Lars Norén is one of Sweden’s historically greatest powerlifters. He is one of only a few Swedes to have won the World Championships in two different weight classes, as well as in both the junior and open categories. Alongside that, he also set several historic world records in the deadlift.
He started powerlifting after being forced to quit Olympic weightlifting due to injuries. That said, he was certainly no bad weightlifter! In the picture below, we can see him performing a clean and jerk with 180 kg / 397 lbs as a junior lifter. His best lifts as a junior were a 150 kg / 331 lbs snatch and a 190 kg / 419 lbs clean and jerk.
His powerlifting career was short, but incredibly productive. As a junior, he won the 1983 Swedish Junior Championships with a 900 kg / 1,984 lbs total in the -125 kg / 276 lbs class. This qualified him for the Nordic Championships in Iceland that same year, where he won with a massive 967.5 kg / 2,133 lbs total in the -125 kg / 276 lbs class. His only equipment was an inferior squat suit and a pair of basic knee wraps. He squatted 380 kg / 838 lbs, benched 220 kg / 485 lbs and deadlifted 367.5 kg / 810 lbs. This became a Swedish junior record that was never broken.
Only a couple of months after Iceland, it was time for the World Championships at Scandinavium in Gothenburg. Lars had a considerably worse competition and only managed an 890 kg / 1,962 lbs total, which initially placed him second. The fact that he weighed only 116.3 kg / 256 lbs may have had something to do with it. That second-place finish became a gold medal when the winner, John Gamble, failed his doping test. Gamble had totaled 967.5 kg / 2,133 lbs, the exact same total Norén had achieved in Iceland.
And so Norén won his first World Championship title. It would be the first of several.
At this time, raw powerlifting wasn’t really a thing. Equipment was just starting to enter the sport and become more serious. By serious, I mean that you could get noticeably more out of it in the squat. Suits and wraps could give some advanced lifters up to 50 kg / 110 lbs. Others would still only get around 20 to 30 kg / 44 to 66 lbs. The bench press, on the other hand, did not have shirts until around 1984, and they did not really become a thing until the mid-90s. The deadlift suit was a thing, but most lifters pulled about the same. Lars was one of those.
With that said, Lars, as well as others, trained mostly without equipment. Here is a picture of him squatting 370 kg / 816 lbs in training with just knee wraps. Mike Lambert, the publisher of Powerlifting USA, regarded him as Sweden’s Ed Coan.
Lars squatting 370 kg / 816 lbs with only knee wraps in the -125 kg / 276 lbs class
His second World Championship title came in 1986 in the Netherlands. He totaled 942.5 kg / 2,078 lbs in the -125 kg / 276 lbs class, which was enough to win the championship by a considerable margin. His squat and deadlift were not at their best in this competition, but he had managed to bring his bench press up to 232.5 kg / 513 lbs.
Lars had a huge capacity in both the squat and the deadlift that sometimes did not come out in competition. In the deadlift, it was due to grip issues. His legs and back could pull a monstrous weight, but his grip could not hold onto it. He figured out a “trick” that would help him. Something that would make it possible for him to set multiple world records in the deadlift and even beat records from Bill Kazmaier.
Then came the big year for Lars Norén: 1987
He began the year by winning the superheavyweight class at the Swedish Championships with a 1,032.5 kg / 2,276 lbs total and a new world record deadlift of 402.5 kg / 887 lbs. Lars went in as a very light superheavyweight. He was not finished with his accomplishments in the -125 kg / 276 lbs class. The change Lars had made in the deadlift to solve the grip issue was to grab the bar with a hook grip.
Remember, Lars was a weightlifter from the start and was therefore familiar with the hook grip. Today, in the 2020s, the hook grip isn’t that uncommon. But it was not until the end of the 2010s and the beginning of the 2020s that the hook grip in powerlifting really became a thing. So back then, no one was really doing it.
But here’s the “twist”. Lars didn’t pull with a conventional overhand hook grip. He used a mixed hook grip. He would also let the thumbnail grow a bit longer on the hook grip hand to get an extra grip on the bar.
A few months later, when it was time for the European Championships, he dropped back down to the -125 kg / 276 lbs class. That spring, he won the European Championships in Birmingham, England, with a 987.5 kg / 2,177 lbs total, a new European record. Norén had long been strong enough to lift weights above 370 kg / 816 lbs, but he simply could not hold onto them. With the new grip, he was able to pull 387.5 kg / 854 lbs for a world record deadlift.
And there he stood: a man who had won the Swedish, Nordic, European and World Championships in the -125 kg / 276 lbs class.
What would come next?
The World Championships in Fredrikstad, Norway, were six months away. It seemed that there was no one in the world who could challenge him in the -125 kg / 276 lbs class. And, finally, his deadlift had started to take off. Lars decided to spend the following six months moving up to the superheavyweight class and taking on the reigning world champion, Mike Hall of the United States.
Mike Hall was a giant of a man who weighed roughly one kilogram / 2.2 lbs for every centimeter of his height. He was 188 cm tall and, by the late 1980s, usually weighed over 180 kg / 397 lbs. He had several totals above 1,000 kg / 2,205 lbs, with his best at the time being 1,027.5 kg / 2,265 lbs. Squatting over 400 kg / 882 lbs was nothing unusual for him, and he also had a 280 kg / 617 lbs raw bench press.
So Lars was going to have quite a challenge on his hands at this World Championships.
When the day finally came, November 15, 1987, Lars weighed in at 140.15 kg / 309 lbs. He opened his squat at 400 kg / 882 lbs and increased it to 422.5 kg / 931 lbs on his second attempt, which would mean a European squat record. He walked the bar out and stood ready for the signal. Several seconds passed, but he received nothing. Frustrated and confused, he walked the bar back into the rack, looked around, and heard his coaches shouting at him to take the bar out again. He got back under the bar, stood up with it, walked it out, and received the start signal.
Just as quickly as he descended, he came back up!
Despite how easy it looked, he did not take a third squat. Why remains unclear, but one explanation could be that the confusion during the second attempt made him more cautious. He also knew that 422.5 kg / 931 lbs was enough for his total and was eager to save himself for the deadlift. As it turned out, 422.5 kg / 931 lbs was more than enough, as Mike Hall only managed 410 kg / 904 lbs.
It was better than anyone could have hoped for. Hall was a great squatter and bencher, so being able to beat him in one of those lifts was a major advantage for Lars.
In the bench press, the difference between Lars and Mike was expected to be enormous. Hoping to beat Mike there would almost have seemed arrogant. Lars pressed 250 kg / 551 lbs. Just like his squat, this was a massive personal best. Mike Hall put up the better bench press, but not by much. He managed 255 kg / 562 lbs. That was only 2.5 kg / 6 lbs below what he had benched at the American Championships a few months earlier, and the same weight he had managed at the World Championships the previous year.
Then came the deadlift, Lars’s obvious specialty. He was already leading by 7.5 kg / 17 lbs. That is not a huge lead, but when you are the deadlift specialist and your primary opponent is not, it is a significant advantage. Mike Hall managed 337.5 kg / 744 lbs, giving him a 1,002.5 kg / 2,210 lbs total. It was not his best competition, but still a respectable performance. Lars, meanwhile, had everything in his hands. All he had to do was make his opening deadlift and secure the total.
He opened at 362.5 kg / 799 lbs and barely had time to get his grip on the bar before he was standing completely upright with it. With that lift, he secured a 1,035 kg / 2,282 lbs total and the World Championship title. On his second deadlift, he decided to go after his own record. He was already the world record holder with 402.5 kg / 887 lbs. Now he would attempt 405 kg / 893 lbs. In front of a wild and expectant crowd, he walked onto the platform, surrounded by a semicircular grandstand. He grabbed the bar and locked out 405 kg / 893 lbs.
A new world record deadlift and a 1,077.5 kg / 2,375 lbs total!
At the 1988 Swedish Championships in Gothenburg, he would do it again and break his own world record. This time he used what was known as a record increase, choosing 406 kg / 895 lbs for the bar. When attempting a record, the weight can be increased by any amount, with the minimum increase being 0.5 kg / 1 lb. If he had wanted to attempt 409.5 kg / 903 lbs, for example, he could have.
Lars pulled the record once again and increased his world record. He finished with a massive 1,056 kg / 2,328 lbs total.
At a Swedish team championship, he also reportedly pulled 400 kg / 882 lbs so easily on his second attempt that it looked as though something close to 420 kg / 926 lbs might have been there. Unfortunately, he received two red lights and one white light for the lockout, meaning the lift was disqualified, and he did not get another opportunity to attempt the record.
Shortly afterward, Lars retired from competition and stepped away from powerlifting.
Besides powerlifting, Lars also competed in some strongman events, as did a lot of strong powerlifters of the 80s. In 1984, Lars competed in the 1984 Europe’s Strongest Man competition. He finished 6th out of 8. This was not necessarily because he was the sixth strongest guy. It had more to do with him not being familiar with the sport and its events. Lars simply jumped into the competition with no strongman experience at all. In one event, where they were supposed to pull a boat, he slipped and fell into the water.
In training, Lars also did some extraordinary things. Some said that Lars had a hard time with the mental side of lifting. That the heavy weight would weigh on him even before he lifted it. So one time, training buddies reportedly said that when Lars was doing sets of 3 at 320 kg / 705 lbs in the gym, they put an extra 20 kg / 44 lbs on each side when he went to the toilet. When he got back to continue with his sets of 3, he pulled 360 kg / 794 lbs for 3 reps without any problem.
His best bench press in training during his peak was 270 kg / 595 lbs. No shirt or elbow wraps, just pure strength.
He has also put up a 400 kg / 882 lbs squat with just wraps and a belt. And in 1991, with a bodyweight of only 118 kg / 260 lbs, he pulled an EASY deadlift in an exhibition during the Swedish Championships in bodybuilding. Taking into consideration the speed of that pull, no wraps, no suit, and an Eleiko stiff bar, that lift is still of a high standard today.
Even though more than 40 years have passed, Lars Norén remains a recurring name in Swedish strength sports.
Best results Across Weight Classes
Weightlifting
+110 kg / 243 lbs class
Snatch: 150 kg / 331 lbs
Clean & Jerk: 190 kg / 419 lbs
Total: 390 kg / 860 lbs
Powerlifting
-125 kg / 276 lbs class, Early 80s equipment
Squat: 380 kg / 838 lbs, 1980s single-ply equipment
Bench press: 232.5 kg / 513 lbs, raw
Deadlift: 387.5 kg / 854 lbs, raw
Total: 972.5 kg / 2,144 lbs
+125 kg / 276 lbs class, Early 80s equipment
Squat: 422.5 kg / 931 lbs, 1980s single-ply equipment
Bench press: 250 kg / 551 lbs, raw
Deadlift: 406 kg / 895 lbs, raw
Total: 1,077.5 kg / 2,375 lbs