To break a world record in any sport takes sacrifice and dedication - two things Will Barotti can certainly boast. But the 35-year-old powerlifter’s greatest strength is training smart after he broke the bench press world record off of just three workouts per week.
A corrections officer from New York, Barotti says he just loves lifting weights and has learned to listen to his body. His methods have certainly paid off as they resulted in a bench press of 1,105 lbs (501kg) at the end of last month.
Importantly, Barotti’s attempt was done using a bench pressing shirt, unlike Julius Moddox’s raw world record of 800 lbs a few weeks ago.
The New Yorker’s record beat the previous best weight by 3 lbs (1.3kg) and remarkably surpassed Hafbor Julius Bjornsson’s - also known as The Mountain from Game of Thrones - deadlift world record of 1,104 lbs (501kg) deadlift by 1lb (0.45kg), which was completed with a deadlift shirt.
On his training regime, Barotti told BarBend [https://barbend.com/will-barotti-bench-press-record/]: “My training used to be more like five days a week, and I started getting more injuries: the more I trained, the harder I trained, the more I felt I was injured and not recovered for the next week of training.
“So I spent more time recovering, less training, more eating, figuring out my sleep patterns better, because I used to work night shifts for a time and that really screwed me up.”
Those injuries have led Barotti to solely focus on training his upper body, but he stays flexible with his training to stop his body from breaking down.
“Monday, I’ll do back and biceps,” he says. “Tuesday will be shoulders, triceps, maybe a little speed bench. Nothing too crazy, more accessories. I take Wednesday and Thursday off just to recover before Friday’s bench session.
“If I feel my body’s not recovering from the speed day then I’ll eliminate speed days for a while.”
