Aussie dad does over 150 deadlifts in a row to inspire his kids to achieve great things
Powerlifter Maciej Lasota (Australia) is on a mission to prove that ordinary people can do extraordinary things.
In an amazing display of strength and after six months of brutal training, the 45-year-old broke the record for most consecutive bodyweight deadlifts (male).
He more than doubled the existing record by performing 155 deadlifts with an 87 kg (191.8 lb) weight during his attempt in Melbourne, Victoria, in July.
Maciej, a dad-of-two, told us: “It wasn’t just about the record – I wanted to show my kids and anyone watching that you can completely rewrite your story with hard work and discipline.
“You see, I spent the first 38 years of my life being unfit, underachieving. Now seven years later, with lots of hard work, I’m standing here with two Guinness World Records titles, and if I can do it so can you.”
Maciej first broke a record in 2023, claiming the most consecutive bodyweight sumo deadlifts (male) with a total of 141.
This second record was much tougher for him.
When asked to describe how it felt, he said: “Painful. Simple as that. Your muscles are screaming, your lungs are burning, your hands are tearing. It feels like you’re lifting a cheese grater that’s taking a bit of your hand every time you lift the bar but there was also this strange clarity. I knew exactly where I was and who I was in that moment and that was magical.”
He added: “It’s all hard, but at 80 reps my hands were pretty well torn up and they were bleeding. It was quite painful and a lot worse than what I experienced in training.
“From there on in, each and every rep, I really wanted to quit. It wasn’t pleasant, so to get around that I broke it down into small wins – ‘let’s get to 90, now let’s get to 100, now 105, I think I can get to 110’.”
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Maciej pushed through the pain and before he knew it, he got to 154 – double the previous record.
He pushed that little bit harder to do one more lift.
Maciej trained for six months for his attempt, and said when he first started that 40 reps felt like his limit.
He worked on protecting and strengthening his back as well as managing his breathing.
As the big day approached, excitement built and Maciej said he barely slept the night before his attempt.
And when a local TV crew turned up on the day, he felt added pressure to perform well.
Maciej went for 11 minutes and 39 seconds before calling his 155th deadlift his final one. With his hands bleeding and lungs burning, he decided to call it a day.
Asked for his three key pieces of advice, Maciej said that “consistency beats intensity”, people need to “get comfortable with being uncomfortable” and that you need to “remove the escape hatch” by taking away the options to let yourself back out.
He said: “I think record breaking is very important because it gives the opportunity to validate oneself.
“It gives hope, it gives drive to keep going when life gets tough and we’ve all gone through a rough patch.
“And for some of us it’s the thrill of winning. Records are proof that ordinary people like me can do extraordinary things and I think that’s pretty special.”