474 lbs. You could compare this number to the average weight of a tiger, 30 bowling balls, or 50 paint gallons – yeah, it is heavy. As of January 18, 2020, Christian Torres (‘20) achieved something unbelievable when he broke the deadlift state record, which was previously 452 lbs, by 22 lbs in the Teen 2 division (165 lbs and under weight class for 16 and 17 year olds).

The day began at 5 a.m. – Torres’ 16 rigorous weeks of training were put to the test. After completing his first event; squat, and second event, bench press, the deadlift event began.

“Before the deadlift started I had failed my third attempt squat and third attempt bench and gave me a mental battle going into my strongest lift,” said Torres.

After completing warm ups, Torres’ first attempt was a 435 lbs deadlift. He personally felt that he never moved as fast as he did then. This pushed him to increase his second attempt weight from 460 lbs to 474 lbs and take a less conservative route, deviating from his original plans.

As Torres’ name got closer to the top of the queue, his supporters and the crowd intensified with anxiousness. Torres’ chalked up his hands, smelled two pouches of ammonia and took his airpods out in preparation to what his training was all for. Carl Garcia, Torres’ coach, said he was telling Torres’ the whole time, “this is light, just another day, wake up, it’s light.” seconds later, “platform ready” was called by the announcers and torres appeared from behind the sponsor banister. “in my head the room fell silent. It was just me, the bar, the platform and the weights on it” Torres said.
As Torres lifted the 474 lbs, it was clean, approved by judges, and documented as the new state record.

“I have never been so determined in my life for one single lift, but The environment definitely played well into my lift, I really don’t think I could have done it without the energy that was present there,” said Torres.

Although Torres had broken the record, this was only his second attempt out of three. For his final attempt, he took a big jump call to 507 lbs to try and get close to the national record (535 lbs). While lifting 507 lbs where he was only an inch away from locking it out and he felt his body pinch, merely missing this new record by the position of his shoulders– still ending up with the 474 lbs pull and accomplishing the state record.

Torres looks forward to his potential next meet in June 2020. He plans to attempt to beat the national record for his age and weight, which is expected to be 535 lbs unless it changes between this date and then.