The pursuit of the 1000 pound squat

1970s

Back in the early 1970s, in 1972, both Jon Cole and, shortly after, John Kuc reached the 900-lb mark, with Cole squatting 408.2 kg / 900 lbs and Kuc 410.5 kg / 905 lbs. The following year, in 1973, Don Reinhoudt joined the 900-lb club. That same year, Joseph (Joe) White entered the 800-lb club. In 1974, Paul Wrenn came closer with a 390.1 kg / 860-lb squat. Then, in 1975, Joseph White squatted 417.5 kg / 920.4 lbs and took the top spot for the heaviest squat ever recorded. Joe now had a clear goal in sight: 453.6 kg / 1,000 lbs.

Jon Cole squating 901,5 lbs in 1972

John Kuc Squating 905 at the Worlds in November of 1972

In the years that followed, Joe was determined to reach a 453.6 kg / 1,000-lb squat. In fact, he seemed more determined to get the lift than to get his attempts passed in competition. There were many failed attempts with weights over 408.2 kg / 900 lbs. He attempted 453.6 kg / 1,000 lbs in competition on one occasion. The weight came up, but as had happened many times before, it was not deep enough. It should be added, however, that several people who were there felt that the squat looked good and that he should have been given the lift. This was also during the era of first-generation squat equipment.

Joseph “Joe” White at Nationals in 1974

Joe was the kind of lifter who squatted 453.6 kg / 1,000 lbs almost on a regular basis. At least, it was something that happened in the gym, and several training partners testified that they had seen him squat 453.6 kg / 1,000 lbs on multiple occasions. There was even said to have been a 487.6 kg / 1,075-lb squat at one point. Despite this, he never lifted more than 417.5 kg / 920.4 lbs to depth in competition.

Paul Wernn at the 1974 nationals

While Joe missed attempts at 430.9 kg / 950 lbs and 453.6 kg / 1,000 lbs, Paul and Don managed to get their attempts. In 1976, Don squatted 423.8 kg / 934.5 lbs, a record that Paul Wrenn increased to 432.5 kg / 953.5 lbs in 1978. Paul continued to be a strong force into the 1980s, while Don put powerlifting aside. Instead, a new contender for the record emerged: Dave Waddington.

Don Reinhoudt at the 1974 IPF worlds

1980

Dave had shown himself to be a powerful squatter from the beginning and joined the 900-lb club in 1979. In the early 1980s, however, he started moving forward like a bulldoser! It did not take many months between his record-breaking performances at different meets. In February 1980, he broke Paul’s record by squatting 433.2 kg / 955 lbs. Just a few months later, he lifted 439.1 kg / 968 lbs. At the World Championships that same year, Dave called for 442.5 kg / 975.5 lbs on his second attempt and 445.0 kg / 981 lbs on his third. He missed both attempts.

Dave Waddington

1981

In 1977 the world’s strongest man competition started, and in 1979, after his retirement, Don Reinhoudt entered and won the competition. The following year a new man took the title, Bill Kazmaier. Known as one of the strongest men to ever live, Bill came in strong in the strength game. With the World’s Strongest Man title in 1980, Bill entered in January of 1981 at the West Georgia Open Powerlifting Championships. Don Reinhoudt had held the world total record for years now, but that came to an end on the 31st of January in 1981. Bill Kazmaier totaled a huge 1,100 kg / 2,425.1 lbs total with a 420 kg / 925.9-lb squat, just 2.5 kg / 5.5 lbs under Don’s official IPF world record. A 300 kg / 661.4-lb bench press, increasing his own record by 12.5 kg / 27.6 lbs. And a 380 kg / 837.8-lb deadlift, missing 402.5 kg / 887.4 lbs for the deadlift world record. Bill was on the move for records, and the squat being one of them.

Bill Kazmaier

In June 1981, Dave Waddington attempted the 1,000-lb squat at the Appalachian Open. He opened with 408.2 kg / 900 lbs, jumped to 442.5 kg / 975 lbs, and then went for 453.6 kg / 1,000 lbs, ultimately squatting 454.9 kg / 1,003 lbs. He got the squat, along with a 1,049.0 kg / 2,313-lb total. This made Dave the first person to have a 1,000-lb squat passed in competition. However, official national and international records could not be set at smaller meets. Most lifters took pride in saving big lifts for bigger competitions for just that. They wanted the official record. So, although Dave was officially the first man to squat 1,000 lbs in competition, the lift was not recognized as a record. His chance would come just one month later at the American Championships.

