 213kg. When making a new max attempt, I always calculate all the weight plates when I am done to see the result.

Anyway, this is not really that important, the important thing is that you bust your ass, eat well and sleep like a baby, then you become strong.

But for those curious, if you make a huge PR, say 250kg in a lift, it could be more, it could be less, you do not know before you have put the plates and the bar on a scale (preferably a calibrated one). Usually however the difference is within 2-3% of the weight you think you lifted, and that is good enough for most people.

I discovered my plates were too light late this summer, and have after that adjusted all numbers that I put online in my videos. As a consequence of this, my 250kg raw squat was not 250kg, but actually 243kg, since then I have managed to increase it to 247kg, but still - when I get 250kg again, it will be great, but not as great when I tought I did it the first time!

Anyway, this was a minor obstacle, and the fight is on for even more strength!

Thanks for all your comments, and train hard.

Remember: If you never give up, and always try to improve, and do what it takes, you are going to be very very strong! :slight_smile:

18

Way to go!!! That’s a great squat!! Congrats!!!

19

Great job. You have more in you.

I have yet to do a 200kg front squat. I think I may try to work up to one in the next few squat workouts.

20

[quote]skizac wrote:
Great job. You have more in you.

I have yet to do a 200kg front squat. I think I may try to work up to one in the next few squat workouts.[/quote]

Good luck on that job, I think it is very doable for you! :slight_smile: