Aug 14, 2026 · By Justin Pickrell

The Heaviest Bench Press Ever: 1,453 Pounds

Dark graphic card reading The Heaviest Bench Press Ever under a Strength News label with the Deadweight wordmark

The heaviest bench press ever performed in competition is 659 kilograms — 1,453 pounds — by Jimmy Kolb on June 7, 2025, at the USPC Sonny Comly Memorial Meet. It is the heaviest single lift in the recorded history of powerlifting. The heaviest raw bench press is 355 kilograms (782.6 pounds) by Julius Maddox, set in 2021 and still standing.

Those two numbers are 670 pounds apart. Same lift. Same bar. The gap is the shirt.

What is the heaviest bench press of all time?

Kolb's 1,453 pounds. He weighed 329 pounds on the platform and competed in the Unlimited division, where there is no restriction on the bench shirt an athlete can wear. That is the ceiling of what a human being has moved off a chest.

Kolb has been rewriting his own record for fifteen years. He hit 1,401 pounds in 2023, then 1,453 in 2025, then took the 140-kilogram class record with 1,350 pounds in July 2026. Five of the seven world records he has set are still his.

What is the heaviest raw bench press ever?

Julius Maddox, 355 kilograms — 782.6 pounds — on February 21, 2021 at the WRPF Hybrid Showdown in Miami. Raw means no bench shirt. A belt and wrist wraps, and that's the whole list of help he got.

Maddox took the record from Kirill Sarychev, whose 335 kilograms (738.5 pounds) is still the second-heaviest raw bench in history. Nobody has benched 800 pounds raw in sanctioned competition. Danial Zamani pressed 804.7 pounds in February 2022, but it wasn't done at a sanctioned meet, so the record book doesn't hold it.

Why is the equipped record so much heavier?

A bench shirt is a compression garment made of dense polyester or canvas that stores elastic energy as the bar comes down and returns it off the chest. More layers, more return. That's the whole trick, and it's why the equipment class matters more than the number.

  • Raw — belt, wrist wraps, chalk. Nothing that stores energy.
  • Single-ply — one layer of supportive fabric.
  • Multi-ply — two or more layers.
  • Unlimited — no restriction at all. This is where 1,453 happened.

Comparing a raw bench to an Unlimited bench is like comparing a sprint to a bike race. Both are fast. They aren't the same event.

The heaviest bench presses ever, by class

  1. Unlimited, men — 659 kg / 1,453 lb. Jimmy Kolb, USPC Sonny Comly Memorial, June 7, 2025.
  2. Single-ply, men — 508 kg / 1,120 lb. Jimmy Kolb, IPA Strength Spectacular, June 26, 2021.
  3. Multi-ply, men — 500 kg / 1,102.3 lb. Tiny Meeker, December 14, 2013.
  4. Raw, men — 355 kg / 782.6 lb. Julius Maddox, WRPF Hybrid Showdown, February 21, 2021.
  5. Unlimited, women — 275.5 kg / 607.4 lb. Katrina Bielomyza, RPS Maine State Championship, September 18, 2021.
  6. Multi-ply, women — 272.5 kg / 600.8 lb. Becca Swanson, APF Big Iron Open, March 8, 2008.
  7. Single-ply, women — 242.5 kg / 534.6 lb. Rae-Ann Coughenour-Miller, 2021.
  8. Raw, women — 207.5 kg / 457.5 lb. April Mathis, SPF Gritmas Classic, 2016.

What does this mean for your bench?

Nothing, and that's the point. You are not chasing 1,453. You are chasing the five pounds you didn't have last month, and then the five after that. Records exist to show you the shape of the ceiling, not to make your training look small.

What's worth stealing from these lifters is the timeline. Kolb has been competing since 2009 and set his biggest record sixteen years in. Maddox spent years grinding toward a number he still hasn't officially cleared. Nobody in this list got there in a season.

Train like the clock isn't running out. Add weight when the weight is earned. Then show up again.

FAQ

Who has the heaviest bench press in the world?

Jimmy Kolb, with 659 kilograms (1,453 pounds) in Unlimited equipment. For raw lifting, Julius Maddox holds the record at 355 kilograms (782.6 pounds).

Has anyone benched 800 pounds raw?

Not in sanctioned competition. Danial Zamani pressed 804.7 pounds in February 2022, but the lift was not performed at a sanctioned meet, so it is not recognized as a world record.

What is a good bench press for a regular lifter?

Benching your bodyweight for a single is a solid intermediate mark for most men. Anything past 1.5 times bodyweight puts you well ahead of most people who train.

Records get broken. Showing up doesn't. Our Barbell heavyweight tee is 240 GSM and built to outlast the program you're on. Or take the Tyrant tee if you want something meaner.

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