Doyle Keandy with 084 lbs at the IPF worlds in 1974

At the 1981 American Championships, Paul, Dave, and the reigning national and world champion Doyle Kenady went head-to-head. All three squatted over 408.2 kg / 900 lbs. Paul, who was the more consistent squatter, made all three of his attempts, finishing with 442.5 kg / 975.5 lbs for a new record on his final attempt. Dave made his opener and then took 445.0 kg / 981 lbs twice, but missed both attempts. On paper, Dave had the bigger squat, but when it came to performing on meet day at the Nationals, under the standards they were expected to meet, Paul was the bigger squatter.

1982

In 1982, Dwayne Fely delivered a 445.0 kg / 981-lb squat at the Hawaii International Record Powerlifting Championships at just 21 years old. At that same meet Bill Kazmaier also attempted 445 kg / 981.1 lbs two times but missed. Another lifter, much lighter that very same meet at the age of 39, squatted 400 kg / 881.8 lbs and tried 410 kg / 903.9 lbs but failed, with a 100 kg / 220.5-lb body weight. That man was Fred Hatfield. Fred had hit a 327.5 kg / 722.0-lb squat in the 82.5 kg / 181.9-lb class in 1979 and gone up to the 90 kg / 198.4-lb class. At the Worlds in 1980, he squatted 375 kg / 826.7 lbs in the 90 kg / 198.4-lb class. No one probably thought of it then, but Fred would come to be a contender for the 1,000-lb squat.

Dwayne Fely 981 squat at Hawaii in 1982

Later that same year, another young lifter emerged: Dan Wohleber. Dan was a tremendous deadlifter, but also a big squatter. He put up a 435.5 kg / 960-lb squat later that same year along with a 410.5 kg / 904-lb deadlift, making him the first person to deadlift 900 lbs. Nevertheless, he was also the first person to squat and deadlift over 900 lbs in the same meet. At just 21 years old and weighing only 124.7 kg / 275 lbs, Dan looked like he could become the man to push both the squat and deadlift records even further.

Don Wohleber squating big as a teen

1983

In 1983, a new name started getting closer to the 1,000-lb squat by squatting over 950 lbs. It was Lee Moran, who had moved up from the 275-lb class to the super-heavyweight class. Lee not only showed tremendous strength in the squat but also in the bench press, putting up a 285.0 kg / 628.3-lb bench at a bodyweight of only 137.4 kg / 303 lbs. At the time, the world record stood at 299.8 kg / 661 lbs, held by Bill Kazmaier at a bodyweight of 147.4 kg / 325 lbs.

During the early 1980s, there were many lifters squatting over 408.2 kg / 900 lbs, while squat equipment had also taken another step forward compared with the late 1970s. Joe White had once looked like the man who would be the first to put a 453.6 kg / 1,000-lb squat into the record books, but his 417.5 kg / 920.4-lb record had now been surpassed several times by multiple lifters. What is still worth mentioning, however, is that Joe made his 417.5 kg / 920.4-lb squat wearing a weightlifting belt and wraps. The same was true of Don Reinhoudt’s 423.8 kg / 934.5-lb squat.

1984

The 1984 American Championships were legendary. They would also become the setting for one of the craziest displays of squat strength and grit ever seen. Dave Waddington had shown great form leading into the championships, squatting 440.0 kg / 970 lbs at the Hawaii Invitational Powerlifting Championships three months earlier. Lee, meanwhile, had missed the same weight twice at that meet.

At the American Championships, Lee came in bigger and heavier than ever at 143.3 kg / 316 lbs. Dave opened with 427.5 kg / 942.4 lbs, but missed. He went again with the same weight a few minutes later and failed once more. Lee Moran then took 432.5 kg / 953.5 lbs. On the way up, he lost control of the bar, which rolled over his neck and head, causing him to collapse. While Lee was being escorted from the platform, with everyone believing he was unconscious and out of the competition, the bar was reset for Dave, who now had to attempt the same weight.

Dave missed again and was therefore out of the competition. Most people probably thought the meet had reached an anticlimax and that the squat competition would end without a successful result from either of the two record hunters. Then Lee’s second attempt at 432.5 kg / 953.5 lbs was called.

He had recovered and was ready to give it another shot. He stood up with the weight as quickly as anyone could stand up without a bar on their back. There were clearly more pounds left in him. For his final attempt, 454.9 kg / 1,003 lbs was loaded on the bar, and Lee prepared himself in front of thousands of spectators. The attempt almost ended in the same way as the first. But this time, instead of the bar knocking Lee down, Lee knocked the bar down.

The vibrations created as Lee walked the bar out were so violent that the plates shook hard enough to knock the collars off one side. The plates flew off, leaving Lee with 181.4 kg / 400 lbs on one side and 45.4 kg / 100 lbs on the other. The bar was then catapulted around over his neck. After this, probably no one could have imagined that another attempt would take place, but that was not the case. Lee would step under the bar for a fourth time, and this time he succeeded! The 454.9 kg / 1,003 lbs went up, giving him a new officially recognized American record!

So in 1984, in front of a huge audience and national referees, the 1,000-lb squat was reached and globally recognized. However, this was still not a world record due to the fact it was done in a national meet, even if the judges were international judges and standards. To be recognized as an IPF world record at the time, it had to be done at an international meet. So later that same year Lee entered the IPF Worlds in Dallas, Texas. He won the Worlds with a 977.5 kg / 2,155.5-lb total but only squatted 400 kg / 881.8 lbs.

The 1,000-lb world record unfortunately had to wait. Before that could happen, we would see a huge federation split, a change in equipment and drug testing standards. Meanwhile, the lifters were still hunting for the biggest squat of all time.

1985 and forward

At the Hawaii Internationals, which was held under USPF/IPF sanctioning, Fred Hatfield (Dr. Squat) squatted 457.5 kg / 1,008.5 lbs in the -125 kg class. Shortly after, in May, Matt Dimel, a Westside Barbell lifter, squatted 458 kg / 1,010 lbs at the Lake Erie Open. Then, in the spring of 1987, Hatfield returned to Hawaii and squatted 460 kg / 1,014 lbs in the -125 kg class.

In 1988 at the same meet, Dave Pasanella lifted 462.5 kg / 1,019.5 lbs in the -125 kg class, followed by Anthony Clark with 465 kg / 1,025 lbs in the +125 kg class. Later that same year Dave Pasanella squatted 467.2 kg / 1,030 lbs in the new APF federation that was led under WPC.

It is important to understand that the Hawaii International was essentially a showcase meet where lifters were chasing prize money and unofficial records. The judging at these meets had a reputation for being questionable. The APF/WPC also had a reputation for allowing shallow squats.

That reputation eventually caught up with the federations, lifters, and meet organizers, and no 1,000-lb squat was recorded for several years until Captain Kirk Karwoski squatted 455.2 kg / 1,003.5 lbs in the 125 kg class in 1995. The meet had enough status for it to be recognized as an IPF world record.

Later that same year, Shane Hamman squatted 453.6 kg / 1,000 lbs, and the following year he increased the record to 457.5 kg / 1,008.5 lbs, which became an IPF world record. Both of their world records stood until the weight class changes in 2011 and, in that sense, still stand today. So, if we exclude the meets that consistently had a reputation for allowing shallow squats, we are left with Dave Waddington, Lee Moran, and Matt Dimel. Those who set their records at invitationals/showcase meets were never close to lifting the same weights at major championships.

This applies only to single-ply squats. Multi-ply equipment was introduced in 1993, and many more 1,000-lb squats were subsequently performed.

Want to Increase Your Squat Max?

Want to improve your squat? This program was developed to help lifters increase their squat over a five-month period. It was a massive project involving more than 300 participants, who increased their squat 1RM by an average of over 20%.

The program is called Road to 200 kg Squat and is divided into three parts, each ending with a max test. The first part lasts 8 weeks, the second 7 weeks, and the final part 6 weeks.

This structure allows you to complete one part at a time, test your max, and then decide whether you want to continue with the next part.

You can find the program under Powerlifting Programs in the Built Strong training app. You will also find instructional videos on wide, narrow, and medium-stance squats.