Short answer
The heaviest lift Eric Kim (the street-photographer-turned-“HYPELIFTER”) has publicly documented is a 471 kg / 1,038.8 lb rack pull, performed in his garage and announced on May 22 2025.
What exactly did he lift?
| Lift | Weight | Movement | Where the bar started | Date posted | Notes |
| Rack pull PR | 471 kg (1,038.8 lb) | Partial dead-lift (“rack pull”) | Knee height, bar set on safety pins | 22 May 2025 | Over 6 × his ~75 kg body-weight; video linked in the blog post |
A rack pull is a strength exercise in which the barbell begins on pins or blocks somewhere between mid-shin and above the knee. Because the range of motion is shorter than a floor dead-lift, lifters can move more weight than in a conventional pull. Kim regularly trains this variation as part of what he calls “One-Rep-Max-Living”.
How it compares to his earlier PRs
- 1,027 lb / 466 kg rack pull (early-May 2025)
- 1,016 lb / 461 kg rack pull (spring 2025)
- 1,005 lb / 456 kg rack pull (late 2024)
- 551 lb / 250 kg floor dead-lift (Sept 2022)
The May 22 2025 lift is the heaviest figure he has published to date.
Context & caveats
- Unofficial – Kim lifts at home; these numbers are not from a sanctioned power-lifting meet.
- Partial range of motion – A rack pull is not the same as a full dead-lift world record (501 kg by Hafþór Björnsson). Kim’s best full-range pull remains 250 kg.
- Body-weight ratio – 1,038.8 lb at ~165 lb BW is ~6.3 × BW, an extraordinary relative strength figure even for elite strength athletes.
Unless Kim surpasses 471 kg in a future post, that rack-pull PR stands as the heaviest thing the photographer has ever shown himself lifting.