- Who
- Chad Singleton
- What
- 64,750.97 kilogram(s)
- Where
- United States (Aurora)
- When
The heaviest sumo deadlift in one hour (male) is 64,750.97 kg (142,751.45) and was achieved by Chad Singleton (USA) in Aurora, Colorado, USA, on 7 March 2020.
Chad has been lifting since he was 16 years old, and the more he progressed, the more it impressed him how much people were able to push themselves. His favourite lift had always been the deadlift, so Chad felt this record title would be an ideal challenge.
Chad's trainer had introduced him to the Birthday Challenge, a lifting challenge in which someone multiplies their age by 1,000, which is how much weight they need to lift in the same number of minutes as their age. For example, if you turn 25, you need to complete 25,000 pounds in 25 minutes or less. With this, he found that he was improving his muscle endurance by completing more repetitions with a little less weight. This is how Chad decided to approach this record title. He calculated how much he needed to carry, and how many repetitions he could carry out within the hour.
Chad had a lot of support throughout his training, from his coach, his wife, as well as family and friends. Several of them were even present on the day of the attempt, including Chad's best friend "who inspires me to break world records, go for my masters degree, and make a career change into teaching".
The attempt itself went well, as Chad found a comfortable pace throughout the hour, and the following day, he was even able to go skiing with his wife and friends! Though he says it would be a while before returning to lower body exercises.
Chad now has plans for future record-breaking! When asked, what achieving a record title meant to him, this is what he had to say:
"No pun intended, it means the WORLD to me. As silly as it sounds, it gives me a certain comfort to know there is something I can do that makes me unique from everyone else. My wife even asked me why I feel I need to strive for records like what I just accomplished. I really do not have a good answer for it because it is not like I have to prove anything to anybody, but I love challenging myself in ways I never thought I could."
