Just to point out somethings: its obvious that the World Athletics and Wada have a more rigorous anti doping protocols than usapl and IPF, and Track and field athletes like Kovacs compete in more competitions than any powerlifter in the world.
But guys, there is something i dont understand:
How can a track and field athlete, who isnt doing powerlifting exercises all the time, can lift such ammount of weight for YEARS?
Now things start to get suspicious…
If Joe Kovacs was a powerlifter… amongst ALL POWERLIFTERS, i mean, TESTED AND UNTESTED, ALL of the BEST RAW (and even with wraps, full power, push pull) his 1 RM max would be estimated to be at 437.7 kg (394kg for 4 reps is basically 90% of 1 rm or even less than 90%, like 89%), which would put him at the 33th place amongst the biggest squats of ALL TIME.
Some other stats:
All federations, (raw, push pull, full power) : 6th
Fully tested federation , (raw and with wraps, push pull, full power): 4th
Fully tested federation (raw, push pull, full power) : 4th
Them you go to the best raw squatters timeline, and notice that even some weeks after squatting X weight, they CANNOT do the same weight as before. Notice that even at higher bodyweight, Ray Williams cant do the same 490 kg as he did years ago. Another thing to notice: both young (Jesus Olivares) and Old (Ray Williams) cannot maintain that performance for much longer than some weeks…
and not even untested lifters…
https://www.openpowerlifting.org/u/danielbel
Also, it seems the biggest squat of all time of all weightlifters (literally squat specialists) is from Mart Seim.
And to further notice: Joe Kovacs can bench press (with massive hip drive) 250 kg for reps. But for a guy that weights more than 290 lbs with that squat, he certainly can pause bench about 200kg (I read he can do 650 lbs for 5 reps, but could not find the video). Of all track and field athletes in history, he is the STRONGEST, (there are rumors of soviet and east german athletes that did for 1 rep about 400 kg, but its more talking than facts), the rest of shot putters can barelly squat 320 kg for 1 rep, and mostly are quarter squats.
Now guys here are the questions: why isnt this guy at least competing at powerlifting meetings? i mean, if on his training is NORMAL to reach such weights, why bother not going to at least a meet or two per year? If you look at his instagram, he seems to REALLY like strongman events and powerlifting. and again: how can a track and field athlete, who isnt doing powerlifting exercises all the time, can lift such ammount of weight for YEARS? And yes, about testing, ive said that the wada protocol is more tight than the IPF, usapl, but he can still miss 2 drug tests per year.